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Introduction
Proud to have amassed a steady following throughout the decade, the Spruce name is synonymous with bona fide burgers, brunch favourites, and impressive collection of wine, whiskey, cognac, beer, and cocktails.
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Good For
Brunch
Opening Hours
Mon
Closed
Tue - Fri
11:00 - 22:30
Sat - Sun
09:00 - 22:30
Public Holiday
09:00 - 10:30
Above information is for reference only. Please check details with the restaurant.
Signature Dishes
For more details, please visit http://www.foodesteem.com/2015/09/spruce.html I haven't been to Spruce before, and I gave my first to the outlet at Phoenix Park after hearing the food at Tanglin fare better than at Upper Bukit Timah. Spruce is a modern American casual dining concept, and is open for lunch and dinner. From the exterior seating, it may seem like you are dining in a forest theme, where tall trees are towering the top and almost covering the entire stretch of the open sides. Gentle tip from my friend who is a regular fan of Camomile Hot Tea. Get the honey instead of sugar to blend with the camomile. It makes the tea taste better, and also promote a healthier drinking method with its antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. Bernaised Truffle Fries ($10.00). Spruce only serve normal fries during the day, but without much persuasion and knowing that we would like to have truffle fries instead, the manager is kind to accede to our special request, which is usually only served during dinner. Bernaised sauce is like an evolution of the widely-known Hollandaise sauce, where preparation is the same. This smooth and creamy sauce taste less eggy and comes with a light touch of herb. Definitely my choice now if I am able to choose. Soft Scrambled Eggs ($18.00). Two pieces of light-toasted bread with a portion of almost well-done scrambled eggs, topped with smoked salmon and caviar. Crab Cake Benny ($25.00), is one of four Benedict Collection in Spruce. I really have to complement on the crab cake. Lightly-fried on the outer, and came out the shredded-like crab meat when sliced. If you are looking for normal food, where it's not just the usual toast and eggs, Pork Bolognese ($22.00) can be one of your options of the 7 items under the Savory section of the menu. Double Chocolate Caramel Crunch Cake ($12.00). The immerse chocolate-y taste and crunchy bits is well shared among the 3 of us, and licked clean off the plate. For more details, please visit http://www.foodesteem.com/2015/09/spruce.html
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Located in the ula ula area of Phoenix Park, one of the white and black houses housed this restaurant. There is both indoor and outdoor dine in area. But when I visit the place today, I could only sit outdoor as the air-con is having problem. The place is not crowded and is quite cooling and relaxing with dim lights on top.Ahi Tuna Tartar ($24++)Avocado, ciabatta, fresh tunaA tantalising platter of tuna tartare served with freshly toasted ciabatta bread and slices of fresh avocado.The tuna is light marinated and tastes quite refreshing fresh. The only letdown is that the bread is not hot.Clam “Chowda” ($15++)Grilled parsley crouton & smoked paprikaAlthough thick and creamy, the soup is a bit too salty for me.Baked Ginger Date Pudding Ala Mode ($15++)Lovely Baked Ginger Date Pudding served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.The pudding is soft and moist, and balances well with the cold ice cream, thick chocolate sauce and crumbles, although I wish there is more crumble to have.Overall the food is not bad, but priced a bit on the high side. Service is not bad, as staffs often come by to check on me.
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Full review:http://dairycream.blogspot.sg/2014/10/amex-30-licious-awesome-dining-deals-at.htmlDined through the Amex 30-licious promotion for the valuable set dinner here. The #30liciousAmex here features a House Salad, a Main and choice of beverage (coffee/tea/soft drink/in-house lemondade above) The House Salad is a class of its own , relished with truly sweet juicy tomatoes and unique champagne dressing that has a nice vinegrette tang to perk up our appetites. House Salad with choice of Champagne/Honey Djon or Ranch DressingFor the mains, the pastas are really the showstoppers, because they were so confidently delivered that you thought you were dining in an authentic Italian trattorias. The Signature Prawn Pasta looked like anything, but a prawn pasta. This inventive dish born out of Spruce's first-generation American head chef to mark its opening, has been a popular mainstayer on the menu. Luxuriously coated with spinach and zuchinni puree, the orecchiette (cat-ear) pasta is tossed with chopped sea prawns and savoury zucchini bits. Brilliantly peppered with grana padano cheese, the flavours are superior than an average basil pesto pasta; strong, garlicky without letting your fork paused for any moment. This is probably the tastiest prawn pasta I've ever had. The Squid Ink Pasta Carbonara is also too good to share. Being a carbonara fan, there have been many scary encounters of bad cabonaras being either too watered-down or too dry. This achieved the right consistency, though it could be less salty since there were already rewarding amounts of smoky bacon in the creamy swimming pool. The oven-roasted Chicken Pullet might not eclipsed the pastas in terms of richness in taste but it does have the power to win on its natural flavour. Served with rosemary velouté sauce, the effect is of simplicity rather than showiness.Desserts are not available as part of #30liciousAmex but if you like to have a sweet ending like me, there is a simple yet achingly fragrant Pandan Creme Brûlée. The Baked Ginger Date Pudding (below) is not too intimidatingly dense as the classic American sticky date pudding. Fluffy with undertones of ginger, the cake itself was, in fact, not sweet unless you lap it up recklessly with the Kapiti Ice Cream and chocolate toffee sauce. Alternatively if you prefer a course that has a dessert, head to the Firestation Outlet where its lunch promotion features a choice of drink, side salad with different menu for mains (roasted chicken/vegetarian pasta in Aglio Olio or Tomato base) and a dessert of chocolate cake. This double layer chocolate sponge inter-layered with a winning salted caramel sauce and crunchy chocolate pearls was served chilled, a pity because the smooth texture was locked up a solidified form and the sponge lost its moisture. Besides the food, the Phoenix Park outlet actually houses a playground, a courtyard and an alfresco area that can total accommodate nearly 200 pax. No wonder it has been a popular location for families and events such as garden theme weddings or solemnization. But all these plus points will not distract me from the fact that Spruce dishes up solidly good mains. This reality alone, is sufficient to bring me back for more.
