this was a weird one. everyone i've talked to in singapore told me this was the place for brunch. especially for their world famous sliders. which essentially are small pork burgers with steamed buns. which was not something i would order. ever. so yeah..
i called the day before and it was quite hard to actually nail down the name of this place. its listed as the
barracks or house or i'm not really sure. i called a few numbers before i could finally make a reservation. and then, really did it matter? there were loads of empty seats when we arrived.
it was just me, lizzie and laura for this morning's feast. laura didn't order pancakes, cause why would you? 7 layer pancakes - 7 layers of fluffy butter pancakes with hidden gems and spreads like nutella, green raisins, dried apricots, maple syrup, hazelnuts and pistachios. ok, maybe they sounded good, but not like brunch good, more like dessert good. so instead she ordered the very berry stuffed french toast she's vegetarian, so i love going for brunch with her. it doesn't make me stand out as the only freak in the group. lizzie ordered the asparagus and poached eggs from the 'good for the heart' menu . and me? huh. i ordered the macadamia crusted pumpkin with argula salad. actually it was very nice to be able to order something off the menu that was pretty much vegan. it only had some weird cream sauce thing on top...so i didn't have to call out the chef and get him to whip me up a special dish. since it was just salad...and our brunches usually last for hours i thought i might be hungry so ordered taro chips on the side.
the service was odd. i think its a singaporean thing, where different meals come out at different times, and apparently it takes an hour to make a cappuccino. ok, in reality it was more like 45 minutes to make 2 cappuccinos. lucky for me i had ordered english breakfast tea. the taro chips came right away and we all dug in. but then, ugh. waaaay too much oil i'm not sure if it was the tea or the chips.. but i was nauseous. i never get nauseous in the morning. especially when i am eating. and no, it was not morning sickness, so don't even ask. it went away after i stopped eating the chips and had a few bites of lizzie's dry toast.
the macadamia encrusted salad i ordered was bland. essentially it was a massive slice of baked pumpkin covered in a weird mayonnaise wannabe sauce on one side and a rocket salad on the other. ok, the salad was ok. really, how can you screw up rocket with oil and lemon?
laura and lizze were patient; as patient as one can be waiting an hour (right, 45 minutes) for a cappuccino. but they didn't finish their meals either and we didn't stay for dessert which sucks because they have warm chocolate toffee cake on the menu which in my mind must be a delectable mix of hot lava cake and warm sticky toffee pudding.. two of my most favourite things on earth.. mmm....
maybe i should have been worried when i went to the bathrooms. actually, maybe not. the bathrooms are pretty damn cool with quotes and poems and stuff on the walls. and they are clean. and they are attached to the building.. .what? but.. but...what respectable restaurant titles their bathrooms 'pussy cat' and 'rooster' ladies and men's respectively? guess it could have been worse. they could have called the men's 'cockadoodledo'... or just right to the point.. 'cock'. but the real story of the day was that a) i'm seeing someone new and b) laura has invited her boy from bali to visit her for two weeks. what? i know! which one of those is hardest to believe?!?! oh and c) lizzie was not impressed at all about either... mwha....
one thing i'll say, dempsey hill is the shit. its a really cool little village. and it makes one (me) wish she still had her car. but its an easy taxi ride from holland village. and worth it just to wander round the furniture shops after eatings, dreaming of furnishing that massive old colonial house with hand carved teak chairs and gorgeous silk throws by the riverside that one (me) will have one imminent day. dempsey hill, i think was made for sunday brunch. and the barracks did serve me my tea, early, and really, there are not that many things better whilst living in hot humid singapore than a cup of hot tea in sub zero air conditioning on a sunday morning. so, not a complete fail. so 2.5 stars.
Dempsey House
80 dempsey road
tel 64757787
i ordered the tofu salad and scones. the scones were the size of a silver dollar. the tofu salad was just that, cold tofu over iceberg lettuce. what the? the english breakfast tea was nice though. but then.. how can you go wrong there?
