Brawn & Brains

It's Saturyay again! Okay, I spent my Saturday working. Yayy because I managed to be home in time to watch Liverpool face off with Manchester United. Man Utd kept their streak of zero losses so yayy to that as well. This week is pretty much a throwback post where I pampered my stomach with brunch after a really long time. For a period of time when I went missing from this blog, I had a hard time finding food that convinced me they are worth visiting. So I dallied for really long with no real craving. Despite the hiatus, I grew fatter. Can't explain why...

I visited Brawn & Brains while on my way to purchase my Surface Pro Core M3 Model. Yes, I'm typing this out with my Surface Pro at the moment. Located in a very much run-down former Singapore Badminton Hall, Brawn & Brains is known for fresh bakes, coffee and awesome brunch selections. When we visited over that weekend, it was packed till the staff had to tell us the waiting time for food was 45mins.

For those who are familiar with my style, I typically do my research on food before making my way down. Coincidentally, the stuff I wanted to eat was exactly the same as Vain Pot so we shared. The food that enthralled us were Bacon with Open Face Toast ($15.90) and Oven Baked Molten Eggs ($16.80).

The Bacon with Open Face Toast came with loads of generous grilled bacon strips on sourdough bread with slow cooked egg on the side, along with cherry tomatoes and greens. I felt this was one of those dishes which starts off really well but becomes overly 'jelat' and difficult to finish. If I were to break it down in parts, the bacon strips were grilled well, perhaps leaning towards the salty side. The slow cooked egg was perfect, the yolk runny if you break it. The toast was great too. Portions are big so maybe it's me but I couldn't finish my meal.

The Oven Baked Molten Eggs with a side of smoked salmon, avocado and melted cheese (full name), was a more balanced dish. I found the eggs very delicious, the melted cheese on it definitely gave it the added oomph! Avocado and smoked salmon taste exactly as it should but it lightens up the richly baked eggs and it makes the meal a lot easier to finish.

 

Another highlight of the place was said to be good coffee so we definitely had to order. Vain Pot ordered the iced version of caffe latte while mine was hot. Iced latte cost 50 cents more. In any case, her feedback was the ice version tasted a bit too diluted. I had no complains with my coffee so perhaps you might want to stick with the hot drinks when you visit. Coffee tasted like what it should but nothing out of this world.

Would I return for another go at the food? I probably won't make a special trip down but I would pop in for breakfast if I'm nearby. I was pretty attracted to the fresh bakes I saw during my research and they were sold out by the time I arrived. That says something about the quality of the buns there, so I would like to try. I found the brunch menu to be above average and the food wins on the eggs. If you love eggs a lot, you probably would wish to try here at least once!

Brawn & Brains
100 Guillemard Road, #01-02 Guillemard Village, 399718

Brunch places worth a visit at Bangkok

Recently, I travelled to the land of smiles and coined this visit my Thailand Cafe Hunting and Lifestyle trip. It's my first trip there since I was age 9 and a lot has changed. I'm really pleased that the places I shortlisted from research proved to be satisfying to my taste buds and made my entire trip all the more enjoyable. I'll be sharing some of the brunch places I went and my thoughts on it.

My first stop was at On Luk Yun. The Thailand equivalent to Chin Mee Chin Confectionary in Singapore which I wrote about not too long ago. This old school traditional breakfast place is almost a must visit for me the next time I come back. There's a couple of key highlights that I like. The French Toast is very flavourful, you can taste the good blend of the eggs wrapped around a fluffy bread. Yummy! I like the egg kaya with steamed bread. Really, the bread is awesome fluffy and doesn't fill your tummy up and goes perfectly with the egg kaya (uniquely thailand). Even bought one kaya home for my mom. The soft boiled eggs served in a cup surprisingly carries a very addictive taste. I kept gobbling up my cup till all is gone and if not because this is such an eggy meal, I'd order a second cup. I think the soft boiled eggs addictive taste has to do with the special nestle thai sauce that is added with the pepper unlike our dark sauce back home. But I'm left blown away given that I never knew soft boiled eggs can taste any nicer. I didn't pay the bill but the total cost for two is less than $15 SGD.

