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.

Coast @ 1 TwentySix

I love weekend brunches. Never mind if you have to get up earlier than usual on a weekend, and never mind that you normally feel lazy thereafter. Weekends are really meant to pamper yourself after a tiring week, and who would sincerely (without the slightest bit of reluctance) say no to the smell of scrambled eggs, baked sausages, french toasts and maple syrup? I know it would be a big yes for me :)


Just a couple of steps into Coast @ 1 TwentySix is enough for you to realise how quintessentially "1 Rochester" this is, and true enough it belongs to the same group of restaurants and has a sister in 1 Caramel as well. Service here, contrary to the negative reviews on the Hungrygowhere forum, is excellent - the wait staff were friendly, polite and professional throughout our brunch. I'm guessing they have worked very hard to clean up their act, which is commendable.


You can say I was pretty enthralled by the ambience of 1 TwentySix, where you can choose to sit at the patio facing the sea or else take sanctuary in their tastefully designed private garden. For the pampered city children, there's indoor, air-conditioned seating too, not to mention air-conditioned washrooms. The latter is a much welcomed space if you want to take a cool respite from the warm and humid weather.

Buttermilk Pancakes
With grilled bananas, strawberries and maple syrup


Like Spruce, Riders Cafe and Epicurious, 1 TwentySix serves a signature burger as well and I would definitely have ordered it if not for the fact that it was not available for the morning! I settled with the pancakes, which were good because they were fluffy and buttery and had the sweet company of banana slices and strawberries. The only problem is that the serving is not filling enough, and for $5.50 less you could get the same portion from Riders Cafe.

Breakfast Platter


My delightful company for the day had the breakfast platter, which consists of an array of "eggs with sausage, honey baked ham, bacon, hash browns, baked beans, baked tomato and toast". Lest you would think that is a lot, do note the singular tense for most of the items. We both felt it just wasn't hearty enough, and somehow or another I'm left daydreaming about my favourite brunch at Spruce.


Still, the ambience here is great and I hear it's also a good place for drinks, snacks and live music at night. Thus, while 1 TwentySix may not score impressively well for the food served at brunch, I'm still positive that it's main courses for lunch and dinner are worth a try, beginning with that signature burger. That will be another story for next time, so stay tuned! :)

Service
Excellent.

Price
$15.50 for the buttermilk pancakes
$17.50 for the breakfast platter

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

Place
902 East Coast Parkway, Playground @ Big Splash #01-26.

Pictures taken with the Canon EOS 500D.

Riders Cafe

What better way to start the first Sunday of the brand new year with a delightful brunch at Riders Cafe, with the good company of fellow bloggers and food enthusiasts Elaine, Frances, Angeline and Janelle. I think the draw about Riders Cafe is its "out-of-nowhereness" that appeals so much to the city children of Singapore, with the surrounding lush greenery and trotting horses outside. Serenity, conversations and food would always be something worth waking up early for :)

Riders Burger: 4/5


A very simple burger sans the bacon, but I like it nonetheless for its "beefiness" and the evenly toasted buns. It may have gotten a bit lukewarm and dry after a while, but I'm thinking it's more because we left it out in the open for close to fifteen minutes for our customary photo-taking spree. The steakhouse fries were more like wedges, thick and what some may call it "potatoey".

Scrambled Eggs


I ordered this as a side to my burger. It is what it is, just plain scrambled eggs and pretty much what you can get from McDonald's as well.

Morning Pancakes


The favourite of the morning, and if there's one reason that I would be back at Riders for brunch, it would be for this. Fluffy pancakes that smell and taste good, further flavoured by the berries compote and maple syrup. Thanks Frances for letting me take a forkful, it was yummy!

Eggs Florentine


Angeline wanted to try something other than her usual favourite Eggs Benedict, but I think in retrospect she should have chosen the latter. Eggs Florentine replaces the ham with spinach and mushrooms, something healthier but perhaps not as satisfying. By the way, I thought this picture has an "uplifting" mood to it, with the way the yolks are faced upwards. Random thought haha.

Grilled Prawns Portobello


Elaine meanwhile chose something out of the lunch menu. Having run out of portobello the staff replaced it with smoked salmon upon Elaine's suggestion. She commented that the prawns were a bit too dry for her liking.

Service
Very good. Frequently replaced our water jugs with newly filled ones. By the way, reservations are a must, because you wouldn't want to travel all the way here only to have to wait for close to an hour for a table. There's too many people complaining about the waiting time when they should have made reservations in the first place!

Price
$14 for the riders burger
$3 for the scrambled eggs
$10 for the morning pancakes
$12 for the eggs florentine
$15 for the grilled prawns portobello

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

Place
51 Fairways Drive, Bukit Timah Saddle Club.

Pictures taken with the Canon EOS 500D.