d’Good Café

To be able to enjoy a good breakfast on a weekday morning is indeed a privilege; one which I rewarded myself last Friday morning with Chu Fang after a hectic week of school. I have never quite found the opportunity to step into random quaint cafes to enjoy a slow breakfast or lunch meal before (life moves just too fast most of the time), thus when we both could find some time to meet, I jumped at the opportunity to enjoy a nice meal. 

Holland V. That's all we agreed on. The next thing I knew, we were in the cozy d'Good Cafe. We sneaked in via the backdoor into the three-storey establishment where there are two levels of seating area in four different settings- The Bar, The Lawn, The Attic and The Balcony.

Before we got seated, we curiously explored the entire place and were wowed by the simple yet beautiful deco as well as the conduciveness of the place for studying or even holding a birthday party (there is a hidden lift to bring all your guests up!). Cool aircon (refuge from the heat outside), beanbags to rest on, lovely view of the outside and a great music playlist; all made the cafe a definite choice for us that morning!

Hungry and a little greedy that morning, we chose the largest meal on the menu - the English breakfast set ($16.50), topping the meal with an ice chocolate drink ($3) to share. That's not all, we wanted to try more; A thick waffle ($4), topped on with French Vanilla ice cream ($3) followed after. We returned to our seats with a buzzer that rang when our food was ready to be collected.

Food arrived swiftly and we were happily (but irritatingly) snapping pictures and instagramming them. The appeal of both dishes was really strong, we couldn't decide which to start on first, so we had both at the same time.

Although the cafe specializes in coffee, we aren't coffee lovers so we had an ice chocolate instead. We expected it to be somewhat like ice milo but it turned out to be much better. Rich in cocoa and appropriately sweet, it was interesting to have it cold because chocolate is usually served hot.

The English breakfast set was normal but wholesome - scrambled eggs, a baked tomato, bacon strips, a bockwurst sausage, baked beans, toast and herb-seasoned mushrooms. We really enjoyed the bacon strips although they were a little too overcooked while the herb-seasoned mushroom pieces were baked nicely with a tinge of pepper. The scrambled eggs were sweet to our surprise, not the peppery kind. We were glad we shared the set because it would have been too much a portion for us to have one individually.

Fragrant, thick, warm, soft and yummy; adjectives most apt to describe a waffle which was simply just good! The French Vanilla ice cream was rich in flavor, not too sweet and went well with the waffle.

Two hours in the cafe was definitely insufficient, I would have loved to stay there for the entire afternoon! Coming in earlier in the morning to secure a good seat is advantageous as the cafe gets crowded with both students and office workers towards lunchtime. Would definitely be back for a longer period of time, earlier!

Words by Esther Ho

d'Good Cafe
273 Holland Avenue #02-01/02
Singapore 278992
Sundays to Thursdays: 10am to 10pm
Fridays & Saturdays: 10am to 11pm
62199807

Table Manners

So happy that I was given an off day from work at the last minute because it was also Glenn's book out day! Since he was dropped off at Tanah Merah, we decided to have dinner at Table Manners which is located in Changi City Point. 

Won't say no to alfresco seating!

Pasta Al Fungi - $15 (3/5)

I am quite particular when it comes to the presentation of food (HAHA difficult customer here) so when I saw that the edge of my plate was not clean, I was immediately turned off. Adding on, the pasta was not cooked al dente and the mushrooms that they used looked and tasted mediocre. Not to mention that I actually found a piece of green plastic in my pasta!!! I was appalled. 

Kings's Burger - $16 (3.5/5)

This was Glenn's and both of us quite like the bun of the burger. It tasted like butter toasted bun and is very fragrant and unique compared to all other burgers that we have tried. Similar to the burger that Glenn tried at Riders Cafe, it had bacon strips. Usually, Glenn would have his food with condiments but this time he did not ask for any chilli, which goes to show that the burger tasted nice on its own. 

Ordered their cocktails Negroni and Apricot Peach ($13 each) on a recommendation of a friend. But being non drinkers, we were unable to appreciate it. Other than that, we quite enjoy our time there. We find it more efficient that the waiter used a smartphone to take our orders as it will ensure that our orders will not be lost because our orders tend to get lost very often no matter where we go. #badluck

Table Manners seems like a good place to hangout after work and catch up with friends over a couple of drinks.

Table Mannners
5 Changi Business Park Central,
Changi City Point, #01-68/69
Singapore 486038
Daily 11.30am till 12am
66047669

Riders Cafe

Ever since Chu Fang's internship started, we have had lesser time to visit cafes. But hey, one of Chu Fang's off days last week happened to be on a Friday! We decided to take this rare opportunity to visit Riders Cafe.

For those without their own transport, trying to get there is like going to 西天取经 (Journey to the West). The walk to the cafe from the nearest bus stop is about 20 minutes, so we decided to take a taxi in. Problem solved. Not~ Getting in was easy, getting out was the problem.

A cafe for riders, it goes without saying that there are horse stables nearby. So amidst the smell of of all the good food, there would be occasional whiffs of horse manure wafting into the cafe. Oh well.

Smoked Chicken Salad 

Decided to go healthy on a whim and ordered a salad as our starter. The salad had apples and they were quite sweet, which complemented the dish very well, giving it a refreshing taste.

Creamy Risotto

Chu Fang liked that her seared Hokkaido scallops were not overcooked and retained freshness. The risotto was cooked al dente and Chu Fang could almost finish the entire dish on her own without complaining that it was too creamy for her. She also felt that the risotto was flavorful and that the truffle oil was not overpowering. On the downside, she did not touch her broccolini at all.

Riders Burger

After eating so many burgers at so many different cafes, I came to a realization that all the burgers have bacon in it to enhance its flavour and this one is no different. I ordered a medium well beef patty, and it was passable I guess. It tasted like it should, and it was quite well cooked, which resulted in a not-so-dry patty. And the fries were too salty for my taste buds, and I feel that it would taste better if it were thick cut fries. 

Riders Cafe is a unique place due to its scenic location, and is definitely worth a visit. I think it may be us, but no matter how friendly the staff in the restaurants are, out of 10 restaurants, 4 of them would forget part of our orders, 4 would take very long to get our bill. The staff at Riders Cafe managed to take a very long time to fetch our bill even though the cafe was quite empty. Apart from that, they were very friendly and prompt in filling our water glasses just because we were too cheapo to order drinks.

51 Fairways Drive

Singapore 286965

Sundays to Thursday: 8am to 9pm

Fridays & Saturdays: 8am to 10pm

64669819