Went for a chill-out Saturday brunch at Prive @ Keppel Bay a couple of weeks ago!

I imagined it to be quite the perfect way to spend a Saturday morning.

By the sparkling blue water, near yachts, wearing nautical-chic… sipping earl grey, eating eggs benedict and chatting about the latest car I just bought… or something.

…only…

The place was designed with no ventilation! It was so warm I felt like I was in an oven. Not very chill-out, quite literally speaking. The heat really spoiled a large part of the experience for me. Very hard to enjoy a leisurely brunch when there are beads of sweat forming on my forehead.

Gah but anyway on to the food! CH’s mushroom soup:

Nice, thick, rich. Mushroomy, for lack of a better word.

Next. Poached eggs with hollandaise sauce (I think?):

Eggs were quite nicely done, bacon was salty (in a good way) and went well with the eggs. Not bad.

HQ’s big breakfast set (or something like that?):

The presentation scored a solid zero. Firstly it looked like everything was just haphazardly thrown together to form a “meal”. And wassup with the dryness!? It was a desert on the plate, with flaky toast, parched bacon, withered mushrooms, dried poached eggs… all very very depressing.

Finally my smoked salmon salad:

This came chilled, thank god. It was quite a relief from the heat. Everything was fresh and tasted quite good.

Overall, I liked the view, the “feel” and all. But the temperature was above my tolerance level; I would not visit them again for brunch. Dinner here is nice though!

Friends@Jelita is located a turn away from Sixth Avenue. When I saw a coupon for their set meal at $19.90 (supposedly U.P. $65.80), I bought 2, for the bf and I.

We went there on a Sunday evening and it was only about 30% full. With the coupon promotion I thought that it would’ve been more crowded.

Upon sitting down, we were provided with a “special menu” which was titled “Deal.com.sg Set Meal” or something to that effect. Well… I dunno if it’s just me but that was quite a turn off. I immediately had the feeling that we would be served be some downsized cheapo version of what their normal set meal would be.

The feeling that it was a “deal” immediately vanished; I was simply paying for a set meal that was worth $19.90, not something that was worth $65.80. Maybe I’m naïve but I expected more. Oh well.

We first had bread with balsamic vinegar:

It was okay… not the best I’ve had but not the worst either. The bread was warm, which is good.

Next came a cheese fondue mushroom something:

Basically it was cake textured bread, with white sauce and mushrooms. This is arguably the best dish of the entire set. Bread was nice and dense, mushrooms were flavourful and the white sauce tasted complementary.

However, the next dish was another turn off:

It was their mushroom soup. Granted the soup itself was not bad, but there is just something wrong with drinking soup from a teacup, with a teaspoon. Deduct extra points when you realize that this “creative” serving’s primary purpose is to reduce to amount of soup that they are willing to serve you for their downsized set.

Next came the mains:

Chicken stew and tomato-sauce spaghetti. The stew was quite alright. The sauce went well with the softly mashed potatoes, and the chicken was tender.

The pasta though… not so alright. Well it was edible as most food is, but why so bland? Did they dilute something? Or forget to add something? Was one of the ingredients too expensive for this set meal perhaps? Ha sorry couldn’t resist. Just kidding ok.

Last, we were served with dessert:

Cheesecake. Nice, moist, dense.

In all, it was a decent meal, at a decent place with decent ambience.

$19.90 is actually really quite a deal for the amount of food that was served. If I wasn’t led to believe that the meal originally cost $65.80 (OH COME ON), I might have enjoyed the food a lot more.

You know what they say… with great expectations come great disappointment. Ok actually I dunno who the “they” is. You may quote me for this phrase.

K bai.

Photo taken from their website because my iPhone captured photos will not do this justice.

I don’t know how to begin except that I love Spruce!

I love the location. Love that it’s tucked away in a corner (quite literally) of Pheonix Park. Sucha hidden find! It’s settled within lush, lush greenery, which makes a perfect backdrop for lazy weekend brunches. At night, the mood is fantastic for dates!

I loved the menu, especially their clam chowder. If I’m suaku so be it, but it was the best clam chowder I’ve had in my life. Period. It’s creamy but not sickeningly rich. The taste is divine, if I may, and it just made me believe in food all over again. The paprika (?) powder added a nice kick to the flavour too!

Their signature pasta, which was in a creamy green sauce, was an enigma. I like how none of the items there were conventional. Their clam chowder was clam chowder but not really. Every dish had some unique spin to it. It wasn’t a trying spin like some fusion food dishes, where they just pair ingredients for the sake of being different when the flavours don’t go together. Here, just tastes like it was the way the dish was meant to be made all along.

(Interjection: Sorry if I sound overly dramatic. I can’t help gushing.)

Y’know how pasta places tend to serve the conventional carbonara/arrabiatta/aglio olio/vongole/pesto dishes? Yep we all know how they taste so there’s zero element of surprise when we take the first mouthful. The only difference is how good the dish is.

It feels nice to be surprised!

The only negative point about this place to me is the price. It easily comes up to $35 per pax. A bit too expensive for me, for a regular meal, but good to spoil myself with once in a while. :)