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My last entry on Spruce was about 5 years ago and as I remember, food quality was merely average save for the beef burger. After all these years, it was time to see if things had changed.Brunch was a cheerier affair (as opposed to my initial dinner dining experience), with sunlight poring into the cafe and soft music playing in the background. Unlike 5 years ago, it didn't feel as stuffy and unwelcoming, probably due to the apparent difficulty in securing a reservation back then (I still think its a deliberate hype to get people interested in the place as the place wasn't exactly full when I dined there).Spruce Mac & Cheese - The Mac & Cheese sported an unevenly baked top (one side was pale and the other was golden brown) coupled with a mildly creamy macaroni center. I personally liked the crunchy cheese bits but would have liked the cheese to be gooey. Overall a very average rendition.The Tuna Burger - I honestly wouldn't had known that the patty was made from tuna if not for the name of the burger; The tuna taste was seriously lacking. I appreciated the touch of crispiness on the surface of the patty though. An average at best burger and not something I would ever order again.Spruce Signature Burger - One of the main draws of Spruce, it's namesake burger. And it was as good as I remembered it to be. Well, almost. The moist patty was done medium as per my request with a nice uneven texture and a natural beefy taste. Topped with cheese, bacon lettuce and pickles (I personally like how the sourness of the pickles cuts through the semi molten cheese), it made for a great eat. Only gripe I had was the bun, which could do with more grilling and probably some butter. Oh and the fries were a little limp.American Apple Pie Ala Mode - We were informed that the apple pie was one of the best sellers at Spruce. And it was difficult to understand why. For starters, the back crust was way too thick and lacked the oven baked taste that I personally like. Also, the apple slices were rather bland and things might have been better if raisins were thrown into the equation. Truth be told, apart from the rather generic vanilla bean ice cream, the only thing that I found palatable was the lumpy biscuit crumble that sat under the ice cream.Brunch cost the both of us just over $81 which wasn't really that expensive per se but factor in the quality of food and the value for money factor tumbles a few notches. Honestly the only thing that I liked about Spruce was it's burger, nothing else. Service seemed to have gone down a bit over the years. Will I be back? Maybe after a long hiatus but only for the burger.See all my pictures at http://www.timelessfacade.com/2014/06/spruce-part-ii.html
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Went to Spruce for lunch today and we ordered a Tuna Burger and Tagliatelle (pork bolognese sauce).The environment was pretty, the al fresco dining is much better than the indoors (maybe it was too chilly inside). The service was prompt and staff were friendly. But thats all it has to it, the food was not so impressive as the decor and staff.Surprising that we could request for the Tuna Burger (Tuna patty) to be cooked medium, rare or well done! Not sure how this is going to affect the taste a lot, but I guess we can choose how juicy we want it to be!In the end, the Tuna Burger was so-so and the fries were nicer. But too little fries! Didn't feel that it was worth S$20.The Tagliatelle failed to impress either. The sauce was too salty (like way too salty, had to drink a few cups of water), although it was a generous serving of minced pork. The pasta 'noodles' were nicer, but a little too hard. It was not cooked al dente (i.e. QQ texture, springy cooked but still retains some hardness in it - wiki says cooked to the bite).Not a lot of restaurants serve pasta al dente, so all is forgiven.Would recommend everyone NOT to get the Tagliatelle because it does not offer much on taste. I visited Spruce at Tanglin and Bukit Timah, both did not impress me a lot and I do not think I will be visiting Spruce any time soon.
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