Bonjour Ma Cuisine @ 39 Craig Road

Finally had the opportunity to try this breakfast/brunch place. A super quick meet-up with Tiara. Reservation is recommended and one would be informed that there is a strict 90-minutes dining limit. Arrived at the place at 955am and was informed that the table would have to be released by 1130am, which suited our meet-up timings.

Place was quite easy to find and is a few steps away from Mondrian Duxton. I chose indoor dining though the courtyard looked pretty chill. 

Was seated immediately once staff had verified the reservation. 

table for 2

The next table was just an arm's length away, so we would be smiling at the other table if our gaze chanced upon each other.

sparkling water @$6.50++

The online menu looked exactly liked the one in the shop, except that one could click on the online one to look at the photo of the selected dish.

Since I was still waiting for Tiara, I entertained myself by briefly chatting with the staff. Friendly folks who didn't mind the interaction if the restaurant was not too busy.

Lillet Mule @$18++

Lillet mule was refreshing and light. Let's eat since Tiara had arrived.

croissant au beurre @$5.50++

scrambled eggs @$12.90++

Coquelet Francais Roti (French spring chicken) @$24++

Was impressed by the size of the buttery croissant and at the same time, amused  by the size of the spring chicken. Keke. Spring chicken took about 25 minutes to prepare and staff probably had feedback from prior diners about the size, so all these were duly warned when I placed the order.

Croissant was as expectedly flaky and tasted good. The organic eggs were of a lovely yellow hue and we enjoyed it with a sprinkling of salt and pepper. 

I liked the spring chicken with its crisp thin layer of skin and well cooked meat that retained its moisture. The chicken was well seasoned, so it was good on its own. Tasted similar to quail. And yes, one person can finish off the entire spring chicken.

crepes chocolat and chantilly @$7.90++

Ended our meal with a light dessert of crepes, served with chocolate sauce and chantilly cream.

Thanks Tiara for the treat and the meet up!

Bonjour Ma Cuisine

Address: 39 Craig Rd, Singapore 089677

Website: https://bonjourmacuisine.com/

Business Hours:

Mon: Closed

Tue - Sun: 9 am–2:30 pm

[Jeju] Is it lunch time? @ Seogwipo Chinatown 서귀포 차이나타운

I was satisfied with our first cuppa in the morning at Youdong Coffee. Nevertheless, the rest of the party were in the mood for something savoury next. Time check, 10+am, so we're still at the brunch hour! Went to a restaurant nearby the previous night's dinner place (CheonJitGol) and discovered that the name of the shop is called Seogwipo Chinatown. 

shop front

interior

The restaurant was empty when we reached since it was not quite lunch time yet. While we were there, only one other table was occupied later on.

Staff was not in the mood for conversations, so we kept our interaction minimal. She took our orders of cold noodles, jjangmyeon and a side of tangsuyuk.

kimchi

tangsuyuk 탕수육 @₩18000

I think the version of tangsuyuk here was quite good. It is the non-glutinous flour batter kind of version so one gets a nice clean taste of the batter and meat without the extra chewiness. Meat was lean but not dried out. So nice as a savoury snack. The sauce was not too overpowering and not too sweet.

yummy deep fried pork

The noodles as expected, came in hearty portions.

cold noodles

jjampong 자장면 @₩6000

The meal at this place was rather inexpensive and I think 2 pax could share a bowl of noodles with a side of tangsuyuk.

Too bad they don't have menbosha (멘보샤) in their menu. And no, this wasn't our lunch place. It was just a pre-sightseeing snack.

Seogwipo Chinatown 서귀포 차이나타운

Address: 4 Jungang-ro 47beon-gil, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do, South Korea

Contact: +82647322525

Business Hours: Daily (24 hours)

H&C Halcyon and Crane Cafe @ Paragon Shopping Centre

This is one of the more popular places at Paragon on a weekend morning. For us, we chose to have brunch there on a PH morning and arrived early at 1130am. The brunch crowd was not there yet.

Did you know that H&C has a Granola menu? Dearborn granola is available here. An extract from Dearborn's website states that it is a "hand crafted, small batch breakfast food that is proudly made in Singapore. Ingredients are sourced with the same intent, with a keen focus on traceability and sustainability." Let's support local.

Granola Menu

We opted for the simplest version with milk for a taste test. 

Dearborn Granola and milk @$9

Dearborn Granola

I suspect that am probably too accustomed to the taste of commercial granola and those generic cereal packs to understand the differences. Dearborn granola has natural tasting and knowing that the ingredients were sourced with sustainability in mind, probably made me feel better eating it.

Ivan chose the Dan Dan Spaghettini, and it was a repeat order for him. There's a choice of spicy or non, and we opted for non-spicy version. 

Dan Dan Spaghettini (non-spicy) @$26

Give the noodles a good mix before tucking in. Noodles were good, tasty with the minced meat bits but leaning towards the sweeter side.

Crispy Squid in the menu was quickly noticed by both Tracy and myself. It turned out to be a good choice. Chunky, tender squid well battered and fried to a golden brown. This was so tasty! My favourite.

Crispy Squid @$18

Hence ordered an orange coffee and it was interesting. Orange juice was served separately and the coffee was in cube form.

