Their matcha latte [$5.5] is nice! Had it with oat milk as they ran out of dairy ones, and I think generally matcha latte is done well with oat milk. It's neither sweet nor bitter so if you like it sweet probably can ask them to alter the sweetness. It is a bit more muted than matcha-specialty places but it is one of the drinks I think Bread Yard do really well!
Creamy, al-dente linguine with generous serving of bacon and mushroom. The egg yolk isn't the super runny, so not boomerang-able, but I don't mind that. Always love their pasta.
Got this during their 2 for $9.90 opening promo. Smooth yoghurt, neither sweet nor sour and the oats complemented it well. This will be in the list of alternative drinks whenever I'm in the area.
One of my go-to matcha places and is generally a well-accepted matcha-specialty place. I had matcha hojicha latte, no ice and less hojicha syrup (ended up paying $6.8). The staff once told me that their matcha latte is done less sweet by default, and I also ordered less hojicha syrup as I am not quite a hojicha fan. The latter might balance the sweetness since it is syrup. For me, the final concoction's sweetness is just nice.
Located in SMU, this café offers hyped food and environment for students and general masses who like to hang out at a university environment. In frame is B.E.C. (is it Bacon, Egg and Cheese? - $10) with sesame bagel. It is a typical café fare big breakfast in bagel format and similar in composition with one menu item in a renowed bagel house. Overall it taste good due to the aioli and cheese. The scrambled egg seems to be done with a lot of butter as the paper wrapper was drenched with it, that the bacon becomes a bit soggy with it too. If you like butter this is great but very messy. They are really generous with the bacon serving though. The black coffee ($4) is good too - no acidic aftertaste (I don't like coffee with high acidity or fruit-ish notes), just nice and quite balanced. The indoor space is bright, airy, well socially-distanced, rustic and instagramable, with more seats outdoor including the SMU wooden benches facing the National Museum.
A quite common sight in CBD area, 6oz Espresso Bar at Change Alley Mall is a small coffee joint with indoor and outdoor seats. The place feels bright and the indoor seats are nice for quick meeting, though small and probably not for long stays or studying/ working. The coffee is alright for leisure meetups - not too milkish, not too coffee-ish.
Nothing is particularly special about this coffee - the blend is quite indistinguishable but it is a good accompaniment to their food and especially bread. Its lightness may please the masses and it is good to have with breakfast or to accompany small gatherings (COVID still! :x)
A homegrown brand that I just found out about and apparently they have already had a number of branches in town. There is no particular ingredients that stand out but their noodles are generally light (the chili is quite spicy though), quite filling and overall a for-everyday dish. Nice auntie at the counter too! Service can be rather slow as everytime I drop by during weekday dinnertime it is always a one-woman show.
I rarely get anything from them as their valhorna cocoa and the infamous taro milk drinks were let-downs for me. The staff recommended this orange juice green tea, freshly squeezed they say, and I can say that this is a refreshing combi to accompany dinners from the stalls around it! It is not heavily sweet/sour orange-y as the tea would balance it, and the pulp gives great texture.
Bread Yard's mains are generally fantastic and at the same time, almost always filling. Here is seared tuna bowl [$14] served with a breadstick, and well, bread is their specialty so ultimately there is no doubt about that. In other photos I see the tuna is still red and all but this is white-ish. Another lesson learnt is that I should have asked for more wasabi to make the dish even more flavorful.
Going green (or not HAHA look at the disposables) with Hainanese Kaya and Matcha. This is the type of kaya that I like - heavy on pandan and very very less coconut cos I don't like coconut (hate me but anyway). The matcha is quite balanced, not sweet but not bitter too, and the matcha flavor really shines through. If they are still getting their matcha from the brand with initial M it is good processing on their part as normally I don't really like the way that brand does their matcha drinks.
I personally think Genki's sushi and sashimi are good - fuss-free, firmly-shaped rice, and thick enough cuts. I also like their contactless ordering through the web app and delivered to you through the train system (don't need to download anything and don't have to wait for anyone to take your order, send it to the kitchen and serve it to you, and nobody other than you and the chef touch the plates). The salmon nigiri (also the salmon belly sashimi and maguro nigiri) are fresh, generous and make a good casual bite. In frame is a triple salmon nigiri sushi but I can't review the mentaiko salmon and black pepper mayo salmon objectively as I hate sushi with toppings (mentaiko lovers gonna hate but anyways).
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A suggestion is probably to have more items on its own without sauces e.g. fried salmon skin only? As when I visited, only salmon skin with salted egg sauce was listed in the menu:( And the wasabi is not the spicy, fuming type which is quite a letdown. Also, probably Genki can have the wasabi served by itself on a small plate upon request instead of packing it in single-use plastic wraps.
