Common Man Coffee Roasters

Sunday brunch!A place for family, lots of customers come with kids!We ordered Full breakfast($27), Vege wonderland ($25 too expensive) and Egg Benedict ($24). Ingredients are fresh and good, taste above average!In terms of food we give 4/5!Coffee we had cold brew with Nitro($8), cappuccino($5) and filter coffee with yirgzero bean($6, good to try!!) In terms of coffee we give also 4/5!There was crowded when we came, and a bit noisy, so In terms of environment we give 3.5/5!…Read More

See pics @ http://thehungrybunnie.blogspot.sg/2016/05/common-man-coffee-roasters-martin-road.htmlCommon Man Coffee Roasters ("CMCR") is notoriously crowded, so if possible, avoid the peak brunch/lunch hours, or be prepared to wait in line. Even at 4pm in the afternoon on a weekend, the buzzy cafe was swarming with expats and their SPG-hanger-ons, and teenybopper/YA hipster sorts. Obviously, I didn't like the ambience. The pretentiousness was exacerbated by how intrusively close the tables were to one another. I could hear everything our neighbouring diners were chatting about.At least the food and service were faultless. The breakfast eggs were innovative, hearty and delicious, while service was spontaneous and upbeat.We had:1) Organic Eggs Benedict ($24) layered with luscious braised ox cheeks, a velvety smooth chive hollandaise, toasted sourdough, and contrasted with the peppery kick of arugula leaves2) Turkish Common Man Breakfast ($25) comprised a duo of phyllo-crusted soft-boiled organic eggs on a hummus bed, flecked with battered feta, olives, arugula, pickled cucumbers and fresh tomato slices, all ready to be mopped up by soft pita bread. I liked the bright and tangy flavours in this one.3) Sauteed Kale & Egg White Scramble ($19) tossed with snow peas, asparagus, broccoli, sweet potato leaves, seasoned with lemon zest crumbs and showered over with grated parmesan wisps. Light and healthy without compromising on taste…Read More

Common Man Coffee Roasters, a collaboration between Harry Grover of 40 Hands, Five Senses Coffee and the Spa Esprit Group (behind brands such as Skinny Pizza, Tiong Bahru Bakery, ODP etc) and one of the "in" places to have brunch at in recent days. Desperately wanting to feel young again, I made the long trek to Martin Road (cut throat parking charges!) to try and wrangle a table for brunch (they don't take reservations).Full Breakfast - The Full Breakfast consisted of 2 free range organic eggs done in any style (I had mine poached), bacon, sausage, tomato salsa, chorizo hash brown, mushrooms and pork cannellini beans with artisanal sourdough toast. In all honesty, everything was pretty average and nothing really stood out. It was just a mixture of flavours that happened to find find themselves on the same plate. At $26++, this was really quite expensive.A coffee and a breakfast platter cost almost $36. I usually wouldn't blink at such a price but quality of food really doesn't justify the price. So what brings locals and expatriates alike to CMCR? Is it the coffee? The food? The service? The sense of belonging? I really wouldn't know but I'm guessing it's not the food.See all my pictures at http://www.timelessfacade.com/2015/06/common-man-coffee-roasters-maybe-its.html…Read More

The best coffee I've had in Singapore. They use beans from an Australian coffee roaster that I really like. The blend they use is quite fruity. The barista did a good job in making the flat white in particular. The latte I had was also good, although the foam was not as smooth as I would like. But overall quite impressed! Food was good too. We had the pancakes and French toasts, like both.…Read More

