[CLOSED] 8Bar Espresso

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And ordered some finger food to go along with the drinks. Quite a small cosy place at one corner of the mall

Look, I ain’t gon lie to y’all, @8bar.sg Prawn & Potato Gratin ($14 nett) does feel kind of disjointed at times, but it’s held together purely by the supreme savouriness of the prawn bisque that’s served in a little metal contraption.⠀
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Even though the menu description proclaims the square of deep fried potatoes as a potato gratin, it’s really a potato mille feuille as there seems to be an absence of butter & cheese between each thin layer of potato. Sure, it might not strictly conform to the definition of a gratin, but this potato mille feuille is a sufficiently pleasing potato dish. The outermost layer is a convivially crunchy layer that conceals the inner layers of dense & soft potatoes that have been sliced thinly, and this deep fried square of layered potatoes performs as you’d expect.⠀
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To anyone who has ever had dim sum, the prawn pancake half of this appetiser should be eerily familiar. That’s right, the prawn pancake has been compacted into the familiar form factor of a beancurd roll. However, there are visible & discernible chunks of prawns in the beancurd roll, so you know for sure that you’re actually eating prawns in this savoury, delicious beancurd roll.⠀
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Now, the potato mille feuille/gratin square & the beancurd roll have absolutely nothing in common, but that undeniably umami prawn bisque ties it all together. The stunningly savoury & briny flavours of all the prawns are expressed into the brown liquid, and that luscious liquid fuses the potatoes & prawns together with its irresistible flavours. It sounds like crazy talk, I know, but you got try the Prawn & Potato Gratin to believe it.

I was wondering what happened to Morphine Coffee which used to occupy the kiosk currently housing Flash Coffee at PLQ, and then I found @8bar.sg in Singpost Centre, facing that ever popular mala soup eatery. No longer are they confined to serving coffee & pastries, they’ve got stuffed bagels, and they have rice bowls now.⠀
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I initially wanted the Deep Dive bowl, which was seafood on rice. However, they were out of seafood and the beef bowl by evening, so I settled for a Taiwanese classic. Their Braised Pork bowl, a.k.a lu rou fan, costs sixteen bucks, but at least there’s no additional tax or service charge here. A serving of rice is topped with the stew-like sauce that contains all those finely chopped bits of pork belly, two large slices of oyster mushrooms, a still runny braised tea egg, a square of deep fried seaweed, and garnished with a little sprinkle of pickled mustard greens and coriander.⠀
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The lu rou, which is the braised pork, was decidedly delicious. Having been simmered in the soya sauce based braising sauce, it has fully assimilated all the umami of the soy sauce along with the herbs added in, and it has imparted the collagen & fats from itself to thicken & enrich the sauce. The charmingly chewy oyster mushrooms are lightly grilled, while the still runny tea egg has managed to absorb some sapidity from its soy braising sauce. The fried seaweed was inexplicably irresistible though, and each clamorous crunch into the seaweed sparked such joy.⠀
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However, as you might’ve already deduced, the dealbreaker here is the miserly portion of lu rou over the rice. This is the portion size I’d expect of a six dollar lu rou fan, not a sixteen dollar one. Paying ten bucks for this portion size is already eyebrow raising, but sixteen? That’s unforgivable. It’s such a shame too, all the flavours of the elements here are excellent and it’s all let down by a lack of the main element in the bowl.⠀
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Still, I’ll give @8bar.sg the benefit of the doubt since they’ve only been in business for two weeks. I hope they’ll adjust the portion size to reflect the price, because this delicious Braised Pork bowl deserves better.

