Bloggers Outing: Spruce

Trust me when I say I look forward to each and every single one of these outings that I try to organise every month for my fellow food bloggers, and even more so when it has been a long while now since our last outing at Halia. Some of us finally managed to free ourselves (even if momentarily) from our truckloads of work and hectic schedules to make it for a mini group outing at my favourite Spruce. As always, here's the guest list for the day!

Daniel from Memoirs of Food
Harris from The Simplest Aphrodisiac
Zaylene (and Sister) from This Is Yummy
Fen and Yuan from Indulgence After Work-Out

Yeap, not the biggest outing but it's as cosy as it gets. Much thanks must go to Ice for helping me with the reservations, especially when Spruce first forgot about my reservation (promised to call back, but didn't) and then cancelled Ice's tentative reservation for us, barely two hours after her call. Without letting such "service" affect our moods, we trooped happily down to Spruce :)

The Spruce Burger


The Spruce Burger is undoubtedly Spruce's signature and many have raved about this charming burger. I've eaten a lot of burgers since I started this blog (more than enough so much so that you don't see me waxing lyrical again and again about just one Bukit Timah eatery) and I dare say that whilst the Spruce Burger is good, it isn't exactly impressive either. The patty was a little overdone for medium-well and wasn't as tender as I expected it to be. I added a fried egg for good measure and it helped things, a bit. Hand cut chips were too sparse for a potato fan like me.

Spruce Eggs Benny on a Corn Waffle with Leg Bacon


Some bloggers swear by this innovation of the classic Eggs Benedict, and aesthetically it does look pretty, like a little canyon with yellow waterfalls. Zaylene and Fen who had this felt the eggs and Hollandaise sauce were good, but the oily waffle seemed to have ruined the rest of it. Zay Zay remarked that she prefers Halia's Poached Egg with Crisp Back Bacon.

Banana Hotcakes, Honeycomb Butter and Blueberry Syrup


Zaylene's sister had the hotcakes, but it turned out to be a major disappointment. I thought they seemed quite dry in fact, a case of too little maple syrup surely, and I hear that the blueberry syrup didn't have a very appetising aftertaste. As much as I wouldn't mind the little bits of crumble for that extra crunch, the girls on the other hand didn't seem to like those morsels lying around. And oh, what honeycomb butter, if I may ask?

Nevertheless, this remains a good venue for brunch. I still prefer my previous orders at Spruce of course, but fantastic company was the highlight and order of the day. Thank you fellas for a wonderful Sunday :)

Service
Good, but the staff could be more polite and helpful when helping to make reservations on the phone.

Price
$17.00 for the spruce burger
+$2.00 for bacon
+$2.00 for fried egg
$12.00 for the spruce eggs benny
$13.00 for the banana hotcakes

* Prices subject to the usual 7% GST and 10% service charge.

Place
320 Tanglin Road, Phoenix Park.
Two bus-stops away from Redhill MRT Station with SBS Bus 132.

Pictures taken with the Canon EOS 500D.