Wandering Fel

Showing posts with label Outram Park. Show all posts

When a friend call you out to go for a cafehopping adventure with you, how could you say no? My ranting about the lack of place to chill in Singapore other than Starbucks is nothing new amongst my peers and one of my friends/ high school buddies, SL, call me if I wanna go to check out a hidden cafe named Botanist in Outram Park area. Since I am not that familiar with that area (and hence, lack of knowledge around that area), I agree to her invitation. Botanist is located between of Outram Park and Tanjong Pagar but I think it is slightly nearer to Outram Park MRT than Tanjong Pagar MRT station. The entrance to Botanist is located somewhat hidden in an alley so you need to make a turn inward the alley before you can see the entrance and the wall art leading to the entrance of the cafe.

The cafe was quite packed at 3PM on a Sunday afternoon. There are al-fresco seating area and indoor seating area. However, as Botanist adopts open-kitchen concept and the kitchen is located right next to the indoor seating area, the smell of the food may linger to the clothes that you are wearing and your hair. So make sure you don't mind of the smell if you choose to dine indoor. Since there are only two of us, we did not have to wait for long for our table but if you come in a big party, you may need to wait for a while.

We are seated at the indoor area and that's how we found out about the lingering smell that I mentioned earlier. The indoor seating arrangement is catered more toward two diners because of the space constraint. I wonder if the table will fit if the two diners happen to be very hungry and hence, order a lot of food. Hahaha. Just a random thought of mine but so far, it doesn't seem to be a real-world problem here at Botanist.

Inside Botanist at Outram Park Singapore

Botanist provides brunch stapple such as baked egg (SGD 19), croque madame (SGD 18), corn fritters (SGD 18) and corned beef hash (SGD 19). However, despite being a brunch place, Botanist also offers a selection of pasta dishes and mains such as seafood aglio olio (SGD 23), tagliatelle carbonara (SGD 18) and slow cooked beef cheek (SGD 24).

For the drinks, Botanist offers a range of coffee, tea and juices. Their coffee seems to be quite popular as we saw every other table definitely has at least one order of coffee. Unfortunately I do not dare to drink coffee after 3 or 4PM, unless I want to be an owl few hours later. The funny thing is my cafehopping buddy, SL, decided not to have any caffeine intake for the next few days because she's aging. LOL. What kind of reason is that but to be fair, her doctor did tell her not to consume coffee too much. So I guess it's wise to just follow the doctor's advice for now until she's getting better.

Drinks menu from Botanist at Outram Park

Since none of us had drink so let's just go straight to the food business, shall we? SL is in the mood of having beef burger (SGD 20). The beef burger is served with a sunny side up, bacon, fries, pickles and charcoal buns. It kinda satisfies my craving for a burger but kinda too humongous for a lady's portion. But then again, I probably can finish this whole plate by myself when I was having PMS. Glutton max me.

Beef burger from Botanist at Outram Park

Since Botanist is known amongst the netizen for its brunch items, I decided to go for the breakfast platter (SGD 23) and is equally humongous. The platter consists of toast, grilled corn, bratwurst sausage, avocado, hash, thick cut streaky bacon, mushroom, tomato, greens and two sunny side ups. I'm quite sure I'm so not gonna eating this kind of breakfast for the next two weeks after this meal. Despite the fancy combination, I still prefer my usual fix of English breakfast though. I probably just miss that Heinz's beans. Hmm, should I write this request of mine in suggestion box to Botanist? XD

For the portion that is shown above, I suppose the price tag of minimum SGD 20++ is reasonable because the portion is really humongous. I don't mind another visit to Botanist but will probably request for al-fresco seating instead because my clothes and hair are really smelly after our yummy meal. I've also made a mental note to try out their coffee next time. Teehee.

Botanist is located at:

74 Neil Road

Singapore

Opening hours:

Tuesday to Sunday 8AM - 6PM

Closed on Mondays

"Sometimes I get tired of this me-first attitude.

You are the one thing that keeps me smiling.

That's why I'm always wishing hard for you."