A cafe had just taken over the former premises of the now-defunct outlet of Monga Fried Chicken at SingPost Centre. Located just right beside the Kopi & Tarts outlet in the same mall, 8bar Espresso is not quite a new one to the local cafe scene — in fact, 8bar Espresso is a concept brought by the same folks behind the now-defunct Morphine Coffee that used to be located at Paya Lebar Quarter; that space is now being occupied by an outlet of Flash Coffee. Whilst Morphine Coffee used to operate more as a coffee kiosk for those who are looking to grab a quick cuppa and a light bite to go along, 8bar Espresso offers patrons with a proper dine-in seating area, whilst also serving a wider variety of food options as well. Adopting an industrial design theme within the space, 8bar Espresso had also included playful touches within its space that gives it a bit of an oriental flavour — this includes a wall that replicates the cabinets on the walls of Chinese medical halls that contains various medicinal herbs; all that amidst the space that features a slate grey interior with transparent plastic / glass furnishings. With the move and re-branding of Morphine Coffee as 8bar Espresso, this also means that 8bar Espresso does serve up a whole line-up of hot food; we made our visit during their first week of opening and only the breakfast section of the menu is available — they do intend to serve up a wider variety of food which includes sides, bagels and toasts, as well as rice bowls in the near future. Being a cafe that is part of the third-wave coffee movement, 8bar Espresso serves up a good variety of espresso-based coffee as well as pourovers, cold brews and even “Adventurous” items when it comes to their coffee-based offerings. Those who prefer non-coffee beverages can opt for pure tea, tea lattes and fruit tea sodas as well.

Skimming through the various breakfast items which they have to offer, we found ourselves going for the Black Mango — patrons would be able to make their choice between the Milk Toast and Bagel options for the items listed on the “Breakfast” section of the menu here; both of which are being baked fresh in-house daily. The Black Mango is described in the menu to come with elements such as torched mango, black sesame spread, cream cheese and sesame crumbs. Opting for the Milk Toast rendition of the Black Mango under the recommendation of the staff, the item comes with an aesthetic that resembles that of a Sando — one that comes with a filling that comes in a blend of black and white colour elements that certainly would look quite intimidating to some. Taking a bite into the the sandwich, it does seem like that the black sesame spread is much of the driver of the entire item here; the roasty and earthy notes of the black sesame spread taking the lead whilst being well-balanced out by the cream cheese that attempts to gel all of the elements together with its tangy notes and creamy texture. In the middle, one could definitely taste the sweetness of the mango included in the sandwich here — the flavour sits comfortably in between that of the black sesame spread and the cream cheese that gives the entire sandwich an interesting contrast of flavours; all that whilst being soft to the bite. The milk toast does carry its own subtle hint of sweetness here; the milk toast is not overly thick nor dense and hence was not too carb-y — that being said, it does come a just lightly toasted to come with that crisp exterior that provided another dimension of texture. Despite sounding like a pretty outlandish item on paper, we were pretty surprised how well everything came together as one here.

Whilst being a new establishment, 8bar Espresso does seem like an extension to what the now-defunct Morphine Coffee could not be — being a concept that was positioned as a takeaway-only kiosk in the past, Morphine Coffee would not have been able to bring the concepts and ideas that the folks behind 8bar Espresso / Morphine Coffee have brought forward with the opening of 8bar Espresso. 8bar Espresso does feel like that specialty coffee joint which would not stick to industry norms — this is evidently so considering the sort of food and special concoctions of specialty coffee they carry on the menu here. Apart from the Black Mango Milk Toast, one such other inventive item that we have had would be the Pistachio Pineapple Latte which is being listed on the “Adventurous” section of their beverage menu — this would be a double shot latte featuring pistachio paste, pineapple and pistachio crumbs all in a rather interesting looking apparatus; one that we found to be especially appealing and in-line with the festive season considering it carried evident sweetness from the pineapple with something to crunch on while being a coffee-based beverage. Needless to say, 8bar Espresso is nothing quite like your average specialty coffee joint that is part of the third-wave coffee movement; definitely one of those establishments with a unique character that is unlike any other with its distinct style of going against the norms. We would say that 8bar Espresso is definitely a spot worth making the trip for; this would especially be so for those who are keen to trying their unique take on Sandos and specialty coffee – also a spot that we would most certainly be keen on making a revisit to check out their various other special concoctions that they have to offer!