Artichoke, Singapore

Ross' sunny side up 

Renee's butter toasted chicken sandwich

House-blend breakfast cereal - now with Little Creatures Pale Ale!

We love Singapore - it seems that you cannot go wrong with the food lah! Today we joined our friends and our friends' friends at Artichoke Cafe and Bar, which is located in Sculpture Square. It has a large inside area, plus a delightful covered outside area with a long wooden table. We had gathered together enough people to fill the outside table! Artichoke has a great ambience - the owner told us that he had spent some time in Melbourne gathering inspiration. Artichoke officially claims that it is "inspired by the fascinating flavours and smells of Spain, Turkey, Lebanon, Greece and Morocco," and they are spot on in this respect!

The "November weekend brunch V1" menu contains a whole bunch of goodies that cost between S$14-18, that I can't resist going all out on:

• House-blend breakfast cereal w dried apricots, freeze-dried strawberries, almonds & cold milk (S$7);
• Creamy scrambled eggs w organic Kin Yan Farm mushrooms, parmesan & wild rocket, w Turkish bread;
• Eggs baked in tomato sauce w country sausage balls, chorizo, Spanish onions & homemade lebneh;
• Pan-fried haloumi on toast w organic mushrooms, crushed avocado & wild rocket;
• Renee's choice - Butter roasted chicken sandwich, grilled onions, almond romesco sauce & aioli + salad leaves; and
• My choice - Sunny side up w Moroccan mergues lamb nuggets, pistachio dukkah, babaganoush & fresh herbs.

The owner happily told me that my meal had made it into the top 100 dishes of 2010 (in Singapore Cosmo). And boy did it deserve to be in that list - it was meal perfection! It looked great on the plate, and had an array of different ingredients hidden under the egg to be found, like a treasure hunt! Renee found her sandwich to be tasty, but complete food envy!

The presentation was a winner - the dishes were fun, and we enjoyed the way that the cereal was served in a paper bag; cute! When we left, we were all given candy in small paper bags; such a great idea and certainly icing on a great cake!

We both ordered iced caffe lattes (i.e. iced coffee) that were delicious! Renee had another one, and I returned for a macchiato which was honestly one of the best maccs I have ever had.

The Verdict

Coffee 4.5/5
The Eggs (the meal!) 4.5/5
Service 4/5
Atmosphere 4.5/5
Overall 17.5/20
Would we go again?
I think we could easily live on Singapore's food - it really is good. Thanks Artichoke, for showing us how a breakfast place should be!

Website: http://www.artichoke.com.sg/

40 Hands, Singapore

First stop Singapore! Today the weather was a humid 32C, much like yesterday and tomorrow! Our fantastic friends live in Tiong Bahru, on the same block as this delightful cafe, 40 Hands, which was recently established by a couple of Perth expats. The cafe also features art by Creepy. Like many Perth cafes, 40 Hands is all about the coffee.

The interior is well-done. The wooden counter provides a perfect contrast to the concrete surroundings. The order number is a wooden block. In all, it's seriously cool (a nice contrast to humid, no?)

Renee was feeling humid, and thought that an iced coffee would go down nicely; i was quite happy to try the hot fare and ordered a flat white. And they were delicious - perfectly perfected coffees. I would be quite happy to live on the same block as this cafe!

On the food side of things, the menu was limited with just pastries and toasted sandwiches on offer. We started off sharing a ham and cheese croissant, which was average at best and not worth discussing. Luckily our friends suggested, no, implored, that we try their toasted sandwiches, and I ordered the Mediterranean lamb. Others on offer include Jamaican pork, vegetable stack, cheese and tomato, and truffle mushroom (i wish i had ordered the latter - yum!). The Mediterranean lamb toastie was delicious, and full of cucumber, mint, and other yummy fillings.

The Verdict

Coffee 4.5/5
The Eggs (the meal!) 3/5
Service 4/5
Atmosphere 4.5/5

Overall 16/20

Would we go again?
Oh how I wish we could have spent more time in Singapore so that we could have come here again!

Website: http://www.40handscoffee.com/

Poached has gone international!

That's right! Us poached pair were sick of being overworked, and so threw off our employment shackles in an annual-leave-revolution and declared a state of holiday!


To celebrate, we will be introducing the world to our new way of living via Singapore, Tokyo, Shanghai, London, Paris, Brussels, Bruges, Antwerp, Cologne, Istanbul, Seville, Fez, Marrakech, Porto, Lisbon, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, San Antonio, Austin, Toronto, New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Melbourne! And hopefully we can find a brunch-spot or two on the way and report in on progress.


Keep an eye out for a surprise along the way!

The Suite, Shenton Park

Renee's eggs Benedict at the front, and Ross' eggs Florentine

Ok it was a while ago that we visited The Suite in Shenton Park (24 September to be precise!). Our memory, however, is sharp-as. And since we don't stray into the golden triangle often, we would not want to give this review a miss. The Suite is a small bar, and immediately feels cosy and intimate; it's dark and brooding and once inside it is easy to forget that there is a real world outside. This is good. Renee enjoyed the vintage-inspred aesthetic. The Suite is open 6 days for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but it is only the breakfast that interests us.

