News

SINGAPORE – American poet Anne Sexton once declared breakfast “the sexiest meal of the day”, but these days, it seems like that honour belongs to brunch. No other meal conjures up such distinct, alluring – in other words, Instagrammable – images. Lunch could be a quick bite at a hawker centre or a sandwich to go, and dinner anything from a no-frills, home-cooked affair to a multi-course meal in a fancy restaurant.  But brunch, if social media is anything to go by, is unequivocally something you consume in a stylish cafe flooded with light and dotted with tasteful vegetation. It is a weekend treat, best enjoyed at a leisurely pace. There is usually an avocado toast on the menu, a fry-up and many variations of eggs. On special occasions, a mimosa cocktail is placed in your hand. Most times, it is a latte, topped with a perfectly shaped foam heart.  This is an experience that can be had at nearly every corner of Singapore. Google “where to brunch” and a tsunami of suggestions floods your browser. Websites cobble together unhelpfully long lists of 30, 50 places that barely narrow down the options. Brunchers have never been so spoilt for choice.  With everyone wanting in on this most celebrated of weekend traditions, how do eateries direct some of the traffic to their doors? The Straits Times speaks to seven restaurants and cafes to find out what they bring to an already overcrowded table.  Korean food is typically not the first cuisine that comes to mind when you think about brunch, but contemporary restaurant Chingu Dining wants to contest that.  Here, diners can munch on an egg drop sandwich ($18) or pork belly pau ($24). The weekend brunch menu was rolled out at Chingu’s outlet at The Oval in Seletar in November 2023, after staff noticed that patrons were taking their children along on weekend mornings and asking for dishes like pasta.  “When we started planning the brunch menu, our focus was what can we do that people aren’t doing. We wanted to set ourselves apart with Korean fusion, something distinct,” says Mr Amos Tang, 36, deputy director of marketing and business development at Gourmetz, the catering group that runs Chingu.  This approach helped Chingu find the sweet spot between Western brunch and the bevy of Korean eateries in Buona Vista. So far, it seems to have worked. The restaurant’s kimchi pork ragu linguine ($22), served at both the Oval and its outlet at Rochester, is now one of its most popular brunch items.  But brunch is not nearly as profitable as the rest of the menu. In Mr Tang’s words, it merely “augments the revenue line”. Customers usually come for the K-BBQ – platters start at $108 for a pork set that feeds two to three people – and add on one or two brunch items. That does not mean that brunch will be shelved, however. On the contrary, the restaurant is currently tweaking dishes to better suit the Singaporean palette and will update its menu in September.  7 The Oval; and 2 Rochester Park Brunch menu available from 10am to 2pm on weekends Like all good brunch places, Crust & Crumbs is stocked with loaves upon loaves of freshly baked bread.  You will find more than croissants or Danish pastries here. The bakery, which opened in Bras Basah in January, sells Mediterranean bakes like the Jerusalem bagel ($4.50) – oval-shaped and showered in sesame seeds – and the Romanian Bagel ($3.80), smaller and more akin to a pretzel.  Its owner Almagor Tsairi, 60, draws on his own cultural heritage. The son of an Israeli father and Romanian mother, he has tasted a whole swathe of Mediterranean cuisines, and has baked some of those regional influences into his menu.  There is the Tunisian Fricassee ($9.90), a roll filled with tuna and hard-boiled eggs, as well as Middle Eastern sandwiches like the Sambusak ($12), a savoury pastry stuffed with tomato sauce and lots of cheese.  “Singaporeans have the courage to try different tastes and different things from all over the world, and I wanted to bring something special to them that we can’t find in the other shops here,” says Mr Tsairi.  While business could be better, he takes heart in the fact that his bakery is just starting out and that some locals have already started coming back for more.  01-75, Block 231 Bain Street 8am to 8.30pm daily Less is more at Small Batch, a new cafe in the Botanic Gardens specialising in brunch staples.  No more picking between savoury and sweet, scrambled and poached, salmon and sausages. Here, you can build your own board of small plates. The cafe offers two options: a three-item board ($15.90), perfect for one person; or a five-item board ($24.90), which can be shared.  Diners can pick from six categories: bakery, which includes sourdough and focaccia; eggs – either fried, scrambled or poached; two types of cheese; fruits and greens such as smashed avocado or French beans with toasted almonds and furikake; smoked salmon, chicken sausage and other proteins; as well as sweet treats like French toast and carrot cake.  “Our customers, especially the Gen Z ones, have a creative streak and like to build their own things, so we thought of giving them the opportunity to customise their meal,” says Ms Hayley Ridgewell, 33, branding and marketing manager of the Black Hole Group. Small Batch, which opened in July, is the group’s latest concept.  Mr Sufi Hassan, the group’s chief product officer, says: “Over the years, we see more and more brands coming up with new concepts. Standards of food have gone up, and people expect an experience. That’s why it’s all the more important for us to have a unique identity and one that we can sustain.” But being different does not guarantee success. Once you get the eyeballs, you have to deliver on quality too, the 33-year-old says. Cooking in small batches helps the cafe better control the quality of its food, though the team is still refining its recipes and operations based on customer feedback.  