In a bid not to go to a cafe that disappoint, I've gathered a lot of cafe suggestions from different sources and decided that Common Man Coffee Roasters rest on the top of the list when it comes to cafehoppers' choice. Following close behind, The Plain, Nylon Coffee Roasters and Symmetry. One at a time, so CMC (that's what the baristas and service staff call their cafe) will go first! I was thrilled to go to CMC with all the hype built around it and also because it is my first cafehopping trip since two months ago when I visited Wimbly Lu.Set slightly further down from Robertson Quay on Martin Road, this cafe can be considered quite inaccessible for the lazy and an awesome opportunity for those who love a walk down Singapore River. It was a rainy day, like many other days of the week, so it felt especially warm and cozy inside, almost like the Leaky Cauldron from Harry Potter. Behind their counter, they hung a humorous quote: Free coffee and doughnuts for the unemployed. I think I fall under that category too...kinda.Nothing better to kick start every cafe experience with a thick, piping hot mocha. When it comes to coffee, the team at Common Man Coffee is very serious about it! When asked about where they source their coffee beans, the service staff rambled on endlessly and enthusiastically about them, I got quite lost in it. Well, it definitely impressed us in the looks department with this stunning latte art when it was set on the table. Recently, I got hooked onto watching latte art videos on Youtube and realized how much wrist strength, patience and memory work to create all the different latte art patterns. This, my friend, is one of the more complicated ones that require a lot of pausing, pouring, and timed precision. Kudos! I feel happy being in CMC already. A sip of the mocha - it's got this unmistakable deep satisfying bitterness that veers away from many mochas that pander to the chocolate loving tastebuds, tips towards more acidic undertones and finishes off smoothly.This marvelous case of an accident that happened on my plate is called the Common Man Pancakes. On the menu, it reads: fluffy pancakes, caramelized bananas and walnuts, salted caramel sauce, nutty crumble and berry coulis. Can I be lazy and say that this is awesome?!! No? I agree, because that won't be doing it any justice at all. I would begin by saying that it tastes inversely good as it looks. What I appreciate about this dish was the berry coulis that was very fresh, a good blend of sweetness and sourness that goes so well with pancakes. It's so indulging to mix salted caramel sauce, the crumble, caramelized bananas on top of this luxurious toppings, and I wish for this to be my breakfast in bed everyday and I'll never get sick of it. I'm serious.The much neatly plated Common Man Full Breakfast which includes two free-range organic eggs (scrambled as pictured, but you can choose the style you want it to be), back bacon, sausage, grilled tomatoes, chorizo hash browns, portobello mushrooms and house-made chorizo baked beans with artisanal sourdough toast. It was pretty good too, though predictably so after I tried the pancakes! I would suggest that you go for the full breakfast if you're the picture-conscious sort, but the pancakes for a yummilicious time at CMC. I loved the pancakes a lot. You can probably tell.My churros-seeking adventures have been picking up speed as I lunged for the Common Man churros as gracefully as I could. Sugar dusted and served with luscious chocolate sauce, these churros actually reminded me of the foregone ones at Spanish Doughnuts. It's pretty similar, but less tough and more soft. With very faint cinnamon tastes as compared to Churrosity's, these churros excel at a perfectly timed frying duration for the delicious crisp you are looking for. I might in fact, come back for this if I'm in the area.Common Man Coffee Roasters exceeded my expectations in many ways even though I was already carrying pretty high hopes on the way there! I've heard so many good reviews about it and have finally seen it for myself. I wished you could be here to enjoy this too, so if you haven't... you know what to do.…Read More

