A Singapore favorite strikes this breakfast lover as a little lackluster. Updated experience here
Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. Not the cereal on-the-go breakfast, but the something eggy, something cheesy, maybe a pancake here or there and endless cups of coffee kind of breakfast. Breakfast for lunch is good. Breakfast for dinner is better. But a proper leisurely weekend breakfast is simply divine.
With my it-doesn’t-get-any-better-than-breakfast mindset it was natural that I had to check out what Time Out Singapore called “the best breakfast in Singapore.” And so it was that this Sunday we found ourselves strolling to Robertson Quay to Epicurious to see what all the fuss was about.
We sat outside, as everyone does, at one of the several hodge-podge, mismatching table sets. As one would expect at 11am on a Sunday the place is a bit overrun – the crowd being made up of couples, friends meeting up, families with kids, with some folks even bringing their dogs! As a result, it took a good long bit before we were able to capture the waiter’s attention to order.
I ordered the Full Monty aka Hobb’s Choice ($20SGD – pics up top) which is a full on English-style breakfast with three fried eggs, sausage, bacon, grilled tomato, grilled mushrooms, baked beans, buttered toast, orange juice and coffee. Paul decided on the Breakfast Burrito ($12SGD) including two scrambled eggs with chorizo, tomato, cheddar cheese and tomato chilli relish, wrapped in a flour tortilla with a side of salsa. Water was served in repurposed liquor bottles – which Paul found alarming at first after seeing a mom pour her child from a bottle of Absolute Mandarin…that is until he realized it was water.
It was a good thing they offered the Sunday paper, because service is to put it politely…quite leisurely. We actually asked for our own bottle of water but in the end it never arrived and for the remainder of the meal we served ourselves from the stand by the door.
When coffee arrived I was unexpectedly delighted by the homey coffee cups decorated with roosters and then ultimately quite pleased with the quality of the coffee – a nice rich brew signified by the crema on top. This perhaps was the highlight of the meal…
Paul found his burrito good, but a tad bland. And he was also disappointed by the chopped onions and tomatoes passing themselves off as salsa. Paul wished that the chorizo had been spicier and would have preferred it to be chopped rather than included as big chunks, giving the aromatic sausage an opportunity to permeate the burrito.
Unfortunately my eggs ordered well done, clarified in description by “please, no runny yolks,” stumped the chef. The first batch sent out was so overcooked that it was in fact burnt in appearance in and flavour. And then when I requested a re-do, the second batch was over-easy and therefore runny. I gave up and did not ask for yet another, but it seems the restaurant wanted to make sure we were pleased and tried yet a third time. The result was perfectly cooked eggs, but they arrived only after I had finished and was ready for the check. Not only was this disappointing, but also some other aspects of the meal were less than ideal – the bacon was undercooked and the orange juice a bit watery. The sausage and potatoes were rather average, but interestingly enough, the grilled tomato and mushrooms were excellent and became the unwitting stars of the show.
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4 comments
Brunch at Epicurious, Singapore Pt 2 | accidental epicurean says:
Jul 10, 2009
[...] all, Our first visit to Time Out’s breakfast of the year, Epicurious, left us feeling slightly frustrated. After a couple months of sampling other breakfast options around town, the timing seemed right to [...]
Sarah says:
Oct 9, 2010
Went to Epicurious @ Robertson Quay for brunch after reading some excellent reviews on them last weekend with my girlfriend to celebrate the news of her pregnancy. What an utter disappointment that was.
Granted it was a nice sunday afternoon at 1:30pm, the restaurant was busy with tables laid out at the front and people chit chatting away. After ordering, I (accompanied by my gf) went to have a smoke merely 5 meters away from out table and indicated so to one of the waiters. Upon our return, everything was cleared from our table and no one seemed to know how. They then took a total of 45 minutes to serve us our BREAKFAST food (eggs + sausages), and because we were famished, the food was walloped without us being able to taste much at all.
When I was trying to give feedback about the quality of service, the lanky lady boss (who walked out with an air of annoyance) was extremely unpleasant and defensive. She did not want to listen to constructive criticism and basically left me feeling that I had expected too much from her and her staff as they were busy. A simple notification at the point of our ordering would suffice, so that customers are given the choice to stay or go.
The couple sitting at the next table had a similar experience – the gentleman had to wait 45 mins for a simple bowl of mushroom soup.
I will NEVER EVER go back to ‘Epicurious’ again and I strongly advise your readers NOT to go there.
Maybe I shouldn’t have expected an epicure to be in ‘Epicurious’. Just a disrespectful person who doesn’t take pride in her restaurant nor care about her customers.
Paul says:
Oct 23, 2010
Debated if I would allow this comment up. I think every restaurant will have hits and misses. Obviously this person had a negative experience…. heck our first visit didn’t blow us away either. But over time Epicurious has become one of our favorite spots in town. It’s not always consistent, and they do tend to get a bit busy and frazzled… but honestly I’m not happy with service anywhere in Singapore (apart from places like Iggy’s and Gunthers).
I don’t disagree with the above poster’s experience, but I do disagree with the conclusion. I’ve been many times since the first visit and have had many great experiences. You do have to come with a relaxed mind and assume that some things might go wrong… but to me that’s Singapore
Barracks Brunch at House, Dempsey Hill – Singapore says:
May 9, 2011
[...] foods. Joanna ordered the Barracks Freeform Eggs (fried – not perfect but better than Epicurious). Joe went with the Eggs Benedict (good but not great says [...]