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2014-05-05
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As an avid Grouponer (there I've said it), I have a healthy scepticism for food places featured on Groupon. I seldom buy food Groupons unless the menu piques my curiosity or the place has had good reviews. On this occasion, the menu interested me that I bought it without doing much research. Interestingly enough, this little café became featured on multiple blog reviews and the Sunday Times Lifestyle Section after I purchased the Groupon for this café.Located at Bali Lane near Arab St, it is on
As an avid Grouponer (there I've said it), I have a healthy scepticism for food places featured on Groupon. I seldom buy food Groupons unless the menu piques my curiosity or the place has had good reviews. On this occasion, the menu interested me that I bought it without doing much research. Interestingly enough, this little café became featured on multiple blog reviews and the Sunday Times Lifestyle Section after I purchased the Groupon for this café.Located at Bali Lane near Arab St, it is on the same stretch of road as Choo Choo Chicken. The signage is not as conspicuous and you might pass by without realizing it. Needless to say, the crowd will guide you there as it did on a Sunday afternoon.
InteriorThe capacity of the café is limited because the café is really small. Be prepared to wait if you want to sit inside. There is a communal table with tall chairs outside on the corridor if you are less inclined to wait to dine in the comforts of the air-conditioned interior of the café.
Table SettingsAccording to the news, the three young owners of this café did not have to spend much on decorating the café because their families are in the construction, metal and woodworks industries that they got the materials at cost price or for free. The interior of the café is quite minimal but it worked to provide a cosy ambience. Little touches like these gave the café some character and it shows that you do not need to spend a lot to decorate a place tastefully.
Strawberry Lemonade (Left) and Mint Lemonade (Right)- $6.90 eachSince R and I had trekked some distance to get to the cafe, we were hot and sweaty given Singapore's humid conditions. It was especially humid that day that we foregone our coffee orders in favour of cold lemonades. We ordered it with the expectations that the lemonades would quench our thirst and quell the heat we were faced with. The "lemonades" looked pretty, quenched our thirst and quelled the heat but they caused a surge of disappointment. WHAT LEMONADE?! The slices of lemon were probably the closest we got to having LEMON in our ADE. These were glasses of cordial topped with soda water masquerading as lemonades. Darn, I should have stayed with my coffee order!Eggs Benedict $14.90
What is brunch without the quintessential brunch food item- Eggs Benedict? Two poached eggs on top of ham and brioche toast, topped with hollandaise, home-made tomato chilli jam and stewed Mushrooms. To be honest, the appearance of the ham threw me off. It looked very processed and scared me. However, the pillowy soft and sweet brioche, runny poached eggs, creamy and well-flavoured hollandaise, sweet and not-at-all spicy tomato chilli jam and the utterly delicious stewed mushrooms made up for it. They are the true stars of the dish! When you eat everything together, the ham is lost in the equation and a wonderful symphony of flavours will engulf your tastebuds instead. Never judge a dish by its looks!
Red velvet waffles $14.90For those uninitiated to the famed Red Velvet cake, it is a chocolate cake coloured red with cream cheese frosting. Stateland reinvents the traditional Red Velvet Cake into a waffle. Here, the way the waffle is served takes top marks. The Red Velvet waffle is a chocolate-flavoured waffle coloured deep-red. I like the bits of chocolate chip that came with every bite of waffle. The waffle was crisp on the outside and soft inside. It was relatively light and the toppings (cream cheese glaze, vanilla ice-cream and dehydrated raspberries) complemented the waffle well.
Red velvet waffle (top) and Black Forest Waffles with the poached cherry compote on the side (below)
The Black Forest $14.90The Black Forest Waffle is a take on the traditional Black Forest Cake. It is essentially a dark chocolate waffle rippled with chocolate chips, topped with whipped cream, Belgium chocolate ice-cream and poached cherry compote. Since my dear friend does not like cherries, we asked for the compote to be served on the side. She tasted the compote and said she couldn't really taste the cherry flavour and that it is like a jam! As such, she said it was okay to put them on the waffle since we were sharing. we rarely agree when it comes to food but on this occasion, I concur with her. Until you bite into the pitted cherries hidden amongst the compote, the compote does not bear any distinct cherry flavour on its own. There is also a slight gelatinous feel to it- probably from the pectin from the cherries- that makes this compote more jam-like.
At the end, we concluded that the only dish that we truly enjoyed was the Eggs Benedict. While the waffles were very photogenic, the flavours failed to wow. They impressed R less than they did for me. There is no novelty in the flavour of the waffles because once you take away the fancy names, the Black Forest waffle is a dark chocolate waffle with chocolate ice-cream, cream and a compote. It is a combination that is common enough. Similarly, it applies to the Red Velvet waffle though I will concede that a cream cheese glaze is not common. Overall, the concept is good but more needs to be done to the waffles for me to order them again. Also, the "lemonades" are misleading and feels like a rip off for $6.90 each. If I ever do return again, I will try the thick toasts and order coffee instead!
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