Singaporean's Guide To Ulu Café Hopping
Price Range: $8-$17
Nearest MRT: Dhoby Ghaut
Instagrammability: High -
This carefully-curated boutique in a carelessly dilapidated mall is sure to make you feel like a tai tai for the day.
Food:
1) Ispahan [$8.50]
Their top seller's a now-popular combination of Rose & Lychee, and it works really well. Light, balanced & fragrant.
2) Earl Grey [$8.00]
The aromatic flavour of Earl Grey comes through clearly, and the simplest of the lot shows that sometimes less is more.
3) Dark Chocolate [$8.00]
Rich without much bitterness.
Dusted with cocoa & gold.
4) Hazelnut [$7.50]
A delicious, oversized Kinder Bueno.
Ranked in order of preference.
They say sharing is caring, but with these beauties at $4 a pop with The Entertainer, you're better off swallowing than slicing.
Come Here: Again.
Ordered this because Le Citron ran out. Churros too. The brownies felt nothing special, the whip was unnecessarily alcoholic, and the bacon shards were more novelty than royalty. The raspberry sorbet provided a nice, sour tang; popcorn adding a crisp touch of salted caramel. Otherwise, it doesn't really dazzle, considering the same price could fetch a multi-component plated dessert at FatCat.
Straight-On: Mmm okay.
Puncturing the molten lava cake & almond nougatine spills its contents onto an orange-laced vanilla ice-cream. Fun at first, but after a few scoops, my friends & I lost interest.
Straight-On: Mmm okay.
The O List
Price Range: $10-$17
O for: Okay
What is popular here?
Unlimited Mix-Ins: Regular [$9.50]
Me: "Wait, so in theory, we could ask for like 5 scoops of cookie dough, and they'll oblige?"
PR Rep: "Yup! It's not unlimited if we say no!"
There you go, guys. A legal loophole to lop everything & the kitchen sink into your bursting wafer-bowl.
Add $4 for a waffle (read: space for even more toppings).
Really grateful that I had added some berries, that lent much-needed acidity to cut through the cloying sweetness from the ice-cream equivalent of a little kid running into a 7-11 & mixing all flavours of Big Gulp.
What should I try instead?
Pearl of the Orient Tea [$6.00 est]
One of the night's revelations was that you could actually order & sip teapot-brewed Gryphon tea, right next to your ice-cream waffle in the Marble Slab franchise. Really takes the edge off the sugar overload.
This was a hosted Burpple tasting, courtesy of Marble Slab (Kallang Wave) & Burpple.
The Short Review
Price Range: $50-$70
Nearest MRT: Botanic Gardens
Instagrammability: High -
Fine dining in the Dempsey forest.
Food:
1) Pan-Seared Foie Gras [$32.00++]
Essentially $19 per thick slab of foie, each piece is seared nicely & not overdone, though I'd prefer it to be slightly creamier. Still, foie's my weakness & this tastes good.
The poached white peach & pomegranate seeds added a nice touch of sweetness.
2) Seared Black Cod Filet [$42.00++]
Excellent sear on the cod, but the sautéed artichoke, with an almost pickled taste, kept sitting in the Beurre MeuniÚre sauce & diffused an overpowering sourness to the rest of the components such as the cherry tomato confit.
3) Oven-Roasted Quail stuffed with Wild Mushrooms & Foie Gras [$42.00++]
Wasn't kidding when I said foie is my weakness.
The quail was almost perfectly handled, spilling its contents of diced, earthy mushrooms & a small slab of foie like a piñata upon gentle knife-probing. The pommes mousseline was good & cheesier than expected, but it's edged out by the one I tried at L'Atelier. All in all, superior to the cod.
Even The Entertainer can't save you from taking a financial beating, but Au Petit Salut's fare makes it quite worth the damage. Do note the enforced smart casual dress code; it's Dempsey, not Sunset Way.
Come Here: Again.
The Short Review
Price Range: $12-$16
Nearest MRT: Haw Par Villa
Instagrammability: Moderate -
Located on campus, in the Shaw Alumni House next to Mochtar Riady.
Food:
1) Foil Fish Set [$12.50]
Pretty run-of-the-mill. The frozen dory's standard reflects the shop's long-term prospects.
3) Tom Yum Cream Pasta [$11.60]
Recommended by NUS business students. It's not bad actually; the mussels taste foul but the cream sauce's generous & quite palatable.
Nothing said matters really, because this place closes TOMORROW (30/10/15). After competing more than a year with Reedz Café, it's time for Late Plate to become the late Late Plate.
Come Here: Not even if you wanted to. (CLOSED)
The Short Review
Price Range: $14-$20
Nearest MRT: one-north
Instagrammability: Moderate -
Decent lighting for its more recognizable DC figurine petri-dishes.
Food:
1) Sambal Prawn Paste Burger [$13.90]
Would've preferred more of the prawn paste flavour than sambal to come through, but the chicken's amply tender & marinated. Salad's okay, but the varying textures of the accompanying criss-cut fries ranged from acceptable to impenetrable with a fork.
2) Mushroom Soup [add $5.40 set]
Slightly above expectations; not out of place in a mid-level hotel buffet spread.
3) Hot Chocolate [add $5.40 set]
From the last visit, no change.
