Have been making quite a number of trips to the area because had been needing to run some errands there — Friends Cafe is one of the new establishments located at The Brooks I which I had been wanting to check out for quite some time; situated within walking distance to Springleaf MRT Station and Springleaf Nature Park, the Hong Kong Cha Chaan Teng is actually affiliated to Wong Chiew Restaurant — an establishment best known for their roast meats and dim sums that is just right across the same road being closer towards the junction of Sembawang Road and Mandai Road.

While they do offer quite a good variety of mains which includes items such as Charsiew Spaghetti/Macaroni (using char siew from Wong Chiew Restaurant), Luncheon Meat Noodles with Egg and Satay Sliced Beef Noodles etc., we went for the French Toast since we weren’t intending to have something too heavy here. Being an item listed on the “Snacks” section of the menu, the French Toast is sized just about right for a single diner as a breakfast item on its own, or can be shared with multiple patrons at the table being a starter/appetiser. Coming all fried with the frizzy edges as one would have expected, the French Toast comes with a knob of butter over the top and peanut butter slathered in between — the folks here serve the French Toast without any maple syrup drizzled over the toast; however, they do provide an entire bottle of maple syrup on the side to allow patrons to drizzle to their heart’s content. More of a comforting item that was difficult to go wrong, we felt that the French Toast here was pretty decent being slightly crisp on the outside, while the insides of the bread still maintained it’s fluffiness and retained its moistness; not overly dry here. The knob of butter does provide a slight hint of saltishness that worked well with the maple syrup for a sweet-savoury note, while there was ample peanut butter being spread throughout the entire toast for a evident and consistent nutty note throughout the entire dish.

Gone were the days where this was an ulu spot that never really saw any tenants moving into the shop units; The Brooks I and II is now well-filled with F&B tenants such as Daruma Tavern, Nicher and Yim Poong Kitchen — all of which are fairly new additions that would serve the residents around the area well. Whilst we have yet to try many of the items that Friends Cafe has to offer, there is no doubt how the addition of a new HK Char Chaan Teng would further provide those in the area a different option to dine at. I guess we would be back to try the other items some time again another time.