Cafe Mary Grace is one of the cafes that had opened to much anticipation during the year — situated in Tras Street, this would be Cafe Mary Grace’s very first outpost situated outside of the Phillipines. A brand that hails from the Philippines, Cafe Mary Grace has had humble beginnings having been operating within Christmas bazaars since the 1990s; their very first brick-and-mortar store having opened in 2002, while their very first cafe opened its doors in 2006. The interior of the cafe is decked in a country-style design theme; a very welcoming, warm and inviting interior typical to that of a European-style cottage — themed closely to resemble their other locations which are situated in the Philippines despite the constraints in terms of space given how they had taken up a shop unit located in the ground floor of a conserved shophouse. Being a bakery cafe, Cafe Mary Grace is perhaps most notable for their cake, Ensaymada and cheese roll offerings though the menu is segregated into sections dedicated to Our Signatures, Singapore Exclusives, Starters, All Day Brunch and Handcrafted Cakes; beverages are split into categories such as Crafted Drinks, and Specialty Coffee & Tea.

Whilst the All Day Brunch does feature some very classic brunch dishes that can be found at other cafes, Cafe Mary Grace does serve up a few dishes in their All Day Brunch menu that are inspired by Filipino flavours — this will include dishes like the Angus Beef Tapa and the Grilled Chicken Inasal Focaccia. We found ourselves going for the Angus Beef Tapa which is a classic Filipino breakfast dish that is said to feature marinated sirloin strips; it does come with sunny side-up by default, and patrons do get a choice to opt for either garlic rice or rosemary rice for their order — we were recommended by the staff to opt for garlic rice, which is also a classic combination to pair up with Beef Tapa that can also be referred to as the Tapsilog. The garlic rice does come pretty fragrant with a prominent hint of garlic; almost quite akin to Japanese Garlic Fried Rice, and was already pretty good on its own. With that being said, it also does come accompanied with some condiments on the side such as tomato salsa and shreds of mango that adds a bit of tanginess and a refreshing note to the rice that further enhances the flavours of the rice. We were initially a little worried that the Beef Tapa would be a little bit on the drier side; that being said, the Angus Beef Tapa here was tender and easy to chew with no fatty or veiny parts — all that whilst coming with a savoury-sweet note which was especially tasty. There was also no hint of gaminess from the beef that was detected here. Meanwhile, the sunny side-up here features two egg yolks; the egg yolks coming in a molten consistency that eagerly flows as one pokes the yolks with a fork — all that with soft egg whites and without any undesirable stench of overused oil.