When I asked around among coffee lovers I know or drink coffee with about cafes in Singapore, Common Man Coffee Roasters (C'mon man from now) came out as an interesting good place to visit. I quite hesitated from my experience in Hong Kong with Five Senses, the roaster C’mon man has a close relationship with. You can try an iteration of Five Senses in Hong Kong at Cafe Deadend. Still, let see how the 'enthusiast' talks translate into the real experience.C'mon man is located at AIG Building so the address itself should add $$$ to the price. It's not obvious to see the shop from the street as the stainless steel facade and trees kinda block the shopfront a bit so be on the look out when you enter the leafy Martin road. After the cab dropped me off (the cab driver is very kind, making sure I reach the right destination) and I walked closer to the window, there stood a Giesen roaster staring right back at me, kinda greeted me in a way as if it says 'hello/welcome' to good coffee, considering how prominent it shows itself at the window. I was told there were other larger roasters, 45kg IIRC, at its factory/warehouse somewhere far away in Singapore also. Sound impressive, indeed.The counter is long and I kinda like it from the look. C'mon man sports two Uber boilers so I guess they have lots of filter coffee business. This is interesting as I initially thought cafe with Aussie influence will go after the espresso market mostly as the Aussie/NZ seemed to be an espresso nation. Things change, I guess. For espresso, C'mon man uses Synesso and it is likely a two group painted matt black like The Cupping Room in Hong Kong. Its grinders are likely Mazzer as I didn't really see it clearly, sitting at the other end of the counter. In addition, staff has a cool vibe almost on the border of doing too much but not quite so it's good. While the picture did not show most of the cafe, it is a sit down service with waiters/waitresses serving you food so that's a part of the reason why it is $$$. You pay for the cool vibe naked light bulb hipster kinda thing too, I guess.Once I sat at the counter, I see the tongue in cheek advertising/wordings which seem to be a theme as I saw lots in Singapore. Not just for this trip but anytime I visit Singapore. If you like it... Looking toward the right from where I sat, it is the pastry/cake glass container and the cash register, which takeout orders were taken. In front of the cash register, there were bags of coffee for you to take home. I didn't buy any. This is what I saw in front of me on the counter. Peppershaker and utensil container are understandable but the amber glass bottle... What is it for? Salt that can't resist light? It turned out to be a sort of brown sugar I grew up having it with glass jelly and bean curd. This type of sugar is not what I found in HK café, AFAIR. Mostly what is used over in Hong Kong is just an unbleached sugar which does not add/insert much of its taste into the cup. However, this 'brown' sugar is probably closer to Muscovado or something like that which adds taste to the thing you add. I really wonder why C'mon man needs to use this type of sugar to "adulterate" the taste of good coffee. Growing up with it I know what it tastes like so I skip.The price here at C’mon man is on a steep side. Dishes here are mostly in the S$20s which is very expensive for breakfast for me. I saw lots post Egg Benedict so I get one. Egg Benedict looked even more strange in the real thing with those veggie and strange sauce on top with not what I expect kinda bread under. Twisted and weird in a way. Instead of English muffin, the sour dough bread has a crust that is hard to almost impervious to the knife and my teeth. The meat that got sandwiched between the egg and the bread tasted similar to an ox tongue but I found out later it is the ox cheek. It is the highlight of the dish, soft and tasty enough to round things up nicely. The hollandaise sauce, if you want to call it that way, was bearable only. Neither good nor bad. Just some liquid to add some moisture to dish. The egg itself wasn’t anything to write home about. To nitpicking it, the egg yolk does not have much eggy taste to it like what is common in Hong Kong and the egg white was a bit too harden for poaching but nothing is really bad or good in particular. It’s eatable afterall. While the cooking may not be totally bad, this shows that how important the quality of the material is to the dish. If you prefer to try something new and pay $$$ for it, this dish is for you. Not bad but I would rather they serve it in a more traditional way.This is a coffee roaster and a café so the highlight should be the coffee itself. I made my first coffee order with cappuccino. I need to specify that I don't want any chocolate/cocoa powder with my cappuccino as from my own experience drinking coffee at cafe with roots from Australia/New Zealand it is very common to shake chocolate powder in once you call for cappuccino. I don’t recall it elsewhere and I prefer my milk drink with no powdery stuff. Why do one require ‘additives’ if the coffee itself is good.Cappuccino was served on a hot side to my liking. The coffee had those yogurt/curdled milk tasting note, which should not be in the drink and I don't like it at all. It had something like caramel and spice at the back but the curdled milk was so distracting I began to lose track on any other taste except the unpleasant sourness in the cup that the coffee steals the show from the milk in a not so nice way. The cup is trying hard to be complex with lots of taste, which, to me, is an overdone in a way. Fortunately, its frothed milk had a decent texture but that's the only good thing I can say about this. I can only finish half of the coffee as the colder the drink gets, the less palatable it becomes to me with all those coffee base making itself known like a spoiled child seeking for your attention. The sweetness and texture of frothed milk and its milk frothing skill were hard to get appreciated if the coffee