It has been some time since my last post, due to my examinations and my busy schedule. Now I'm back to share on my visit to one of the cafes which has a rather different environment, compared to most other cafes in Singapore.
Well, I had my chance to visit this cafe that is located in the middle of a park, along with my parents and my brother, to celebrate my birthday with brunch! We visited this cafe called Grub, which a lot of people might have heard of it, which is situated in the relatively newly "renovated" park, Bishan Park.
As for me, I took bus 162 to GRUB, which led me to the nice scenery above! As you can see GRUB is surrounded by greenery and fresh plants, and a beautiful river, which is connected to Kallang River. This alone made the cafe different from most other cafes! Customers are closer to nature when they dine in in GRUB.
Arriving at GRUB, you will be welcomed by an iPad to ask you to join in the wait-list, with the number of pax and a contact number to get a queue number. Due to the space constraint at the entrance of GRUB, no physical queuing is allowed outside the cafe. Thus, customers are encouraged to get a queue number and wait for a SMS to be sent to you when the cafe is full.
Before heading to GRUB on that day, I've done some homework on the internet on the recommended dishes to try at GRUB! And some of the dishes are the popular ones by netizens!
First up, as appetizer! Chili con carne($8)! It means "chili with meat"! This appetizer consist of a bowl of corn chips, tasted like those you can buy from any convenient store, and a small bowl of meat sauce with a scoop of sour cream. This meat sauce is a fragrant beef chili sauce, which is not too spicy. The chunky minced beef gives this dish a pleasant texture when being eaten with the corn chips! The sauce is definitely great to be eaten alone too!
This dish is suitable for all, but the corn chips is a little bitter when being eaten alone. Highly recommended dish if you can eat beef! Definitely having this if I'm visiting GRUB again!
This dish is suitable for all, but the corn chips is a little bitter when being eaten alone. Highly recommended dish if you can eat beef! Definitely having this if I'm visiting GRUB again!
Each of us ordered a drink each for ourselves to complete our meal! Right above, on the left is a cup of Latte($4.50), on the right is a cup of Cappuccino($4.50). Right below are Long Black($3.50), and a cup of Hot Coffee that came with a GRUB Breakfast Set that we ordered.
The coffee were pretty normal, which has nothing much to comment on. But, if you are a coffee lover, you will not like the Liberty Hot Coffee. It was so blend that it tasted like plain water to me. For coffee lovers, if you decide to order the GRUB Breakfast Set, I would recommend that you order another drink, instead of having the Hot Coffee.
Crispy Fish Burger($14) - crumbed fish fillet with remoulade sauce.
Remoulade sauce is a French-invented condiment that is popular in many countries. However, the taste of the remoulade sauce in the burger was not strong enough to bring flavour to the burger. The fish fillet is a very crispy and big dory fish fillet, and it tasted like it was only marinated with salt and pepper before being fried.
On the whole, this dish did not bring surprise to me, except for the crispy-ness and the size of the fillet. Fish lovers can consider giving this dish a try, but I would not recommend this dish if you are looking for a special dish to try.
Pork Steak Burger($13) - sous-vide glazed pork, grilled pineapple
Sous-vide is a cooking method by sealing the meat in an airtight plastic bag and cook in a temperature-controlled water bath or steamed environment for longer-than-normal cooking hours, at a lower temperature from normal cooking methods.
The pork is quite tender, but just a little too dry for myself, the marinate was not too special, tasted just nice for me. Not to worry about the pork smell that a lot of people are afraid of when they eat pork.!To make the burger special, a slice of grilled pineapple has been added to the burger to compliment the taste of the pork! Overall, the taste was quite surprising for me and will recommend it to everyone!
Portobello Burger($11) - grilled portobello, crumbed feta, lettuce, vegetarian option (but not vegan)
I have always been a fan of sautéed mushrooms, any type of mushrooms! Just love the natural fragrant of mushrooms when they are being sautéed or being grilled. This Portobello Burger sure caught my attention! A simple burger with no meat patty, but replaced with 2 caps or grilled portobello mushrooms, topped with feta cheese to add on to the taste of the mushroom. The portobellos are so juicy and tender that it feels like meat if you were to eat it blindfolded! This burger sure is a suitable choice for vegetarians, but because it contains feta cheese, which is made from sheep's milk, Vegans will not be able to have them. Maybe they can request to have it without the feta cheese?
For the price that we are paying, I felt that the portobello mushrooms could be bigger in size to make it a more value-for-money option for the customers. On the whole, Portobello Burger is a simple, not too strong tasting, main course to choose if you are looking for a not-so-sinful main course from all the other options! Definitely a recommendation from me ;D
GRUB Breakfast Set($15) - grilled focaccia, scrambled egg, grilled mushroom, side salad and a choice of chicken cheese or garlic thyme pork sausage
How can you not have a breakfast set if you are brunching? Heres GRUB's Breakfast Set! Well, nothing much special about their breakfast set and the portion is not enough to fill up my fat tummy if I were to have this set alone for brunch. We chose the Chicken Cheese sausage over the garlic thyme pork sausage as my mom don't really like pork due to the smell that she is quite afraid of.
Portions for the sausage, scrambled egg and salad were alright, but the grilled focaccia bread is probably a little too small for a breakfast set. Another thing that I was quite unhappy with was that the served half a small slice of portobello mushroom for the breakfast set? It don't look presentable and the portion definitely is too small to be served. I did not not even know that there was a slice of portobello mushroom until my brother told that they finished that half a piece of it. GRUB Breakfast Set did not give me a good impression on the whole, with its portion and the bad coffee that came with it.
That's all for our appetizer and main course! Here's a picture of what we had before having our dessert served!
Churros - dark chocolate, tangy crème anglaise
And of course, voted as a MUST TRY for dessert in GRUB by netizens, is definitely their Churros! Recently, there's been a craze over churros! Where to find churros, whose churros is the best, and where to find unique churros.
GRUB has been known to be a place to find Churros, so how can you miss it when you visit GRUB? Tasted it, and it is indeed YUMMY! Crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside! The kitchen cooks them only when you ask for your Churros to be served, so that they are ensured to be piping hot! It is served with dark chocolate sauce and tangy crème anglaise sauce.
Crème Anglaise is a light pouring custard as a dessert cream or sauce. GRUB added a tangy flavour to their crème anglaise to give it a refreshing taste! The Churros is coated with a layer of cinnamon sugar, which is the norm for churros. To compliment or to balance out the sweetness from the cinnamon sugar, the warm dark chocolate sauce is served. Have it for more flavour, or to lighten the sweetness using the bitter taste of the chocolate sauce! The crème anglaise sauce is served cold, and it tasted like condensed milk with cream, and a little refreshing tangy taste! Very refreshing and totally enjoyable munching on the churros with the sauces! MUST TRY!
A reminder to all my readers, GRUB does not allow pets to be brought into the cafe and no smoking is allowed, even in the outdoor dining area.
Do donate some money to Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (S.P.C.A.) into this cute donation box, on your way when you are leaving the cafe!
Here are the information about GRUB cafe!
Adress: 510, Ang Mo Kio Ave 1 (Bishan Park 1), Singapore 569983
Telephone: +65 64595743 (No reservations)Website: www.grub.com.sg
Email: info@grub.com.sg
Opening Hours:
Tuesday-Friday: 11:00am - 3:00pm, 5:30pm - 10:30pm
Saturday-Sunday and Public Holidays: 9:00am - 4:00pm, 5:30pm - 10:30pm
Last orders at 30 minutes before closing.
GRUB is closed on every Mondays and the last Tuesday on every month.
