The Breakfast Club (Tiong Bahru Plaza)

Came across the newly-opened outlet of The Breakfast Club whilst going around Tiong Bahru Plaza recently — for those whom are wondering; yes, this is the same The Breakfast Club which is also located within The Coffee Shop By Yaowarat Thai Kway Chap just a short walk away from Kovan MRT Station; while the brand is also known to be the same one that has brought to us the Joji’s Diner brand that operates out of a shophouse unit at Upper Serangoon Road, they had also closed down a number of locations previously such as the outlet of The Breakfast Club that used to be located in Holland Village, as well as the Joji Diner’s location at Stanley Street. The outlet of The Breakfast Club at Tiong Bahru Plaza takes over the former premises of the now-defunct Yaowarat Thai Kway Chap that was in the basement of the mall. While the remaining concept of The Breakfast Club is a concept situated in a coffeeshop, the very first standalone location of The Breakfast Club is the now-defunct Holland Village location — despite the Tiong Bahru Plaza outlet being its only standalone location now, there is lesser of an emphasis in its decor to recreate vibes of an American diner; much of the shop space looks like a typical shopping mall kiosk-style eatery with dine-in tables and stools featuring wooden accents. The Breakfast Club has always been known for being a location big on all-day breakfast dishes and the Tiong Bahru Plaza location is no exception to this — the menu having segmented into categories such as All Day Breakfast, Club Mains and Sides. Beverage options at The Breakfast Club’s location at Tiong Bahru Plaza can be described as a little bit limited; the only drinks available here being lemonade, orange juice, iced lemon tea and canned drinks.

If there is one dish out there that best represents what The Breakfast Club is all about, it probably will be the Breakfast Plate — we usually detest ordering breakfast platters whenever we visit a cafe, but the Breakfast Plate is probably that item that best defines comfort American brunch fare that The Breakfast Club has their core focus in. The menu describes the Breakfast Plate to come with elements such as pork sausage, hashbrown, cherry tomatoes, baked beans, scrambled eggs, sautéed mushroom and bacon strip — patrons are able to opt for their choice of carbs here, with the default choice of carbs for the Breakfast Plate being the French Toast; the Pancake and Sourdough options are listed as an upgrade from the French Toast that is charged at $1 above the original price tag of the dish at $12.50. Patrons can also exercise the option to add other elements to the Breakfast Plate such as that of the Grilled Chicken, Mixed Greens, Pasta, Sunny Side-Up and Smoked Salmon — each element listed here carrying their own price tag. Digging into the Breakfast Plate, we were most excited to give the Pancakes a go first — the Pancakes served up at The Breakfast Club are essentially American diner-style Pancakes that look considerably hefty, though we were surprised by how light it is with a cake-like texture within; we were actually anticipating this to be rather jelat but it did turn out pretty manageable at the end. It is also noted that the pancake does seemingly come with a slight butteriness and also a hint of sweetness that came with a cinnamon-y touch; probably explains why it doesn’t come with maple syrup and butter accompanied on the side though one can still help themselves to the maple syrup at the self-service area.

The streak of bacon that accompanies the Breakfast Plate is done to a texture that is slightly chewy here — came with a saltishness that one would associate with cured meat. The flavours for the pork sausage could also be described in a similar tune, though we did enjoy the snappy skin of the sausage that we felt was a good texture. Other elements such as the hashbrown were a little bit more generic; we also found it a little bit on the greasy side, though it is worth commending that they did put in some effort to make the baked beans a little different by adding small cubes of luncheon meat to give it a varied texture. Personally, we felt that the sautéed mushrooms could definitely do more time in the pan to bring out its naturally earthy notes, though they have added garlic into the mix that gave it more flavoural contrast apart from the herbs that they have also added. The scrambled eggs did come with a decent texture — sufficiently runny, though we did find it a little bland and lacks of the eggy fragrance that we yearn for in egg dishes. Whilst the other elements of the Breakfast Plate aren’t what we will call outstanding, we do feel that their American diner-style pancakes being something that hits the spot — their fare has always been considerably affordable for how the All Day Breakfast are priced between $7.50 to $12.50; lower than that of what specialty cafes would have charged. Whilst missing of much of the glitzy vibes that Joji Diner has, The Breakfast Club at Tiong Bahru Plaza does provide residents around the area a relatively wallet-friendly option to go to for some decent brunch fare to satisfy those cravings.