Artichoke Cafe & Bar

It's not a new brunch spot, it's not the usual brunch crowd you see at a typical cafe, and it's not serving the common brunch fare you see at every other brunch place. So where's this place again?

Artichoke Cafe & Bar

Paddy Hills

If The Lokal was my 2014 favourite cafe, Paddy Hills certainly is my 2015 favourite cafe. In the span of less than six months, I popped by Paddy Hills at least eight times. If you do the maths, it's a visit or two per month. It didn't help that it was within walking distance of my office, so it was extremely accessible to have lunch there, either with my colleagues or lunch dates with friends. Or rather, should I say, my old office, now that I'm in a new environment.

I've amassed a collection of food shots from my multiple visits. The cafe opened in March this year, and my first visit was in May and my most recent visit was in October. They had a menu update before my last visit, so I managed to try several stuff from their original and new menus. In fact, this might just be my longest picture post for a cafe haha.

Paddy Hills

Pacamara Boutique Coffee Roasters

Hi I'm still alive.

I tend to disappear for weeks on the blogosphere, then reappear for a bit, before the cycle repeats. Ha. I blame it on my short attention span.

Anyway, here's one of my favourite cafes (which I haven't visited for a while, but still...) which has amazing natural sunlight, white walls, and wooden tables. Been here a few times and every single time I step into the cafe, cue *dreamy sigh*.

Pacamara Boutique Coffee Roasters

The Bravery

Feeling pretty pensive tonight. I wonder if I'm the only person around who likes to think too much into things, or to talk to argue with oneself. Perhaps I just shouldn't think. Right. Off to bake a cake for a friend now to stop myself from over-analysing things.

In the meantime, sharing a brunch place that I visited a few months back, which I loved for its peaceful vibe. Well, considering that we were one of the first customers of the day at 8ish on a weekend morning, quiet was the word.

 The Bravery

On The Table

I've been to OTT for countless of times already, say, perhaps slightly more than five visits? It's probably one of my to-go cafes (hey it's a west side cafe!), alongside The Lokal, Assembly Coffee and Pacamara, whenever I'm lazy to think of new cafes to try out.

Mushroom Monsieur; Salmon & Mushroom Truffle Cream  Linguine; Tomato Swimmer Crab Linguine

The Lokal

If I must choose, The Lokal must be one of my current favourite cafe of the moment. I mean, I had visited it like five times in the past two months or so. And that must mean something right, given the high density of cafes in our tiny island these days. My friend joked that I should be a VIP member given the number of times I've gone to the Lokal. Ha, I can only wish.

The Lokal

Rouse

Hi, I'm back from my Seoul 2014 trip for about two weeks already. Am currently experiencing post-vacation withdrawal symptoms. (But then again, I'm perpetually in this state like eighty per cent of the time - the other twenty per cent being when I'm actually on vacation ha!).

Decided to keep up with my sporadic monthly blog posts. So here's a great lil cafe I went a while ago. It's not too hyped up in the cafe scene, but I actually really liked this space.

Rouse

One Man Coffee

First spotted this lovely space through, where else but, Instagram. It looked so gorgeous with all those woodsy brown tables, and the food appeared so drool-worthy that I knew I had to make my way down there pronto.

 One Man Coffee

Oz Specialty Coffee

Quiet find at Upper Thomson area.

Oz Specialty Coffee

Assembly Coffee

I've come to the realisation that nowadays, I tend to revisit a cafe several times before deciding if I should blog about it. I'm not saying I do that for all the cafes I head to, just that I notice that it has happened for a few cafes I've been visiting so far.

 Assembly Coffee

Spathe Public House

I'm such a procrastinator. Every month, I say I'll try to post more, but every month, I end up being lazy/too busy/tired to think of the words to accompany my posts.

Spathe Public House

Common Man Coffee Roasters

I prefer brunch spots that have a personality on its own with regards to the menu. I mean, yes the standard big breakfasts are always a norm at most places, but it would be good if they have a dish that's just particular to them, their signature dish with their stamp on it. It's like say, you look at the picture of a brunch table and go, "Hey, I know that! That's from XXX!" rather than go "Hmmm, so where did you had brunch again?"