Orange Yuzu Passionfruit Coffee Cubes Latte @$14

in goes the orange

ta-dah!

The last main dish was the Grilled Tiger Prawn  Risotto. The dish looked vibrant with its beautiful colours. However, I was confused by that piece of bread served together with the risotto. 

Grilled Tiger Prawn Risotto @$32

This dish was rather refreshing with the diced zucchini, oriental corn, multigrains and pumpkin 'risotto'. Again, strong flavours and overall enjoyable!

For dessert, we were unanimous in choosing the Nutella & Banana French Toast. It came with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

Nutella & Banana French Toast @$23

On first bite, I was intrigued by that one singular taste that was familiar but can't really pin a name to it. We debated amongst us for a very short while before having the eureka moment of revelation. "The fritters taste from the goreng pisang!" Hahahaa!

Overall, the food at H&C have good variety and delicious. Will be back to try the other dishes. Spent about $34 per pax.

H&C Halcyon and Crane @ Paragon Shopping Centre

Address: 290 Orchard Rd, #03-09 Paragon Shopping Centre, Singapore 238859

Website: https://linktr.ee/halcyonandcrane

Contact: +65 9727 5121

Business Hours:

Sun - Thur: 9:00 AM–8:30 PM

Fri - Sat: 9:00 AM–10:00 PM

Breakfast @ Bearded Bella 8 Craig Road

Last visited in 2019. Read more about that visit here. We were doing a staycay at Amara and decided to drop by here one early morning for breakfast.

long time no see

Having started so early in the day, we needed coffee and Tracy of course, her tea.

White Cold Brew @$9

Homemade Chai Latte @$7

White Coffee 5oz Single Shot @$5

Ordered two mains from their brunch menu and a bundt cake for dessert. The Kookoo (am always amused by this name), goes meatless. But, definitely suited for brunch. What's not to like? There's rosti (potato), copious amount of greens (for good health), mushrooms and a lovely poached egg. Generous portion!

Kookoo v2 (V) @$22

customary egg flow shot

The Scallops & Cold Pasta, had an enormous amount of sprouts ontop. That gave it a somewhat 'raw' taste which I didn't like. Otherwise, the pasta itself was flavourful.

Scallops & Cold Pasta @$22

spot the scallops

It's been a long while since I last had a quiche. I think it was Tracy's pick? The bacon and asparagus quiche.

Bacon & Asparagus Quiche @$7

Hmm, the quiche was definitely milky! Its insides were soft and wobbly. 

profile view

And then, the chocolate bundt cake. But just to be sure, we asked if it contained coffee. And indeed, it does. So, no dessert for Tracy.

Chocolate Bundt Cake @$8

I think the gang misses Australia...

Bearded Bella

Address: 8 Craig Rd, Singapore 089668

Website: https://www.beardedbella.com/

Contact: 9880 0775

Business Hours:

Mon to Thur: 7:30am–5pm

Fri: 730am to 10.30pm

Sat-Sun: 7.30am-6pm

Summerlong @ The Quayside

Brunch. Where to? How about place with beach vibe and Mediterranean food? Let's go!

menu

Bummer 'coz I was late and the place was getting busy by the time I arrived. "We got some bread and cauliflower hummus dip, that's more cauliflower than anything." They said while shoving a plate that's left with one triangular slice of pita. Okay, not that I can understand a word of those, but I think my friends meant, they had started with the breads and left one piece but more is coming and eat it with this dip.

open kitchen view

pita bread replenished

Water is chargeable at $1 per head at this place, and you'd get the option of sparkling or still. Free-flow thereafter and the staff does a good job in making sure we are hydrated.

Oh, seems like there's a 2-hours limit for the table during weekends. Hence, we will need to return the table by 2pm for our 12pm reservation.

not sure what my friends had ordered, but it's one or two of these things

Tried The Venetian, which is made of Prosecco, soda water and a select apertivo, which turned out to be campari, I think. Nice colour and thankfully, not that bitter.

The Venetian @$17

Soon, the food rolled in. Glad that we didn't over order this time round! Sausages were nice and mildly spicy. Friendly service staff reminded us to be careful with the Shakshuka pan as it was hot, and the soulvlaki looked kinda cosy wrapped in fluffy bread.

Garlic sausage @$10

Shakshuka Red @$24

Onion bread for the Shakshuka

Lamb Soulvlaki @$17

The red shakshuka tasted more tomato-ey than of spices. Lovely when hot, and bread was useful to mop up those sauces.

The lamb souvlaki was lean and loved the fluffy bread with yoghurt spread. There was some tomato slices in there along with fries. Interesting mix of carbs on carbs.

To end, we had the citrus millefeuille. A lovely looking dessert. Sweet.

Citrus Millefeuille @$15

of greek yoghurt, orange cream, filo pastry, orange compote and tarragon

Thank you Elle for organising and the treat! Brunch with Elle, Hence and Tracy, and Ivan.

Summerlong

Address: 60 Robertson Quay, #01-04, Singapore 238252

Website: https://www.summerlongsg.com/

Contact: 6235 1225

Business Hours:

Mon - Thurs: 11.30am to 10.00pm

Fri-Sun: 10.30am to 10.00pm