base was designed this way to be so aggressive. Still, one can insist on calling it by the book but I won't call it delicious. Ok. Better than nothing if I live here in Singapore. Sometimes lots of skill and effort won’t return a good cup of coffee. This seems to be one of them.After sitting at the counter for a while, my knees began to get hurt, rubbing with this wavy marble with super sharp angle. Is this a wrong design or by design not to let any customer sit there for long? It is just half an hour into my stay at the café and I didn't feel good while I'm still waiting for more coffees. Whatever the reason of the design is, it failed on the level of comfort and is not good in my opinion as a customer here.Espresso of its house blend (I believe it's call CMCR espresso). It is a boasty blend no wonder it shows up aggressively in the milk on the bold side. However, as a black coffee it is too overwhelmed, IMHO. Intense liquid on a thick side with a grapefruit tone but it does not flow nicely, more like an orchestra without the conductor everything just raced to show that they are there. The pull is kinda ok in a way and could be partly due to the contribution of the cup clarity from Synesso. However, the coffee has a hint of almost savory but not quite kinda feel. IMHO, this type of coffee is not easy to design/formulate/roast etc. Still, I don’t get it while one needs to use all the skill to go extra mile for this kind of taste.It might work well with those palates that are fatigue with lots of cups of coffee as it further pushes the taste bud but for me I would rather have something I can call delicious and balance than a torture like this. Also, this type of coffee could be an interesting first start for newbie in a sense that they may want to know how different coffee can be vs. Starbucks and, of course, is a cause for them to find out more about good coffee later in the journey. And, yes, it got a trademarked roasty tone at the back. I don't like this taste, which lasts so long for hours in my mouth no matter what attempt you try to rinse this nasty bits down with any drink. Some enthusiasts told me why one has to pay for a coffee just to leave you mouth with dirty tasting notes and further need to buy another drink to try to wash those uncomfortable feeling away.Nevertheless, C'mon man serves its espresso with a small bottle of soda water to clean you palate. An Aussie roaster told me about this trick a while back on drinking coke or any carbonated beverage to help reduce those nasty dark roast taste at the back that stays in your mouth hours on end after coffee. In a way, you feel like being 'hypnotized' and when you wake up, i.e. after drinking soda water, which is equivalent to you leaving the shop, you might not feel those roasty tone in your mouth any more. Nice touch indeed. Nevertheless, some of this dirty back is quite stubborn to deal with and will come back to haunt you hours later no matter how you try to forget/get rid of them. Of course, unless you like it… For me, I try not to drink the soda water right away during all of my coffee at C’mon man to see how much and how far it will torture me. I gave them a chance to the last drop to see how far the coffee will deliver as they might be a good thing at the back no matter how tiny the chance is. Nevertheless, for your own good, I highly suggest you drink soda water to the benefit of your taste bud and to be fair to next cafes you plan to visit right after this one.For really good coffee, you don’t need soda and you are supposed to enjoy the aftertaste as long as it lasts, IMHO.The very nice barista gave me a small cup of the sample of microlot Guatemala that just came in last week. Brewed via Aeropress, it reminds me my experience years back at Toby's Estate just across the road toward the river at 8 Rodyk Street that I remember the tone vividly, i.e. light roast not there yet/almost grassy but showing that it seems to try very very hard to be different but... It is almost as grassy like light roast Colombian coffee in the old days. I think the bean quality is good but the roasting approach is the issue for me. As I'm not a fan of almost grassy coffee like the first cup, I order another Guat that C’mon man carried as I'm a fan of Central American coffee. Nevertheless, I got the same tone as the first one in the cup but more mellowed, probably due to the age of coffee if I have to guess. The brew was watery at the back which indicated the level of the brew skill. I can't sense any obvious overextraction but with the roast profile like this it is hard for me to really focus or concentrate on the cup, let alone drinking it. I give a benefit of the doubt the brew was ok and can be better then but definitely not a cup of coffee I enjoy to drink. It was aeropressed by the same nice barista.Anytime I had coffee in Singapore, the final bill usually shocked me. This one was no exception. Imagine I have to stay there, pay this much for coffee and have the quality of the cups I had. I wonder how long I will continue to drink “artisan” coffee. I might have to resort to Starbucks which should be less expensive and is drinkable in a way. While I can't say this is a bad coffee as it is not, I have a hard time accepting/understanding what they try to accomplish with this type of coffee.At the end of the day, I am very impressed with the hospitality Singaporean shows to me and C'mon man’s staff is no exception. C'mon man did lots of things right to the service and that's the good side I will remember for this cafe. On the coffee, I can't recommend people to drink here unless you missed a taste of home, being adventurous or, OMG, you really like it! Yes, we all have different preferences but even that I had a hard time understanding why people want to drink this type of coffee. Yes, your mileage may vary... :) The OK rating I gave was actually on a borderline which benefits significantly from the level of service I receive over there. Coffee itself to me is a 'crying' face.…Read More

