ps.cafe, town

great little hideout and girlfriend-lunch place for brunch near chinatown. ps cafe remains close to my heart for one reason: their sticky toffee pudding. the location of their outlets are also fortuitously convenient – which means town, for me – and while the prices off their menu are always a tad more than you’d like to pay, it does mean coming here feels particularly like a treat – which is also good for the waisteline for I’d eat my weight in toffee and cake otherwise.

they serve stylized european bistro food here, and the place seems to be very much female-oriented – not that you manly men can’t get a good meal here, what with an english-breakfast-type offering at brunch and burgers at lunch –  but terms like “green goddess” and “egg white omelet” truly show the character of the establishment. the menu is only about a page long, and I have no issues with that, for my entrees are merely the prelude to the true star of the meal: always the toffee pud.

on this occasion, I had the fruit plate – which incidentally did feel rather overpriced for what is a cut-and-plate operation, but it came with dollops of truly good, thick yogurt and a scatter of honeycomb candy, and I’m not ashamed to tell you that it was a pleasure to eat something so clean-and-good-for-you that came so prettily. my girlfriend had the bacon and egg dish – wake up guys, this is for you! – and it was a posh sort of english brekkie, with a sausage and nicely scrambled eggs over crusty sourdough, as well as a measure of decently cooked vegetables on the side.

but you know this post was constructed for dessert, don’t you? a large-ish (and really bigger than you’d expect) piece of cake topped with a full scoop of vanilla ice cream in a pool of complexly dark caramel, this dessert occupies my daydreams.

sticky toffee pudding is one of those desserts that you think must be terribly sweet-sweet-sweet and off-putting, but with a good rendition, you get a barely-sweetened (but tasty) cake with warm caramel that carries a depth of  taste without any sickly sugariness, and ice cream that provides creaminess and that delightful juxtaposition of hot-and-cold; and this place does such a fantastic version. I don’t know what other praise I can heap on this dessert, but it stands out for me as the best-valued dish at this place, for the consistent quality and happiness it entails.

so really, yes, this isn’t the cheapest place for the meal, nor the one with the best value – but it feels to me like a sanctuary, both in ambience and toffee pud, and well worth the expense. and really, have you seen the size of those plates? it’s not cheap for sure, but those are good decent portions for a good appetite. one of my favourites.