01-K1 Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden, 1H Cluny Road 9am to 6pm, Tuesdays to Fridays; 8am to 6pm, weekends; closed on Mondays While Small Batch’s brunch boards can still be tackled by one person, do not attempt Locanda’s sharing menu alone. Brunch at the restaurant in Rowell Road, which opened in July, is a smorgasbord of Italian dishes, starting at $78 a person for a sizeable two-person spread.  The extensive range of starters includes focaccia, grilled zucchini, cold cuts, stracciatella, fresh tomatoes and charcoal-grilled squid.  Next come two pastas, a main course – all chosen by the chef – and individual bowls of Mediterranean seafood soup.  Finish your meal with some Sicilian Cannolo and either Gelato or Sorbetto.  “We were looking at a family-style sharing menu, with a good balance of carbs, vegetables and protein, while also showcasing our monthly specials and freshest seasonal ingredients. I consider it the best tradition of a Mediterranean diet,” says the restaurant’s Italian operations manager Daniele Fiore, 49. Though he adds that there is no such thing as brunch in Italy, the restaurant models its weekend offerings on the traditional Sunday family lunch – an important occasion for bonding and rest.  “Usually, the grandma or mama cooks an abundant variety of dishes in generous portions for sharing at the table where everyone sits to dine together.”  The team decided on a two-person menu to encourage communal dining. At the same time, it wanted to keep it small and accessible so couples and those with kids could partake as well.  Children under the age of five get a complimentary plate of pasta, while those aged between six and 10 get their own portion of the brunch set menu for $39++ a child.  109 Rowell Road Brunch menu available from noon to 3pm on weekends Japanese dessert chain Hvala, known for its matcha desserts and lattes, has ventured into the world of brunch.  Alongside its signature teas, waffles and ice cream, its latest Odeon outlet now has a food menu full of all sorts of savoury delights, from teriyaki chicken shio pan sandwiches ($16.90) to salmon and scallop soba ($21.90). Beyond normal cafe fare, the brand also wanted something it could call its own. Enter the kaya toast with a twist. Here, the perennial local favourite is jazzed up with Japanese tea for extra oomph.  It is available in three flavours: matcha, hojicha and genmaicha (all $9.90), served with two slabs of butter per toast and two soft-boiled eggs.  “For our kaya toasts, we wanted to offer flavours that are crowd favourites, so matcha, hojicha and genmaicha were the obvious choices. We wanted to show guests that our powders are not only great as beverages, but can also be used in food,” a Hvala spokesperson tells ST.  The toasts are available throughout the day, until 8.45pm.  01-11 Odeon Towers, 333 North Bridge Road Noon to 9.30pm daily Recently opened cafe 9toast casts its gaze farther afield, looking not just to Japan and Singapore for inspiration, but also South Korea and London.  The focus of its menu is honey-glazed toast, the first of its kind in Singapore. It was inspired by the viral creation from London’s Arome Bakery, known for combining French patisserie techniques with Asian flavours. Here, the crisp golden shokupan slices are stuffed with ingredients like strawberries and mozzarella cheese.  Most popular of all is Purple Haze ($8.50), an orh nee-inspired sandwich filled with purple sweet potato and taro puree, injeolmi (Korean rice cake), and doused in a milky cream.  The cafe was started in May by 24-year old Nikki Tok, who formerly worked as an auditor in London. She quit her job to move back to Singapore when she saw a gap in the market for honey toast and Muslim-friendly taro desserts. (Though her cafe is not halal-certified, it does not use any pork or lard.)  “I wanted to grow a home-grown brand with local elements, which can preserve our local food heritage while incorporating new elements for a refreshing take that I hope can appeal to a wider international audience,” she says.  While she admits it was a risky move, it appears to have paid off for now. A strong weekend crowd sustains the cafe, and it has expanded its menu to include two new options: creamy tamago sando ($12.50) and mentaiko kani sando ($13.50). 01-18 Singapore Shopping Centre, 190 Clemenceau Avenue 10.30am to 6pm, weekdays; 10am to 7pm, weekends Some cafes let you dine with your pets, but there is only one place where you can encounter exotic animals over a meal.  At the Singapore Zoo, your breakfast companions include orang utans, a green iguana, a Bengal eagle owl and, most recently, a Californian sea lion or African penguins, which were added to the roster in July. Guests can queue to interact and have their photos taken with these animals.  “We are always seeking ways to enhance our programmes by introducing new elements, so there’s something different for guests each time,” says Ms Chan Poh Shan, deputy vice-president of animal behaviour and programmes at Mandai Wildlife Group.  This is the first time new animals have been added to the programme – which has been running from 1982 – since it was rebranded as Breakfast in the Wild in 2022 after a Covid-19 pandemic-induced hiatus.  From 9 to 10.30am, guests can tuck into a cross-Continental spread that includes various Asian and Western dishes. Think mee siam, prata and chee cheong fun, served alongside French toast, pancakes and turkey bacon.  Since 2022, the buffet spread has incorporated planet-friendly ingredients, like certified sustainable palm oil and Owa Coffee, cultivated using wildlife-friendly agricultural techniques. Beef has also been omitted from the menu because of its higher carbon footprint.  Tickets are priced at $47 for adults and $37 for children aged six to 12, on top of a regular admission ticket. Those under six can attend for free, as long as they are accompanied by an adult.  Ah Meng Restaurant, 80 Mandai Lake Road The programme runs from 9 to 10.30am daily