On Luk Yun
72 Charoen Krung Road, Talat Noi, Samphanthawong
Bangkok 10100

Roast is another place I wish to highlight. I felt the portions are really generous and all the dishes were executed technically perfect. Why technically perfect? I felt that the eggs were creamy well beaten, bacon crispy, bread well toasted and salmon properly done, however there's no wow factor. The eggs tasted like a typical properly done scrambled eggs but it isn't a stand out scrambled eggs. There's nothing on the menu that jumps out. Thats the problem. However, if you are looking for a decent brunch fix that doesn't spoil your day, Roast is the place to be. Roast Breakfast (400 Baht with coffee), Smoked Salmon Rosti (320 Baht) and dessert was S'mores Custard Cake (280 Baht). The outlet that I went was at the Commons, a new shopping mall concept that promotes lush greenery. I think that Roast is by far the costliest brunch meal I ate at Bangkok, but it's highly popular among expats and tourist because the ambiance is really relaxing. I enjoyed myself despite not being exceptionally impressed with the food. 

Roast
Unit #T1 (Roast), The COMMONS
335 Thonglor Soi 17, Sukhumvit 55
Klongton Nua, Wattana, Bangkok 10110

Rocket Coffeebar is another satisfying discovery on my first adult Thailand trip. Rocket Coffeebar is a Nordic Cafe and I like it that everything about it is simple and not complicated. The eggs benedict (290 Baht) that we tried had very good hollandaise sauce, light yet brings out the flavour and the eggs were soft and runny. The eggs are fat and generous and goes very well with the sauce and bread. The salmon according to the brother is much fresher than the ones at Roast. I like my order of quail eggs and truffle (240 Baht) tasted really good too. The potato waffle that the eggs and truffle were served on wasn't too hard and eating it didn't feel tiresome at all unlike some waffles I've tried elsewhere. The bacon was fried till crispy something distinctly Thailand. I like that the truffle and eggs blended really well with the potato waffles that I enjoyed eating them together. I'm looking forward to try their other dishes the next time I return.

Rocket Coffeebar
147 Soi Sathon 12, Khwaeng Silom, Khet Bang Rak, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10500, Thailand

Chin Mee Chin Confectionary

This weekend is a very rushed week. I was just telling Vain Pot that I'm so overwhelmed with work I didn't have time to make any balloon sculptures. As a big fan of living an enjoyable and exciting life, I feel particularly proud of myself this week because I still managed to head to somewhere meaningful with Vain Pot for a comfortable 1 hour meal. It's simple and easy to do. I get especially riled whenever people who have more time on their hands don't even bother to come up with something more exciting than window shopping and movies week in and out whenever they initiate a meet up. Buay sian meh?

Our choice of leisure this week is to pamper ourselves with some simple old school comfort food. Kaya bread on toast and soft-boiled eggs. Vain Pot loves this place a lot while I don't really fancy coming here for a number of non-food related reasons. Chin Mee Chin Confectionary specialises in traditional bread on toast with kaya or butter spread and soft boiled eggs. They also are wildly popular for their cakes and egg tarts. The place is so popular, you'll have to share tables.

The cakes which mostly go for a dollar are soft and fluffy. They are also rich in flavour and easy to eat. I would like to highlight the egg tart which I find very different from egg tarts I find elsewhere. Vain pot especially likes this one. The crust taste more like a cookie crust and the egg in the center taste a lot more like custard than your usual soft yellow creamy eggs. The egg custard and cookie tart gives it a uniquely CMC taste that makes the tart very popular among CMC visitors. Be sure to go early because there's a chance the tart may go out of stock due to strong demand.

The traditional kaya toast with soft boiled eggs is also clearly a winner. The toast is very old school, look at the buns, it's made in house freshly baked using the charcoal grill we see on TV for shows depicting that semi-modern era.