The cafe was pretty spacious and there were quite a few kind of seats available - there was a big round communal table, normal square tables and bar seats. I had the Organic Eggs Benedict $25, which comprises of chive hollandaise, 2 organic poached eggs and pulled braised ox cheeks on sourdough toast, with rocket leaves on the side. The eggs were EXCELLENT, yolk was runny and even the egg white was just slightly runny. I also loved the hollandaise which was a little different from the usual ones you get from other places because of the addition of chives. The pulled ox cheeks were also lovely, moist and tender and flavourful. However I still do feel that the price is a bit much, definitely not for the common man. Their service was also pretty good - the staff were prompt and friendly and they refilled our cups on their own accord, something that I don't really notice in many brunch places in Singapore.…Read More

For more reviews, visit www.ms-skinnyfat.comCommon Man Coffee Roasters has been creating waves on the coffee scene. Well, with the partnership of indie coffee father Harry Grover of 40 Hands, Australia’s Five Senses Coffee and the lifestyle conglomerate Spa Spirit Group, it is no wonder why and how CMCR is drawing in the crowd.Located at 22 Martin Road, Common Man Coffee Roasters join the many artisan coffee shops e.g. Kith Cafe, Toby's Estate, Smitten in the Robertson enclave to provide us, brunch hungry Singaporeans with a reason to wake early on weekends. Be prepared to wait for your table but be thankful that breakfast doesn't run out because they serve an All Day Breakfast menu. The decor and vibe is very Aussie. I like the cool bar seats which plays with varying heights. And those spotlights sure do make me feel like i'm on Broadway.I can't help but notice the sign behind the bar that says "Free Coffee and Doughnuts for the Unemployed". Well i don't see any doughnuts on the menu and you definitely would be paying an arm or leg for the pricey food that is served at CMCR. Really there is nothing Common Man about the prices. I mean god.. what did eggs become so expensive in Singapore?Ignoring the little dishes for breakfast, the heartier options like the Common Man Full Breakfast, Turkish CM Breakfast are all in the mid 20s range. I have no qualms with spending 30 bucks on brunch with coffee but even i am feeling the pinch here. Expect higher prices for the lunch menu. Desserts also go at a whooping $12.Organic Eggs Benedict ($24) with two poached eggs on top of tender braised ox cheeks and lightly toasted artisanal sourdough toast. This has been raved about by many. Well, at least it is a fresh take on the typical (but always satisfying) Eggs Ben.The meat was very tender, the eggs flawlessly poached and the hollandaise sauce was rich and creamy in terms of texture. Everything felt rich i.e. on the oily side but it was a bland dish. I was expecting the braised ox cheeks to be more umami but it was just meaty. The hollandaise also lacked the tangy citrus taste. The richness of the dish was a little discomforting towards the end of the meal so it was a good thing that the portion is small?My Mocha ($6) was stellar. W judges V and i and anyone who orders mocha because he feels that it conceals the quality of the coffee with the cloying sweetness from the chocolate. However, this mocha was nicely perfumed with the intense chocolate aroma and i thought it enhanced the flavor of the smooth coffee.Common Man Coffee Roasters isn't for the common man but it's ok to indulge in an expensive plate of eggs once in a while i guess.…Read More

Full Common Man Coffee Roasters review here: http://ivanteh-runningman.blogspot.sg/2013/12/common-man-coffee-roasters.htmlA unique partnership between Harry Grover, Five Senses Coffee (Australia), and the Spa Esprit Group, Common Man Coffee Roasters strives to make top-notch coffee accessible to the general public, in a comfortable, casual bistro setting, along with delicious food and friendly service. Pushing the boundaries and experimenting with various coffee flavour profiles, Common Man Coffee Roasters looks set to forge new paths in the coffee arena.Ambience at Common Man Coffee Roasters is casual, with bright lights and wooden furniture lending a casual, laid-back vibe to the place. Outdoor dining is available, as is bar counter dining, and Common Man Coffee Roasters generally is buzzing with activity. Coffee is used as the decor theme, and I like that the laboratory apparatus gives the counter a 'science lab' feel.Service at Common Man Coffee Roasters is friendly, though staff are generally rushing about because of the busy place. But they do give you their full attention when speaking, and don't look distracted. Food is prepared to order, but the wait time is also relatively short. I like that staff seem friendly and chatty.The speciality at Common Man Coffee Roasters is of course, coffee. Carefully sourced coffee beans are used to make each flavourful cup. But the food available is also decently priced, tasty, and portions are generous. Common Man Coffee Roasters does a rather healthy all day-brunch menu, as most dishes come with loads of salad. The Green Pea Fritters, 2 Poached Organic Eggs, Crispy Pancetta, Rocket & Balsamic Syrup has 2 green pea fritters topped with softly poached eggs, covered in a salad. Looks really healthy and garden-like, and I loved the unique flavour of the green pea fritters! The eggs were perfectly executed, and I had fun using the fritters to mop up the runny yolk.…Read More