If nearby joints One Man Coffee or Bread Yard are too light on portion & price for you, while Envy's not necessarily better, its revamped menu does offer fuller meals.
Come Here: Maybe?
The Short Review
Price Range: $8-$11
Nearest MRT: Kent Ridge
Instagrammability: Low -
Consume on plastic furniture either near the premises or next to Llao Llao. All orders strictly takeaway.
Food:
1) Caramel & Crackling Roast Pork Donburi [$9.80]
Think ćç§ç§èé„. The visual allure of caramelized pork & a made-to-order sharpened knife-slicing illusion sets up a slight disappointment that the pork is not as moist & tender as it's cracked up to be.
Not sure if the bowl required achar, in the presence of a sour & slightly spicy dollop of dried sambal. Add $1 for an onsen egg, which had ran out by then.
There are plenty of cheap charsiew stalls in Singapore's hawker culture doing it right. After tasting Char, no other joint should ever overcharge for pork.
Come Here: Never.
Singaporean's Guide To Ulu Café Hopping
Price Range: $31-$52
Nearest MRT: City Hall
Instagrammability: Moderate -
While the courtyards of Raffles Hotel are a photographical dream, the Halia's interior is less so, with uneven lighting and slightly dated furnishings.
Food:
1) Truffled Scrambled Eggs & Smoked Salmon [$19.00++]
Mediocre eggs & even less impressive salmon. Cafés in Singapore have already upped their Truffled Eggs game, so it's time for Halia to do likewise.
2) Chilli Crab Spaghettini [$26.00++]
The sauce isn't the least bit spicy, but its thick, generous helpings of crab meat that evenly coat the pasta make it an enjoyable fusion dish.
3) Seafood Gratin - Half [$18.00++]
Above average. My weakness for cheese-baked gratins couldn't overlook how overcooked the salmon & dory was, though.
Dismayed to hear the ribs had ran out for the day. If you too use the Entertainer app, head straight for the crab pasta, or take a chance with the ribs.
Come Here: Maybe?
The O List
Price Range: $13-$24
O for: Overhyped
What is popular here?
Cereal Soft Shell Crab & Jasmine White Rice [$21.40++]
Ingredients are a universal favourite, but over at Folks Collective, it's executed quite mundanely.
Salted Egg Yolk Prawns & Jasmine White Rice [$18.40++]
Again, had the potential to be amazing.
Again, had the taste of the ordinary.
Recently added to The Entertainer's pantheon of collaborators, but while Folks' ambience is as flawless as Thai eateries go, its food is strictly normal.
What should I try instead?
Tom Yum Fried Rice [$6.00]
One of my personal favourite dishes at Thai Tantric. Since its move to the mall's corner, its sleaze factor has considerably diminished, but Orchard Towers itself remains authentically shady.
The Short Review
Price Range: $11-$14
Nearest MRT: one-north
Instagrammability: High -
Colourful walls, inside & out.
Tiny space reflects its "to-go" spirit, with all dine-in food items served in paper boxes to minimize cleanup.
Though this rather well-lit corner joint may be shrouded in construction dust, management quipped that "come 16 October, Lee Hsien Loong has to walk across that bridge. They have to get it done by then, right?"
Food:
1) Brie, Honey Ham & Truffle Mascarpone Croissant [$7.50]
Deceivingly stale-looking, sitting all mummified in a display fridge, this reheated pastry resurrects into a decent, crisp & tasty light lunch.
2) Breakfast Burger [$6.00]
Stuffed with scrambled egg, sundried tomatoes & generous bacon jam from a superior OMC dish from its sister outlets, the BB's worth the money, though the Croissant does feel more luxurious.
3) Hot Chocolate [$5.00]
A small cup of chocolate goodness. Vertically dusted with cocoa.
4) Iced Chocolate [$6.00]
Significantly more dilute than its warmer counterpart, as if the same amount of solute was added to a larger cup of ice.
Though signatures like its Gashouse Eggs & Brioche French Toast will be missed, OMC's effort to create an entirely different menu for an entirely different (working) crowd should be appreciated, being both rather economical as an atas coffee break & easy to-go.
Come Here: Again.
Singaporean's Guide To Ulu Café Hopping
Price Range: $16-$18
Nearest MRT: Redhill
Instagrammability: Low -
They should really remove the outdated "No Photography" logo at their door; cafés now live for the gram's word-of-mouth. This rule fortunately isn't enforced by the staff, only by a darkened glass facade filtering off most light.
Food:
1) Eggs Benedict Pancakes [$14.00+]
The Hollandaise's taste was a little off, while the choice of turkey bacon is very uninspired. Pancakes were fluffy but just okay.
All in all, weak.
2) Ramly Meets Wendy [$14.00+]
Stick to a traditionally greasy, pasar malam-style Ramly Burger, which ultimately ends up more satisfying. The RMW's mushroom sauce ties less well than the age-old, simplistic combo of chilli & ketchup, lol. Wedges're nicely battered.
3) Chilli Crabcake Burger [$14.00+]
The best of the three, but still quite flawed. Sauce could've been amped up in the departments of heat, sweetness & silky egg strands. And frozen crabmeat is still crab, right?
The Entertainer app may take you places in the area, just not places you want to be. Halal though, so there's that.
Come Here: Never.