The eggs are big and fat. See the yolk still so big despite breaking. It makes for an extremely filling meal despite its simplicity. The total damage is only $10.80 with drinks included. A simple yet awesome way to kick start a weekend. I don't only eat atas food okay! Haha! My friends tend to feel that my definition of enjoyment is to spend a lot of money which doesn't necessarily have to be the case if you bother to look hard enough.

So will I come back here? I'll be very honest. I'll only come back when I wanna give Vain Pot a treat after a stressful week of work. I don't like the parallel parking here. I think the hygiene factor sucks and the attitude of the old timers extremely bo chap sometimes I feel like I'm talking to myself when I ask them questions about my orders or the food. (For example, they screwed up my eggs order and served me 3 eggs instead of 4. I even had to chase for that 1 elusive egg myself even after they acknowledge its their mistake) So I'll only suggest visiting this place if you can look past all the non-food negative points and just want cheap and good comfort food.

Chin Mee Chin Confectionary
204 East Coast Road

Pacamara Boutique Coffee Roasters

It's the final post for July and with a bit of guilt given that I took a week off last week. Wanted to feature Tanuki Raw last week but failed due to the long queues. I spent my last weekend of July visiting the Garden Festival at Gardens by the Bay. It's the final week of the festival and my gosh, the queue is crazy! It is nevertheless a pleasant walk around the garden. I was rewarded with a new display picture taken for my Facebook and a healthy afternoon after a hearty brunch.

This week we journey to Thomson. It's a very rare visit because it's extremely out of the way from where Vain Pot lives and I usually pick her up from her home before we proceed to food hunting. Also, parking in the Thomson area is always a hassle. Pacamara Boutique Coffee Roasters was shortlisted some way back after it caught the attention of a number of bloggers I was following on Instagram. No doubt, its popularity rehashed itself rather than a new discovery because a quick google showed that it first gained popularity in 2014. Online reviews then and now remains highly favourable and it helps that their food looks extremely camera friendly. I am so looking forward to this visit today as a result! 

One of the highlights of this place is its coffee. We shared an ice mocha ($6.50) because Vain Pot wanted to try but she can't take much caffeine and I have too much coffee ever since a Nespresso machine entered my life. 

I wanted to try their red velvet pancakes with mascarpone cheese initially but too bad they removed it from their menu. Sulks! Was really disappointed. I settled for BBQ Pork with Mac and Cheese ($18.50) instead. Vain Pot wanted clean food so she picked Avocado and Eggs ($15.90). 

The BBQ Pork with Mac and Cheese made my long journey to Thomson worthwhile. The dish is made up of 4 different cheese (parmesan, feta cheese, mozerella and mild cheddar) which made the Mac and cheese sufficiently cheesy without being overly 'jelat'. It helps that the portion wasn't too big so it's easy to eat and finish but people with bigger appetites might find the dish a little pricey. I also like it that the BBQ pork was honey coated and tasted like Bak Kwa. The mixture of pork sweetness with the cheesiness of the cheese provided a good balance to the overall meal. I'll definitely order this again when I want a Mac and cheese fix. 

Vain Pot's Avocado with Eggs was also perfectly executed. The poached eggs were runny and the avocado was richly flavored with cherry tomatoes and lemon making the entire taste refreshing. My first worry when I saw the sourdough bread was if it was toasted too hard. It passed the test as it was well toasted and the avocado was well spread across the bread. As a meal, this is a healthy delicious choice! Vain Pot was rather let down by the portion though. We both kinda expected two slices of bread with generous avocado serving like what they offer at Boufe. One slice does appear rather miserly for a $15.90 meal. 

How would I rate the overall experience having travelled a long way to dine here? I really love the food and would be back to try other dishes on the menu. However, it's a really bad place to dine if you come with someone you can't stop talking to. It's way way too noisy and many times Vain Pot and I had to repeat ourselves. It's however a wonderful place to dine if your companion and you loves food, loves taking pretty food photos and just want to share everything on the menu. The food and photos are awesome! No wonder food aficionados love this place! 

Pacamara Boutique Coffee Roasters

185 Upper Thomson Road