Vernacular Coffee has definitely been around for a while now — having entered the local F&B scene a couple of years back with the opening of their very first location within the Former Singapore Badminton Hall along Guillemard Road (taking over the former premises of the second iteration of Brawn & Brains Coffee in the building), these folks have also expanded their operations into the Central Business District with their second outlet located within the outlet of Hathaway at Capital Tower. They have since opened yet another outpost; this time within the new Varel Singapore situated along Selegie Road — Varel Singapore being a Tribute Portfolio Hotel that sits on the site of the demolished Selegie Centre. Interestingly, Varel Singapore is also home to Hathaway’s new outlet named Hathaway Autograph. Vernacular Coffee runs a space at the ground level independently away from Hathaway Autograph; known for its specialty coffee and pastry offerings, it does seem that its Varel Singapore location sees a slightly condensed line-up of pastries that is supplemented with some cake offerings, while the selection of specialty coffee is being limited to espresso-based specialty coffee. Despite the smaller space, Vernacular Coffee does offer a whole line-up of hot food offerings that is being split into sections dedicated to Snacks, Pasta, Sandwich | Burger, Main Course and Dessert.

Skimming through the menu, we settled for the Velvety Mentaiko which was listed as an item in the Pasta section of the menu; this is described to come with elements such as a Japanese spicy cod roe emulsion, sweet cold water shrimps and savoury seafood Furikake. Patrons do get a choice to opt for Ruffled Mafaldine, Classic Paccheri and Linguine — we found ourselves going for Ruffled Mafaldine. Whilst many other establishments would probably make the Mentaiko element a big highlight of the dish where it might potentially get overwhelming, Vernacular Coffee had taken the approach to keep the flavours of Mentaiko light in its cream sauce — this results in a very light briny note that subtly runs at the back of the tastebuds matched with the creaminess one would expect in cream pastas. The addition of savoury seafood Furikake adds a hint of savouriness and another dimension of umami notes to the pasta; this matches well with the natural sweetness that comes with the sweet cold water shrimps which are similar to what one will get in a Swedish Skagen (i.e. Swedish shrimp toast) — the shrimp giving a good bite. The Ruffled Mafaldine was a good choice to opt for considering how the ruffled grooves allows for the creamy Mentaiko sauce to be trapped within; all that whilst it comes al-dente with a good bite.