Our ongoing quest to find the perfect brunch/breakfast/weekend treat location continues this week with House… or is it Barracks. I’m so confused…

Located with all the other “i wanna be hip and cool like in other metropolitan cities” restaurants and “boutiques” (Dempsey Hill)… well I don’t even know what to write here. The building is House but I think the brunch is called Barracks despite not being in Barracks… whatever it is go to block 8D and look for a large amount of signs for a nightclub (not the restaurant oddly enough) and head down some stairs. Or if you’ve had the misfortune of wasting wads of cash (only to leave hungry) at Tippling Club – it’s next door to that place

I’m going to call it House from here on out even though I think that’s the name of the center, but it’s shorter to type and it’s the name on the building

House is a modern, loft-style restaurant on the Hill. The menus are printed on fake newspapers, well designed event posters line the wall (really good posters I must say), there’s mismatched tables and chairs… basically hip restaurant 101. Don’t let my cynical nature throw you off…it’s good and works really well here, but it’s the same as any other 30 dollar for a wagyu burger place in Singapore.

Service was a bit iffy at first (we came right when it opened) but then pretty decent throughout the meal, much better than PS Cafe. We had a group of 6 so covered a lot of the menu.

I’m a burger junky. I think burgers can be a great judge for just how full of it a chef is. Yes there are ways to dress up a burger…then there’s also ridiculousness on an amplified scale. Sorry, they don’t serve burgers here… only “sliders” (two tiny burgers). I asked the server for the best or most ordered and she recommended I get the Cheddar Cheese and Bacon Sliders. Also I’d heard so much about the fries here I went ahead and up-sized (don’t they give you plenty normally). Burger Slider was OK… no where near the flavor and finesse of PS Cafe. Nothing special at all. The fries were fair enough in small portions but the truffle sauce on the shoe strings gets old and we need a different dipping sauce for the sweet potato fries (almond butter as served in my favorite Santa Fe restaurant Cowgirl Cafe would be a good start )

The table decided to split a couple “Skinny Pizzas” for everyone to enjoy. We went with the Chorizo Almond (really enjoyed the almonds and chorizo working together) and another one that wasn’t very memorable as looking at the menu I can’t recall what it was…OK, I was reminded it was the Salami and Pesto. Even though one didn’t stay in my memory, they were good as appetizers.

Our friend Monica ordered the Bay Prawn Capellini. It’s the restaurant’s “House Proud Dish” (no pun intended there I hope). She said it was good, but was so full from her coffees and pizza that she didn’t eat much of it. Which provided us a good insight to the running of the restaurant floor – a floor manager came over to make sure everything was OK with the dish since it looked untouched… a very refreshing touch of service.

Joanna and our friend Joe went a bit more traditional than the rest of us and ordered actual breakfast 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 Joe).

All in all it was a good meal. It wasn’t great, but I imagine I’ll return some time in the future… most likely when entertaining out of town guests. Service was on top of their game enough throughout the meal so we were really able to relax and enjoy conversation and hanging out. We ordered desserts and coffees and took the brunch on into early afternoon – something that never happens in a stuffy environment.

So yes the design, layout, and function of the place isn’t as imaginative as they’d like to think (or maybe they were the first in Singapore, what do I know?), the prices are a bit high for what’s being offered, and the naming is confusing (look up Barracks online and it tells you a different spot in Dempsey not associated with House – which it has listed as a spa??? ) but all of that aside you can have a nice brunch or breakfast here. I’d recommend it at least once and as a good alternative to the Moet brunches if your out of town guests are a bit more frugal.

House, Barracks and Camp
8D Dempsey Road
#01-01 to 06 Tanglin Village (Dempsey Road)

El Toro, on Penang Rd, is a quaint Spanish inspired restaurant above the dark and broody Dubliner Pub. The decor features multicolored walls and bullfighting posters contrasted with simple wooden tables and benches. The atmosphere for lunch is open and sunny (remarkable considering the dank Dubliner below).

The set lunch special here features a free-flow soup and salad bar. The soup featured the day we dined was tomato basil. I’m not normally a huge fan of tomato basil soup, but it was really good (probably loads of cream). They had a cold potato type salad and fresh greens on offer with a mixture of sauces. So far so good.

The mains start at 8 SGD for an Asian menu item of the day. There’s a salsa burger (I’ll have to go back and try this) for 10 SGD. Joanna opted for the healthy choice – Caribbean Catch of the Day (12 SGD). It was listed as “freshest grilled fish served on a bed of seasonal vegetables & Mexican tortilla with a spicy Caribbean sauce”. Neither of us would have classified the fish as “freshest” of the day. The fish was over salted and “fishy” tasting.

I went the opposite route and indulged with the Spaghetti with Chorizo in Cream Sauce (16 SGD). The cream sauce was rich and tasty, but definitely not for dieters.The Chorizo was good, but like Epicurious lacked a bit of extra punch that I look for… but maybe I need to ease up on my expectations when it comes to Asian Chorizo.

All in all the salad, soup, and my main were definitely a good value. The fish was questionable, but supposedly is changed out daily so maybe others will have better luck with a different fish. I know Joanna will be back since it’s a short walk from the office and I’ll have to get back to test out the Salsa Burger.

El Toro

Address: 165 Penang Rd (2nd Floor)

Lunch Served: 11:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

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.

This one is too burnt...

This one is too runny....

This one is just right...

Lest I think that our experience was isolated, our neighbour ordered the baked eggs and upon lifting their blanket of cheese found them to be undercooked enough to also be sent back.

Top be fair, Epicurious did appease my sense of indignity by removing my dish from the bill without my even having to ask – which was a unexpected bit of service that made me feel better, knowing they acknowledged the severity of the [repeated] mistakes. I mean, fried eggs are about as easy as it gets in the kitchen.

So with all this said, can I recommend Epicurious ? Being a breakfast lover, I wanted to like Epicurious. In fact, I wanted to love it. I wanted to make it my regular weekend haunt – bringing friends, family, visitors.

In talking to the couple seated next to us who sent back the baked eggs, they reassured us that Epicurious has been around for years and that they had been regular patrons for quite some time. If not for the personal voucher from these friendly Australians I am honestly not sure I would have the patience to try again. But I still need a favourite breakfast haunt, so who knows…maybe I can find it in myself to give them another chance. I believe in second chances – especially when it comes to breakfast.

Morning Glory – Time Out Singapore on breakfast at Epicurious

All in Good Taste – Time Out Singapore’s round-up of top restaurants

Epicurious
#01-02 The Quayside
60 Robertson Quay
Singapore 238252
Telephone:  +65 6734 7720
www.epicurious.com.sg

Note: Breakfast starts at 9am Saturday and Sunday. No reservations for weekend breakfast.