club street social, chinatown

decent but hugely expensive – and pretty much unworth – brunch near china square. this is such a hipster place – its speakeasy decor, the too-cool-for-school waiters, the overtly-designed menu and high prices; all elements pretty common in the new cafes opened in singapore that all think they have that cool underground feel by popping up in our old districts. to cut it down: the food is pretty, the locations are pretty, the taste is alright, but all these sure don’t warrant the prices at this place.

I feel like you might think I’m being unjust to this place – after all most new establishments carry these prices, but really there are great places in singapore that do brunch for better value such as graze and barracks.

in any case – I had a cup of granola which came in a pretty glass tumbler, in a trifle-style – yogurt and cereal layers interspersing. it was topped with honey and a single raspberry, but I really think even I could have made it better (and have made a muesli trifle before, if you’re interested). the yogurt and cereal were bog-standard pour-out-of-the-box/carton types, and weren’t particularly filling. I know some people scoff at ordering cereal in restaurants – my partner certainly does – but it does happen that restaurants prepare bircher muesli and bake their own special granola.

there was also a dish of truffled egg toast – essentially a piece of very-white crustless bread with a hole cut out and an egg cooked in the centre. it comes with a salad and I was told it was pretty good, though nothing impressive. if you have a look at the cut up portobello mushrooms at the side, those were an extra order at $4 and came in thin slices. they were admittedly very tasty the way mushrooms can be, but good lord those are child portions!

I like the flavours here, even though the yogurt and cereal were nothing special. I have to say though, that I probably wouldn’t return for the fact that there are better places to spend my money and the portions were really tiny.