Common Man Coffee Roasters has got to be one of the hottest brunch spots since it opened a couple of months back, and i'm glad to have snagged a seat here. perks of being an early bird - this cafe opens its doors from 8am daily, so there's a good reason for you to get up early for a hearty breakfast! the prices, as you may have heard, are probably beyond what you'd think a "common man" should pay, but being a collaboration between 40 hands' owner/barista, Australia's Five Senses Coffee and under the Spa Esprit Group's management, you can be sure of the quality of food, and of course, top-notch coffee. okay, i have to concede that i'm not a coffee drinker (i do feel it's a pity sometimes, with all these fantastic coffee joints popping up all over the place, but i still prefer my sleep more ), but i can guarantee that i felt the food was awesome. and it's not everywhere that you can get a Middle-Eastern brunch (the other would be Artichoke, so i would say the premium you pay is well worth your buck.there are several must-tries at CMCR, and the Turkish Common Man Breakfast ($25) is one of them. a hearty serving of goodness on a plate, and i hardly know where to start! the pyllo-wrapped soft boiled organic egg was the pièce de résistance with its crisp bird's nest structured art encasing a delectable egg, which spilled a gorgeous runny yolk. the fresh cucumber and tomatoes lived up to their claim perfectly, with the tomatoes absolutely reminding me of those i had in italy! mind you, i've hadn't had such wonderful tomatoes since i got back to singapore (i wonder where they bought these tomatoes from!! i want them too!!). the crispy feta had a sharp savoury flavour, and it came perched atop a lovely bed of hummus. with fluffy pita bread to seal the deal, this was a dish to-die-for. now, i'd come here not wanting to eat eggs benedict initially, because i'd been having consecutively for quite a few sundays (i'm a big fan). but when i saw the description "tender braised ox cheeks", i just had to order it. *shrugs* i'm just greedy like that haha. and i was rewarded with this delicious goodness of Organic Eggs Benedict, which is no doubt more pricey than many other places at a whopping $24, but so absolutely worth it look at that flowy yolk!!! i have a thing for flowy yolks. in eggs benedict, in ramen, in custard buns (kinda). you name it, i love it ;) the chive hollandaise was an interesting twist on the sauce, and i liked how it lent an extra herb-y aroma to this dish. i sank my teeth into the incredibly tender ox cheeks that sat on artisanal sourdough toast and...my life is complete :) haha. you must order this too!!read the complete review (with more photos) at http://thelittlemomentsofmylife.blogspot.sg/2013/11/common-man-coffee-roasters.html :)…Read More

I heard that this place was opened by the same people behind Tiong Bahru Bakery and served breakfast food, so I went down to try it out. It was hard to miss the cafe as it had a very unique entrance (with stairs) as compared to the other shops in the area. Being there around 10+ am in the morning, it was almost exclusively filled with Caucasians and we were directed to the left side with the long empty table.You can't go to "Coffee Roasters" without drinking their coffee, so I got a cup of latte and it was really smooth. It wasn't too bitter and I did not have to add any sugar, so I really loved it. Of course, the latte art was beautiful.On to the main meal, I ordered the Common Man Full Breakfast. The eggs are organic and free-range and can be done in any style, so I went with poached. I felt that it wasn't really well done though as the yolk did not smoothly flow out upon breaking. On the other hand, my dad ordered the Organic Eggs Benedict (I wasn't too excited about ox cheeks) and his eggs were poached better than mine. The tomato salsa tasted kinda weird so I didn't use it in the end. I absolutely loved the hash brown and beans because they were something special. The hash brown was like a thin flat pancake and you could still see the potato in shreds. I loved the tomato-based sauce of the beans and felt they went well together. The rest were pretty standard: bacon, sausage, mushrooms. The downside would be the prices - it costs almost 20 bucks for a dish. Even though the food was good, I didn't think it warranted such high prices. I'd prefer getting my breakfast from Tiong Bahru Bakery.…Read More

