Lady Grey

Came across the new Lady Grey whilst scrolling through social media the other day. It seems that industrial buildings have seemingly become more interesting of the late, filled with interesting F&B establishments that are less commonly seen in the past. Located within Aztech Building in Ubi, Lady Grey takes over the former spot of the now-defunct Kay Lee Roast Meat outlet in the building — the cafe isn’t too difficult to locate within the building’s premises; the building itself is a short walk away from MacPherson MRT Station along the Circle Line / Downtown Line, and the entrance of the building nearest to Lady Grey would be the small gate beside the bus stop right outside of the building. Seemingly in an effort to make Lady Grey’s existence known to passers-by, a neon lighting that says “Coffee + Burger = Friends” is placed at the window above the laminated portion to hint the presence of an F&B outlet situated there. Occupying a space that is right beside the aisle leading to the washroom, Lady Grey does have quite a decent amount of space dedicated to it for its operations — generous especially when compared to the coffee kiosks that one would usually find at lobbies of office buildings in the Central Business District. Simply decorated, the dine-in seats are bound by display shelves that segregates its seating areas from the passageway leading up to the washrooms. Some effort has been placed in the decors of the cafe despite its mostly functional appearance; the use of bright colours proving a cheery vibe whilst being close to nature with the use of wooden elements and plants. The menu at Lady Grey is relatively simple; its hot food selection comprises of a small selection of appetisers and pasta, while they do serve up espresso-based coffee as well as a selection of teas for dine-in as well — there are also Houjicha and chocolate-based beverages listed on the non-coffee section of the beverage menu as well.

We visited Lady Grey on an occasion that wasn’t much in our favour — we dropped by the establishment on the day where they are scheduled for some planned electrical works that would occur later in the day. This also meant that the cafe was unable to serve its pasta menu, leaving the patrons with only the appetisers to choose from. Having only known about this after we had made our way there for lunch, we still decided to settle in and went for the Gravy Fries to accompany our cuppa with. The Gravy Fries is described on the menu to come with elements such as thick cut fries, brown gravy and chunks of cream cheese — it is also an item which is said to be a good side dish or a great accompaniment to beer. The Gravy Fries is essentially Lady Grey’s rendition of Poutine; the slight twist in the name of the item is understandable due to how the Poutine just cannot be served like it should be in Singapore — Singapore bans the importation of cheese curds which is an essential component of Poutine. As far as how the item goes, we found that the Gravy Fries from Lady Grey did pretty alright; the thick cut fries are crisp and savoury without being unnecessarily salty, with the brown gravy being served warm for one to dip the fries in (Poutine is typically served with the sauce drenched atop — it seems that they did what they did here so that patrons can opt out of the sauce if they so wish to). The brown sauce is pretty similar to what one would associate with mash potato gravy; the savouriness coming largely from the use of chicken stock. The addition of cream cheese helps to add a creamy and dense texture, whilst also rounding off the savouriness of both the gravy and the fries with a nice tang. Overall, something which we could not complain about.

It is a little regrettable that we were unable to give the any of Lady Grey’s pasta dishes a go during the visit we had made, though such instances are inevitable at times. Given the execution of the Gravy Fries however, we do think that Lady Grey is a spot where the owners do put in quite a lot of effort in ensuring that they deliver the best that they can to their patrons — we were also pretty impressed with their hospitality as well, with them trying to actively engage with patrons as well as to gather any feedback that their patrons would have on their food. We also noted that one of the staff had also informed us to notify him should we require more gravy for our Gravy Fries and he would be able to assist. Such levels of service are usually difficult to find these days, especially since most cafes are hardly run by the owners themselves — this pretty much sets Lady Grey apart from most of the newly-opened establishments in the F&B scene of the late. Apart from the Gravy Fries, we had also given the Espresso Lime & Tonic a go; we felt that they do serve up one of the better espresso tonic-inspired beverages that we had come across of the late — there is a good zing that transitions between the shot of espresso and the tonic water from the lime. Prices of the food at Lady Grey can be said as pretty affordable based on specialty cafe standards; all hot food items are priced below $12, with the pastas being priced at $10.90 to $11.90 — the appetisers are priced between $6.90 to $7.90. Given how we have yet to give their pasta items a try, we found whatever we have had thus far to be rather inconclusive to form an opinion on whether Lady Grey is a worth making a trip down for. That being said, with prices set at what seems to be relatively wallet-friendly, there is no harm in checking them out to see what else they have to offer!