My friend suggested we come to Five Oars after our weekly hike. As with most brunch places at the weekend we had to queue. Fortunately we got a table relatively quickly. I ordered the crab scramble which consisted of shredded crab on scramble egg, avocado, cherry tomatoes,feta cheese on sour dough toast with ebiko and furikake sprinkled on top. When the dish arrived the presentation was very good with ample scramble egg that was cooked well and ripe avocado. Overall the dish was OK but the crab meat was tasteless, dare I say it tasted like it was from a can. My friend had the build your own brunch lite (no photo), her feed back was that the brunch was good except the German Pork Bratwurst which didn’t wasn’t very good and ended up not finishing it. We both had black coffees which were good. Overall I liked the vibe of the place and will return to try other items on the menu in particular creme brûlée French toast.

I had the day off so wandered into Orchard for lunch. I walked past Nakajima and noticed a queue, even though I don’t like queuing but since I was on leave I decided to give it a try. I ordered the Akauo Hiraki set which consisted of a piece of grilled Akauo, rice, tofu, radishes, miso soup and green tea.
When the set arrived it looked very apprising. The fish nicely grilled and aroma from the miso soup. I tucked in and was disappointed, the fish didn’t have much taste and was overly salty. I am not sure this was because the fish was previously frozen or that the meat doesn’t have much taste. The plus point was the miso soup was very flavoursome and salad was fresh. Even though the fish wasn’t very good I did like the concept of the restaurant and will go back to try other items on the menu.

For me Pho is all about the broth, if it’s good the rest normally falls into place. I’ve not had a good Pho in awhile so I decide to check out the So Pho chain. The menu has most of the common Vietnamese dishes. I order the combo Pho with sliced beef, brisket and balls and also a Vietnamese drip coffee. The Pho arrives in no time along with the bean sprouts, chilli and lime. I add these to the bowl and then as with all Pho’s I eat I take the spoon/ladle and take a sip of the soup. And as expected it’s mediocre, it doesn’t have the Pho taste and is too salty. I say expected as I’ve come to terms that it’s going to be awhile till I find a good Pho.
Overall the noodles, beef balls, brisket and sliced beef were also OK. As for portion size it’s average but I must say there was a generous amount of slice beef. The Vietnamese coffee was good. I’m going to give the taste a two due to the saltiness of the soup. For service I’ll give a four as the staff were attentive and smiling.
If anyone has recommendations for Pho please let me know.

Decide to grab breakfast from PB a this little shiny bacon sweet roll caught my eye, there is a chilli version however I didn’t think my stomach could handle heat in the morning. When back at the office I plate and cut the bacon roll, inside revealed a layer of pastry and rolled around egg and herbs.
I take a bite of this delightful looking roll and my first response is that it’s a little too sweet.
It is good but if the amount of honey was reduced and the bread thicker/more dense to complement the bacon and egg it would be a winner. And because it’s too sweet for my palate (yes I know it’s a sweet bacon roll) it drops down to a two star as I won’t be ordering it again.

It suddenly started to down pour so I stopped in Raffles City for a coffee. I stumble across J.Co and order the Glazzy (glazed ring donut) and an Americano to balance the sweetness. The coffee was medium strength with a hint of sourness. The donut not overly sweet but I didn’t like the chewy texture of the dough. It’s OK but not to my taste so I probably won’t be coming again. As for the environment, the seating area was clean and staff helpful.