For full review and photos: http://gninethree.com/2013/10/11/common-man-coffee-roasters/The hottest collaboration in town at the moment is none other than the one located at 22 Martin Road. Two month old Common Man Coffee Roasters upped the ante by pulling out the big guns, bringing together Spa Esprit Group, Harry Grover from 40 Hands and Five Senses Coffee (Australia) for the trendiest concept cafe of the season.Setting itself apart from other specialty coffee places, CMCR instead serves up a bevy of Middle-Eastern influenced all-day-breakfast items such as the Common Man Full Veggie Breakfast which features halloumi & free-range organic eggs, and the Turkish Common Man Breakfast with phyllo-wrapped soft boiled eggs, crispy feta with hummus and pita bread. Lunch options too are exotic with the likes of Baked Beetroot with feta cheese or Quinoa Salad with yoghurt & mint.Our Common Man Burger $28 from the Lunch menu stood tall and was packed with layers of provolone, grilled tomatoes, caramelized onions and of course a 100% ground rib-eye patty. The flavors were spot on with the fluffy brioche bun pulling all the elements together with a single bite, a huge one of course. And while I personally thought that the patty could be a tad less tough and a little less well done, that would just be me being fussy. Served with a cup of crisp and salty fries for a complete picture.Next was the highly raved about Organic Eggs Benedict $24 which came with braised ox cheeks instead because slices of ham are simply too pedestrian. And boy oh boy did it live up to expectations. Every single bit of it. For starters, the two organic eggs were poached so perfectly that not only did the yolk ooze out but the whites also had great consistency and texture. The ox cheeks were plain flavorful and so beautifully tender, it just melted in our mouth. And that lovely butter chive hollandaise made it all too easy to enjoy with the sourdough.The space itself is spacious with a long communal table taking centre stage and plenty of room between smaller tables to have conversations that do not cramp your style. Bar counter seats are also available for those who wish to watch the barista pull their coffee. Overall, ambiance is great and food surprisingly good, just come prepared to spend a little more than a common man would for a meal.…Read More

While being very new, Common Man Coffee Roasters was packed during the weekends, with pumping music, a coffee counter like a bar and coffee lovers who seem to be the usual Robertson Quay type. The cock décor in the middle, serves to remind us of Kiasu Coffee at 100AM, also owned by them. Despite being called ‘Common Man’ and wanting to making the cafe “more accessible to the greater public”, the prices are not very ‘common man’. The Organic Eggs Benedict goes for $24, Full Breakfast $26, Common Man Rib-eye burger at $28, Boneless chicken $25 and desserts such as churros, mango panna cotta and crème caramel at $12 – possibly one of the highest ranged around. I decided I have enough of the usual poached eggs with bacon and sausage and went for the Organic Eggs Benedict ($24) with two poached eggs on top of tender braised ox cheeks and lightly toasted artisanal sourdough toast.These eggs oozed, and Oh-my-goodness, the combination with the rich melting tender-licious cheeks makes Common Man’s version a class of their own. After taking the first bite, I told myself “This is possibly one of the best eggs ben I had in Singapore” and told my friend You-Must-Have-This. I just had too many lousy eggs ben, and THIS was different. I was recommended the Turkish Common Man Breakfast ($25), not usually a common choice. Unsuspectingly, I cut open the ‘ball’ in the middle and out busted bright yellow yolk. I really didn’t know that phyllo-wrapped thing with crispy feta which looked like a Cantonese dim sum yam ball is actually soft-boiled egg. (Check out my #instavideo on @DanielFoodDiary). Common Man Coffee Roasters is one of the few cafes around which does serve both good coffee and food. A pity about the desserts and the price, which came up to a 3 figure sum! The people will come packing anyway.Review at: http://danielfooddiary.com/2013/08/21/commonmancoffeeroasters…Read More