I'm sure by now, if you're a regular cafe hopper like me, and you see my picture below, you'll definitely recognise the cafe (if the title of the post haven't already clued you in). The distinctive ceramic plates and cups, and the dishes would have helped too.

Common Man Coffee Roasters

Gaest

I've been going on Saturday breakfast dates with my good friend. She's working in the F&B industry, thus her working hours are Mon-Sun, except for a weekday off when the cafe closes. It's hard to meet up with friends now that everyone is having differing schedules, so I think it's good that we both make the point to catch up (and also, to check out new cafes!).

So how early is our breakfast dates though? We normally meet around 7.30am - 8am, so we're constantly looking out for cafes that open that early. One of my favourite breakfast place that we've been to recently is Gæst. So much so that it's jumping the queue of all my other pending posts as I can't wait to share how awesome the food here is.

Gæst

Anthesis Boulangerie, Bistro & Café

Robertson Quay is a hot spot for brunch spots. Anthesis is the latest newcomer to the block, well, sort of anyway since it's like not even a year old.

Anthesis Eggs Three-Ways

Revolution Coffee

The coffee joint that I visited thrice in one single week.

Revolution Coffee

Nassim Hill Bakery & Bistro

I celebrated the first day of 2014 with food. Brunch in fact. Since I love brunch, what best to have on the start of a new year but my favourite meal of the day?

Nassim Hill Bakery & Bistro

Department of Caffeine (D.O.C)

There are countless coffee joints opening every month or so. And I mostly tend to get to know them through my social media addiction - Instagram. Within days of Department of Caffeine's opening last year, I visited the place once with my cafe-hopping buddy to check out the uber new kid on the block. The place was still relatively unknown, and so, there were only one or two tables occupied in our time there. Unfortunately, all the photos taken on that day were lost due to some error in formatting when I transferred the images from my memory card to the laptop. Bah. Fret not though, I did manage to visit it twice more.

 Department of Caffeine (D.O.C)

Drury Lane & Nylon Coffee Roasters

October flashed by before I even properly registered its presence. It was a busy month at work, and yes, I could certainly pin the blame on work being a reason of not blogging, but it was not so. I've mentioned it several times before, but blogging takes a lot of effort and time, and I really do applaud all of those out there who blog for a reason - be it for their passion,  their love for writing, as part of their job, or whatever it could be. 

I started the blog primarily because my love of words. I used to have a habit of writing journals. And yes, to that I mean hand written ones, which is probably not a concept the youngsters nowadays are familiar with. Thus, the blog started out as a means of "keeping up with times". My journal; albeit a digital version.  I must also add that while I love words, I'm neither one with great prose, nor one with much interesting tales to share. 

Over the years, the blog has evolved to become a public platform of sharing photos and recipes. I've actually privatised most of my past entries as this space has actually become quite open, and I was not comfortable with the idea of my life being too open (oh who am I kidding, it was probably to hide the entries where my language and diction was simply atrocious). With the Internet being free-for-all accessible to everyone and anyone, I suppose I should be more cautious in what I reveal to all. I mean, how do I know who is actually reading this post?  

I mean, I could make the blog private if what I fear is fear of being too open. That is something that have crossed my mind yes, but I've gotten used to using the blog as a space to document and share my photos of food and travels. It's where I can record recipes I've tried (and retried several times since), or list down travel notes as a reference to myself when/if I should revisit the place again, or to recommend my friends when they visit.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, although this blog has been part of me for the longest time ever, there is still the possibility of me leaving the space (if i really can't find the time or energy to go on). But till I hang up my quill (and camera), I will try my best to keep this space updated. 

 Drury Lane

Penny University

Ello! I'm back from the vacation. The (almost) two weeks in Aussie have flew by in a rush, and before I knew it, I landed back in Singapore again. Loads to share, but first of all, here's a quick post to (try) clear my backlogs. A few friends have recommended Penny University, and I finally managed to pay the East side cafe a visit some time before my vacation.

 Penny University

Suprette

Decent place, decent food.

Dinner at Suprette