The menu offers some simple fair, including field mushroom feta on toasted sourdough ($14), smoked salmon dill cream, roquette, brioche ($14) and pancakes maple syrup, berries, whipped cream ($15). We both went standard today with Renee choosing the eggs Benedict ($14) but substituting the muffin for sourdough, and I went for eggs Florentine ($12). Both meals were tasty, cooked and seasoned well. Renee was miffed that her sourdough toast was actually one piece cut into two- she reckons they could have given her two pieces, surely! (yes she notes that she likes carbs in the morning!)

We both ordered flat whites ($3.50) (yes i know that is not a surprise!) - they were quite delicious, well made and tasty-as. So good in fact that we ordered a second round of coffees; but they were nowhere near as good. Almost undrinkable! Which is a shame, because we were enjoying the atmosphere and had completely forgot about the outside world until those second coffees.

Should The Suite maintain its consistency (and maybe over the last 3 months it has?), it would certainly be a choice spot to escape the world.

The Verdict

Coffee 3/5
The Eggs (the meal!) 3.5/5
Service 4/5
Atmosphere 4/5

Overall 14.5/20

Would we go again?
When brooding, yes

Website: The Suite

We've been bad!

Hi everyone, I guess you've all been wondering where we have been? Well, we have been pretty busy (you think that's a lame excuse, I know!) But don't worry, we're back, and with some surprises too!

More posts soon, ^_^ Ross & Renee

Hubbles Yard, East Fremantle

Renee's breakfast

fresh juice and coffee

Ross' breakfast

Ok so this post has been a long time coming, as we had been meaning to visit Hubbles Yard for a long time now. Our past plans were thwarted by making the trip on a Sunday no less than twice. Hubbles Yard is not open on Sunday. So if you see any online article claiming that Hubbles Yard is open on Sunday (we're looking at you, sixthousand), be very, very wary! Learning our lesson we made the trip on a Saturday and almost didn't make it as we arrived at 11:25, 5 minutes before breakfast finished. We made a quick scan of the menu and ordered straight away as we didn't want to miss out a third time!

If memory serves me right, Hubbles Yard had a small but enticing menu. I ordered field mushroom which came with goats' cheese feta, pesto, lettuce & a delicious chutney ($14.50). Renee decided upon the breakfast bruschetta with poached eggs and the chutney ($14.50). Both of our meals went down very, very well, cooked to perfection and balanced nicely. The chutney was a good addition which brought the meal to life. In fact the little side sauces that come with meals everywhere are often underrated, and can make or break a dish (for example, although I don't like to admit it Dôme rolls are nothing without their onion chutney. Keep that on the low-down).

Like Dômes everywhere, Hubbles Yard is located on a street corner (Hubble and George Streets), but in one of this city's most hidden-away activity centres, East Fremantle. Being in such a quiet hidden away location gives Hubbles Yard a great vibe, and this is translated to the interior. We polished off our meal perched on stools at a long high table. The quaint vibe rubs off on the staff too, who were friendly and offered service with a smile.

Hubbles Yard has also taken on board some great baristas, and i was more than happy to go back for a second flat white. Not content with just great coffees, Hubbles Yard also offers fresh juices made on the premises (either $5 or $6, I can't remember!) and you can choose the ingredients. Renee's juice contained apple, pear, orange and ginger, and was very, very good.

We also tried one of their cakes on display at the counter. The one I chose to share was a lime and coconut slice, which tasted nice but was a bit dry and was only edible with slathers of cream. But there were many-more moist-looking cakes on display, so this is no reason not to go!

The Verdict

Coffee 4.5/5
The Eggs (the meal!) 4/5
Service 4.5/5
Atmosphere 4/5

Overall 17/20

Would we go again?
Very, very much so!

Atomic, South Perth

Ross' mushroom & feta bruschetta with poached eggs

Sweet, sweet cinnamon toast

Poached egg with a side of bacon and hollandaise

Some great coffee

Super large menu!

This rainy morning we ventured over the river to South Perth to visit Atomic on Mends Street as we had to drop by my mum's house and she lives in area so it sounded like a good plan all round! About 4 years ago when we first moved in together we used to live in a big old share house in South Perth and we used to go to Atomic when it first opened and we don't remember it ever being this good!

It took me a little while to decide what to order because the menu is LARGE in both options and size and its Sunday and I never can really commit to anything- haha! I ummed and ahhed between the feta and roma tomato bruschetta ($8.50), the Norwegian eggs which featured creamed spinach but then settled on poached eggs with a side of bacon and hollandaise ($14.50). Ross quickly decided on the mushroom & feta bruschetta with a side of poached eggs. He also ordered some cinnamon toast which was quite random and two flat whites.

Atomic was PACKED! Filled with lots of young folk in search for a hangover breakfast and coffee. Atomic serves breakfast till 12:45pm which is perfect for us lazy Sunday risers! Our coffees came out within 10 minutes and they were creamy, smooth and quite delicious. Yay! Our food wasn't too far behind and I was immediately glad with the choice I made. The sourdough was great, the eggs cooked perfectly and seasoned with spring onions, bacon nice and crispy but it was the hollandaise which was a standout. It was yummmmmo! Ross didn't talk much so that means his meal was a winner too! He said his ciabatta was soft and tasty, eggs were great but the danish feta was perhaps a little overpowering however there wasn't anything left on his plate so good sign! The cinnamon toast Ross randomly ordered was sugary goodness...good one Ross!

Overall we have no complaints! Atomic is great- Hi5!

The Verdict

Coffee 3.5/5
The Eggs (the meal!) 4/5
Service 4/5
Atmosphere 3.5/5

Overall 15/20

Would we go again?
Yes!