Posts tagged: eggs benedict
First stop! MART 130.
The pilgrimage for anyone who’s visiting melbourne for the first time.
Corn Fritters… It was a good first meal in Melbourne. Didn’t really disappoint.
Eggs #3
Dinner: Steak and Roasted Vegetables
Went down to Jimmy Monkey again after Easter service yesterday. I’m going to make this post short because in all honesty, I was quite disappointed with how their standards have deteriorated.
The last time we went down, the coffee and breakfast was really excellent. You pay a bit more than your average indie cafe, but it’s good stuff. This time, it was still expensive but my breakfast was plated terribly and tasted mediocre. For $24, it certainly was not worth it. My plate had a significant puddle of water from the poached eggs, which is simply unacceptable. I did not include a photo below because it just looked so bad.
The coffee is still very good and my friends’ eggs benedict looked alright but still a disappointing visit all in all.
Had brunch with Nat on Saturday morning at Spruce. It’s one of those brunch places you always hear of but never get to go to. I found out why when we got there in Nat’s car. It’s not exactly a very accessible place… or at least I think so… I’m not very familiar with Tanglin area so it’s hard to say.
We got there at about 9:15am. It was pretty early but they already had so many table reservations. A little disappointed that we couldn’t get the tables that had natural lighting. That meant I had to use my flash once again for the food shots. Sigh.
Nat’s Big Brekkie (about $18 without sparkling wine)… standard for a brunch big breakfast. Nat requested that her scrambled eggs not be too overcooked but here it was cooked to the point of being bouncy at some parts. It definitely could’ve been creamier and less firm in my opinion.
I ordered the Crab Cake Benny ($25). For that price, you’d expect something really good. The poached eggs were a bit of a letdown for me. They had a very obvious vinegar taste used in the cooking process. The yolks weren’t as velvety as I’d hoped. But at the end, the thing that won me over was the crab cake. Real crab meat… no fake stuff. Satisfyingly sweet and succulent. So, I guess the crab cake helped justify the crazy price to some degree.
Spruce did have that ambience that kinda took you out of crowded and crazy Singapore for just a few moments. Somewhat similar to the same feeling you get when you go to Rider’s Cafe. Price wise it’s a little steep and not all the items on the menu might actually be worth the splurge. It’s definitely worth a visit just to run away from things for awhile if you’re not feeling stingy.
Spruce
I had a bit of time yesterday and needed some reading time so I decided to head to Group Therapy Coffee to have their Eggs Benedict for lunch. The last time I visited Group Therapy, I wasn’t very happy with their Ravioli and so I resolved to go back one day to have their Eggs Benedict. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the laid back atmosphere and my time spent reading there the last time. That’s ultimately what drew me back to the place.
Unfortunately, the music yesterday was really terrible. It felt like I was sitting in some strange disco of some sort. Really repetitive, mindless and unnerving. It really did not contribute to the atmosphere at all and made it difficult for me to get my reading done. So much for my fond memories from the last time.
Anyways, my latte came first and it looked like they had a mishap with the coffee art. That was a bit sad too but at the coffee was still decent. Moving on to the Eggs Ben…
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that they did some re-arrangements with the furniture. The couches which used to be near the windows were moved further in and in their place, there was a long, high table. There were people already seated at the high table and I wanted the couch so I had to resort to using my flash instead of natural lighting. Rather happy with this above shot because it looks like I used natural light rather than a flash. =)
The Eggs Ben was rich, creamy, flavourful… and the yolks were still very runny as you can see. I enjoyed it… at least much more than the Ravioli I had the last time. It also had gruyere and smoked salmon in it, which are of course very welcome additions.
I also discovered today that an Eggs Ben like this is roughly 900 calories!! Can’t afford to have it too often. But oh so yum.
Group Therapy Coffee
Walking distance from Maxwell Market
Eggs Ben @ Jimmy Monkey
Eggs Ben @ Forty Hands
Eggs Ben @ Forty Hands
