GRUB, Singapore

Date of visit: 5 July 2014

K and I are 'westies' who are perfectly fine with staying within our side of Singapore since there's plenty of good food to be found nearby, so for us to have made a trip down to Grub on a Saturday morning and actually thought it was well worth it, is quite a big deal.  

I can see why this new café has been the talk of the town and why it deserves the attention it's been getting.  It's now on my list of cafés to return to for comfort food and a relaxing brunch with loved ones :)  Indeed, it's legitimately delicious food that I would be proud to serve in my own home, just like what they'd hoped to achieve.

French Toast ($12)

I wasn't quite sure how well the sausage would go with the rest of the dish, but I thought I liked this version more than Rider's Cafe's, which was amazing for the first few mouthfuls but was mainly just berries, cream, butter and syrup - a bit too jelat for brunch.  The serving at RC was also massive and difficult to finish alone, whereas Grub's was just nice for me.  

The pork sausage helped to balance out the sweetness in this dish but wasn't too salty, something I am quite wary of in most others.  They could have been more generous with the strawberries, but other than that, this is my favourite french toast in Singapore thus far!  One of the more popular dishes at Grub.

8.5/10

Crispy Fish Burger with fries ($14) 

Add $2 for their mentaiko mayo dip

K had this and thoroughly enjoyed it, especially the mentaiko mayo dip that we requested for instead of ordering a separate serving of mentaiko fries ($9).  I would suggest doing the same if you order this and you're not craving for another serving of fries and if the additional seaweed flakes make no difference to you.

I tried a few mouthfuls of the burger and was impressed with how solid the crust was and how generous they were with the fish.  Very value-for-money in my books!

The fries may look like the typical McDonald's fries, but they were surprisingly crispy and light, which made it easy for us to pop a few at a time mindlessly, but not without smearing it with plenty of mentaiko mayo of course.  Greasy and soggy fries would ruin it for me, but I am glad to say that theirs were not and left us feeling really satisfied.  From what I observed, this is their most popular dish, besides the churros below.

9/10

Churros with dark chocolate and tangy creme anglaise ($9)

And of course, who could resist having churros?  We saw most if not all tables order this and were tempted to try.  They did not let down and we are glad to have found a place in Singapore that serves legit churros which aren't too filling!  They came in the perfect thickness for it to have the right amount of crunch but still remain chewy yet fluffy on the inside.

It comes with a tangy creme dip that I wasn't too impressed with (seemed a little too diluted and the flavour wasn't distinct enough) but the dark chocolate dip was a perfect match for these churros.  It was watery enough such that it soaked the churros nicely and it wasn't too rich such that I would get sick of it quickly.

I would have liked my churros to have a stronger cinnamon taste, so they could have been more generous with cinnamon powder or sprinkled a stronger cinnamon sugar mix, but it does not lessen my love for their churros in any way.  When you get the batter and thickness just right, you get bonus points regardless!

8.5/10

Service: 7/10

It took some effort to get their attention since they're always busy seating customers or serving food.  Business here is brisk, so coming here would be more for food than service.  I appreciate that the food comes quickly though.  It would help if bookings were allowed and if they air-conditioned the whole place (which isn't actually very big to begin with).

Taste: 9/10

Overall a pleasant meal which left us feeling satisfied (but not stuffed) because of the sensible portions and wallet-friendly prices.  The food also did not taste too sinful, which is something I appreciate as brunch servings can sometimes be too heavy.

Ambience: 7/10 

As no reservations are allowed, we were seated outside and shared a table with a pair of girls at a 4-seater table.  It would have been nice if the tables could be separated though, since brunch is a time for catching up.  Knowing that others could probably hear our conversation didn't make it very ideal.

Singapore is notorious for being extremely hot at this time of the year as well, and though I would have liked a table indoors, they were quite limited and we would have to wait quite a while.  They very kindly volunteered to move us in when the tables inside became vacant but by then we had already gotten our food and it was too much trouble.

I liked how the location of the place is quite unlike any other cafés I've been to.  It's right in the middle of a park beside a small nature alcove where photographers were lugging huge DSLR cameras around.

Return?

Most likely.  Would love to try their other dishes as well, even though they may sound like standard brunch fare.  Judging from what we had today, they would probably be cooked to our liking, and the decent price range makes it all the more tempting to return.

MENU

510 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1,

Singapore 569983

GRUB Website

Tel: 65 6459 5743