this wasn't a brunch thing, more like a lunch thing, just me and laura. but wild honey serves all day breakfast. and its a popular little joint.
a bit hard to find on the third floor of mandarin gallery on orchard. not as hard to find as the washrooms though. NOT included with the restaurant but in the mall, down the hall, and around the corner, and then down another hall.
i was excited to go to wild honey.
their website is awesome. it just makes you drool. their restaurant is nice... but small... there was only two of us, so we fit nicely at our table. but as i looked around the restaurant it was hard to picture where all 5 of us brunch ladies would sit and how long would we have to wait for a table on a sunday morning... and then there was the attitude. you know the one when you walk into a louis vitton store or a a tiffany's. a hush in the air, a slight shift in the eyes as you are upraised, a small tilt to the head as you majestically led to your table.. yeah..a bit pretentious for me. i mean its breakfast for god's sake.
after we were most graciously shown to our table, because we were so lucky that they had space for us...we had to go up to the cash register to order. why? there were servers milling all around. why is it so difficult for them to take orders? maybe they were trying to go for a new york deli style. which would have been cool and fitting, considering the menus were written with chalk paint on a large blackboard but then why have servers show us to our seats?
the manager or owner or head honcho was there to take our orders. a chef from new mexico. which was cool to talk to the chef. who showed us through his suped up menu on the ipad with lovely professionally done photos. but damn.. can i say confusing? and odd. i know he created the dishes so he's all proud of them, but he was so, almost difficult, when i asked for the californian without eggs. he was almost insulted because then the vegetables wouldn't stay together as well. i'm well aware of what eggs will or will not do for a dish. but i am also aware that i am the customer and a vegan and i don't want eggs. same for laura, she ordered the mexican without ..... and he wasn't happy about that. so then you have to pay straight away. which made life totally difficult when i ordered a cappuccino later. and can i say fack me? that's one expensive breakfast. over $50.00 for two dishes?
and as the owner/manager/head honcho spent an eternity taking us through every menu item on the ipad a line formed behind us. a long line. of hungry customers. who had to go through the same spiel after us. with growling stomachs. odd. just give me a damn menu at my table and be done with it.
the food, was fantastic. even without eggs. it was really well done. the bread on the californian was lovely. toasted to perfection. soft inside, crispy outside. and on each table is a small dish of real sea salt, like the big chunky kind, that really gives you a good kick of salt for your sprinkle.
so me and laura had lots to talk about, she having just returned from weeks of touring bali and being romanced by the balinese and me just having returned from a week in yoygakarta and not being romanced at all. not true. i am/was being romanced by a lovely singaporean local who is burning up my whatsapp daily. he's smart, handsome, and makes me laugh. he's also only separated from his wife and a lawyer. hence my dilemma. not sure what makes him harder to trust; the separation from his wife or that he's a lawyer.
after about 2 hours of in-depth conversation, laura has advised me to not think too much about it and just enjoy it. huh. easier said than done to a virgo. i think too much about what i'm going to eat (no. really? cause i only write a blog about the food i eat, nothing OCD about that).
so wild honey. huh. an enigma. either a deli or an expensive restaurant? what are you? cappuccinos are
divine. even with soy milk. food was delicious. restaurant set up is odd. ordering is a nightmare. prices are way too high, even if your address is on orchard street. its breakfast for god's sake! so yeah 3.5 stars. provided you do NOT go on a sunday.. and before the crowd.... cause there's no reservations... what?
Wild Honey
Mandarin Gallery 333a Orchard Road 3rd floor
TEL: 6235 3900
there was no making of any sense out of that one. and laura could not be made to order anything else. not that i blame her. when one's heart is set on a lovely description of banana pancakes, fluffy and light with real maple syrup on the side, its hard to settle for scrambled egg on toast. which would explain why the restaurant was empty. on a sunday morning. just past 11.
