Sunday Brunch: Jewel Cafe

 It's been ages since my last cafe post! With our weekends packed with whats-not, I'm definitely missing the days where we went cafe-hunting :) I have made up my mind to visit at least 2 cafes in a month, hopefully that will materialize! A couple of weeks back, we headed to Jewel Cafe for brunch, together with Kenneth & Meiqin. 

 

with Meiqin outside the cafe :) 

The flagship is located @ Shenton Way, which was near my working place. Strangely, I have yet to set foot at the outlet in Shenton. I was more enticed with the branch located at Rangoon Road. This cafe is located in the quaint neighbourhood of Little India, within walking distance to L'etoile Cafe. Missing the "E" on their signboard though. 

 

When we arrived at 12, the place was packed with customers! Thankfully I made reservations earlier in the week & we were swiftly escorted to the upper level for the table. 

 

 Counters located on both the 1st & 2nd floor respectively.

 

 Food & drinks menu respectively. I was told that they do pretty good coffees, so Leecher went ahead to order their specialty.

 

 Talkative Leecher always have to talk first before placing orders. When the rest of us have already decided what we wanna order, he then begin his journey of flipping through the pages >.<

Brunch is never complete without a cuppa of coffee - well, I substitute mine with hot chocolate! 

 

The smell of truffle oil wafted through the air and reached us before the dish came to the table. Portobello White Mushroom Soup with White Truffles Oil ($9) is a hearty start to our brunch.

Traditional French Onion Soup ($8) - I'm normally not a fan of onion soup, but this version was so tasty that I'm a convert! A generous serving filled with croutons and cheese - I was literally scraping cheese off the bowl towards the end.

Burgers & pastas pretty much sum it all! 

Leecher went for one of their signatures - Umami Prawn Capellini ($22) after seeing it on BFF's blog. Capellini with grilled prawns, crustacean oil topped with Umami "magic" dust.

Another one from the pasta camp - I think this was a National Day specialty - chilli crab spaghetti. This certainly paled in comparison to the one we had @ Halia. It was the sweeter version & the mini man tou were too hard.

On the burger camp, I headed for their OMG burger ($20) served with 2 slices of crispy bacon, juicy patty, luncheon meat, cheddar, lettuce, onion, tomato & topped with sunny side egg. If you are looking for a value-for-money burger, this has to be the one. As usual, I can't finish the burger and the guys had to chip in and do their part. 

Kenneth dear was being health conscious lately & yet, he still went for the beef burger.

Lovely company for brunch :) We went for the healthy way when boss Khim is not around - see, no alcohol on the table!

Interesting rendition of apple crumble - food deconstructed? Nevertheless, I love the crumbles, so addictive :) 

Kenneth busy on the phone.

Till the next brunch date! 

Jewel Cafe & Bar

129 Rangoon Road

Singapore 218407

Tel: 6298 9216

Opening Hours: 9am till 10pm (Tues - Thurs, Sun), 9am till 12 midnight (Fri - Sat). Closed on Mondays

Sunday Brunch: Spruce at Old Fire Station

Hmm, not exactly brunch, but more of an impromptu meet up with the uni gang on a Sunday evening. The initial plan was to have brunch together b4 EK & Pris head off for their wedding pics selection. However, Kenneth dear couldn't make it for brunch & suggested coffee @ Spruce instead. So, we agreed to meet @ Spruce (Upp Bt Timah Road), since I have already visited the Phoenix Park branch way back in 2010. It was also more convenient for Kenneth to head into JB & me back to CCK for dinner.

When we arrived at 4.30pm, the place was rather deserted. I think this is one of the rare times where we are meeting in the West, since we tend to meet either in North East or Central area. 

The former Bukit Timah Fire Station, built in 1956 is one of the oldest fire stations of Singapore. The cluster of 9 blocks of firemen's quarters has been transformed into a vibrant hub of retail, F&B and lifestyle stores for the residents nearby. 

The distinctive red fire station doors were preserved, blending in with the rest of modern decor. Like its Phoenix outlet, there is a mix of both indoor and alfresco dining options available.  

Cookies anyone?

We could only order desserts and drinks, since the kitchen is closed for dinner preparations. Not an extensive list & yet, some of the items were not available. Hence, we just ordered 2 items to tide us through the waiting time.

Long wait for our desserts to arrive. Strangly enough, we arrived at Spruce @ Phoenix Park before dinner time on our previous visit. We, too had to order desserts first while waiting for the kitchen to start dinner preparations. So coincidental! 

  Cafe Mocha & Cappuccino ($6 each), Apple pie with vanilla ice-cream and double chocolate cake ($15 each). On hindsight, we should have ordered 1 dessert to share, since we already had food before coming over. 

Some couple time before the rest arrived.  

 My conversation with EK earlier. I was so certain that he wouldn't take the trouble to come down Bt Timah to meet up with us. My plan backfired when he showed up at Spruce, lol! Leecher laughed out loud when he saw EK walking in through the doors.

True to my words, I opened a bottle of red wine much to everyone's delight. 

Cheers! 

EK & Leecher.  

Candid shot taken by Kenneth, lol! I love this shot of EK being elbowed - this is classic.  Great timing Kenneth. 

Two's a company, three's a crowd. Wanna guess who is the lightbulb here?

with dear Leecher :) 

Opps, now I become the lightbulb. I'm sure Kenneth doesn't mind :)  

We started with Tapas platter, where you get to select from a variety of 5 items (2 for $22, 3 for $30). We went for croquetas mushrooms, kurobuta meatballs and beef pinchos. The rest of the items were tostada jamon (bread, garlic oil, tomato juice and Iberico ham), squid (seared with aioli and chives) and pork pinchos (marinated in olive oil, smoked paprika).

Kenneth's new found love in Spruce Ahi Tuna Tartar ($22), which came with fresh toasted ciabatta and fresh avocado. 

Spruce Hot Wings ($22), served with vegetable sticks and blue cheese dip. I must say this is a tad pricey for 6 small pieces of hot wings. Neither was it flaming hot, just slightly spicy.   

 

Bernaised Fries ($10), nothing fantastic to shout about about from it being oily.

Pris came after her meeting to join us. Poor gal still needs to work on a Sunday :( 

The guys had their reds, so the ladies must have their whites. A bottle of moscato for sharing. 

This bottle is courtesy of EK, thank you boss! It definitely tasted sweet :) 

 

Parting pics before we head off to enjoy the 2nd part of the night. It won't be long before we meet again for another round of drinking escapade! 

Spruce at Fire Station

260 Upper Bukit Timah Road

#01-01 Singapore 588213

Tel: 6466 5582

Opening Hours: 11.30am till 12am (Mon - Fri), 9am till 12am (Sat, Sun & PH)