Me-first attitude does get me tired but today, the one thing that got me tired is the fact that I had to stand for 1 hour and 20 minutes because there is no more spare chair left for me to drag into the meeting room. What an ironic state of a big corporation, really. Hopefully I do get toned legs after this forced exercise that I had to endure. Fast forward few hours later, I dragged my sore feet to meet my friend at the Lokal because sore feet ain't gonna stop me from celebrating...hmm, okay, let's just say we were celebrating our friendship. XD

This is my 2nd visit to the Lokal but I had never tried their dinner menu before because in my 1st visit, I came in the morning for their weekend breakfast. The mains offered for the dinner by the Lokal are not extensive but they do have some interesting choice like braised beef cheek and lobster linguine.

My dinner buddy apparently did not have an easy day either and she's eager to wash the day down by a glass of an iced cold beer. And what goes well with an iced cold beer apart from the awesome companion of a friend, a plate of truffled fries and parmesan (SGD 10).

Beer and truffled fries from the Lokal at Outram Park

The truffled fries served at the Lokal are not the usual shoestring fries. The Lokal served thick cut fries and omg, see the amount of parmesan dropped on top of the fries. Awesome to the max although I do admit that shoestring fries seems better at absorbing the truffle oil. Hahaha.

Truffled fries and parmesan from the Lokal

After deliberating for a while, I opted for the grilled pork chop (SGD 26). The grilled pork chop is served with the side of apples, green beans, kale and walnut salad. I like the grilled pork chop and I do think the brown sauce goes well with it however, I am amazed with the salad. It's one of the best salad I've ever tasted and since I am not really the true-born salad-eater, I cannot really vouch for the healthy level of this salad (because well, you know that most of the food that taste good is not really healthy in a way).

Grilled pork chop from the Lokal at Outram Park

The Lokal is located at:

136 Neil Road

Nearest MRT: Chinatown/ Outram Park MRT

Opening hours:

Monday 8AM to 5PM

Tuesday to Friday 8AM to 10PM

Saturday 9AM to 10PM

Sunday 9AM to 4PM

When my friend worked in Outram Park area, she pointed out that Outram Park has become a hip area where a lot of restaurant and cafe are opening up. That's a pretty good news because Outram Park area used to be boring, especially when compared to its vibrant neighbour, Chinatown. So, when our common friend from overseas come, we decided to drag her down to the Lokal, one of the hip cafes in the area.

Saturday Morning Brekkie at The Lokal, Singapore

Influenced by the German word for "local", the Lokal aims to be more than just a local cafe. It aims to be the place that people come back to, something like neighbourhood cafe? One thing for sure, my friend's boss keep coming back here every morning. Well he's the boss so he can afford >S$10 breakfast everyday I guess.

The setting of the Lokal kinda reminds you of the decoration of some cafe in Australia. It's set to look something like a mix between vintage and industrial. I should have typed this post in the cafe instead from my own humble room to get the feeling more. Hahaha.

First, let's try out the coffee. The mocha on the bottom left corner is mine while my other two friends choose latte instead. The mocha taste okay, not as fantastic as the coffee that I drink in Sydney.

The Lokal has some fancy dishes which they serve as breakfast items everyday. We ordered three dishes to share with French Toast being the first dish. It consists of sauteed apples, raisins, dry-cured bacon, and maple cream. I love the Lokal's rendition of the French Toast as the whole ingredients work well together on the plate.

The Lokal is one of those places where you can eat sausages for breakfast. The sausages are served with baby potatoes, sauerkraut, and sunny-side-up. I find them so-so though.

The main star of the Lokal is gotta be the Toasted Banana Bread which is served with homemade vanilla yoghurt and toasted macadamia nuts. This is so good but since the serving is quite big, I think this is a dish to be shared because I think I will be too full if I eat the whole thing.

The Lokal is situated at:

136 Neil Road.

The Lokal's opening hours:

Monday: 8AM - 5PM

Tuesday - Friday: 8AM - 10PM

Saturday: 9AM - 10PM

Sunday: 9AM - 4PM

Wandering Fel

Singapore Food Log: Botanist, Outram Park

Singapore Eats: The Lokal, Outram Park

Saturday Morning Brekkie at The Lokal, Singapore