Five & Dime Eatery

I was anticipating the brunch at Five & Dime Eatery, another place that has seen a surge in visitors after it opened. After two missed chances to visit the eatery (thrice's the charm?), I finally managed to get myself down there to see what was the hype about.
 

Five & Dime Eatery

My girlfriend had actually booked the wrong day for our brunch (it was a Saturday and she had booked it for Sunday instead), and the place was full. We were seated at the bar area thus. A lady seated nearby probably overheard our plight, and as she was about to be done with her meal, she kindly vacated it for us.

Latte was average, served with a heart flower as latte art. I've yet to visit anywhere that has elaborate latte designs apart from the usual leaf or heart shapes. It came with two sugar biscuits - the kind everyone one around me supposedly loves (I hate the colourful, too sweet icing - I know that's the bit everyone loves, but I rather much have the biscuit itself without the icing thank you ha!).

Calamari rings were served piping hot and crispy. And the surprise dish of the day was actually the mentaiko pasta. I normally don't order pasta dishes, and this is a creamy one no less (I prefer tomato based pastas). But it turned out to be quite delicious. And cos we were sharing anyway, it wasn't too "jelat".

The other two brunch dishes were letdowns though. Pancakes were downright disappointing as it was too thick and cakey tasting - we didn't finish most of it. The big breakfast was not too bad I suppose, but it didn't exactly had a wow factor to it. Everything on the plate was just mediocre?  

What I realise about alot of these new cafes that are sprouting up crazily like mushrooms, is that they may have a pretty cafe set up, (sometimes) decent coffees, but the brunch dishes might not always be a hit. I worry in fact for my dream - of opening my own cafe - that the food have to be good, if not, what if people are not drawn to it? I guess I had better research more on what concept I want in future. Till then, I'm still on my quest to visit as many cafes and restaurants as possible.