la barca, la ok-ah

lizzie kept seeing la barca  on her way to work so finally we decided to try it. it was an odd one to find, tucked away in the middle of the goodman arts centre. which in itself is a weird campus.  but a gem too in my opinion.  i love all things art. and was in my glory wandering around checking out all the possible art courses and classes i could attend. if only i didn't have to work all day. oh! the things i could do.

the goodman arts centre is built on the old campus of lasalle arts college, which i think (hope) was built on the old site of an army barracks type building.  it was very 1960's institutional. lots of floors of small doors.  huh.  but la barca was in the middle, a little oasis of white curtains, white lounge chairs and green plants.  i arrived first and sat down in one of the luscious couches outside waiting for everyone else.  i could have sat there all day. but finally when everyone arrived, the waiter suggested we move to a table. we decided to sit outside, under the canopy.

so their brunch menu was pretty good. there wasn't a vegan meal but there were a ton of sides.  i asked the waiter if i could have the potato wedges, the grilled vegetables and the steamed tomatoes together on one plate.  "no, cannot." huh?  why not? i didn't understand, but whatever.  fine.  "you want them all at once?"  yes.  i tried to explain. i am vegan.  i don't eat meat or eggs, so that is what i must do to eat any thing on your menu.  i don't think he understood (or cared).

it was a lovely set up and as we sat down they brought toast for all of us in those lovely little silver triangle things.  very english for an italian restaurant.  laura ordered pancakes.  kathy ordered the full breakfast, eggs sunny side up.  but...."no, cannot. only can have eggs over easy."  huh? why not?  she didn't understand.

but it all became very clear when the food arrived.  i could not put all my sides onto one dish because each side was carefully displayed on a massive plate with drips of oil on top.. very french cafe style. yes.  there were 5 thin strips of grilled zucchini.  and 2 steamed tomatoes and a plate of 4 potato wedges laid out in the the shape of star.  it was a thing of beauty.  and took up half the table.  i subsequently took all vegetables off their gorgeously laid out plates and heaped them on top of the potato wedges.  then asked for ketchup.  (oh i'm a choice guest!)

kathy's over easy which could not be a sunny side up actually was sunny side up. so go figure.  little things.  no big deal.  it was actually, when all the logistics were sorted out, delicious. 

the bathrooms were across the amphitheater area at the bottom of the goodman arts centre. so a fair walk. but somewhat attached.  and probably the walk was good for me. i did it 3 times as i kept getting refills of hot water and we stayed and chatted all afternoon.  about to kill a mockingbird.  why does the singapore school system insist on teaching students to kill a mockingbird? how in the world does it relate to anything in singapore?  1930s, race issues, slavery, rape, and good ol southern american family values. huh.  i thought it was a hard sell to my canadian students.

so la barca. the price was reasonable.  again, i paid the most for my 3 sides as opposed to frankie's massive eggs and sausage and coffee and juice and toast set.  but whatever. who's complaining (me. just once i would like to go to a restaurant that has stuff on the menu that i can eat.  like more then one thing.  i miss vegan restaurants. i would even be happy for a vegetarian option.  i'm just asking for a bit of  love.  just a little)   whatever, it was a lovely brunch. and quiet. we were the only ones there. and the company was great.  so yeah, ok. i was going to say 4 stars. but no, it wasn't ps cafe good. but it wasn't la baci bad.  so 3.5 stars. maybe i'll go back and see if it gets better?

La Barca
90 Goodman Rd, Goodman Arts Centre Blk C
Tel: 6346 5813

the barracks or house or who cares.....

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

breko...blah-ko

our very first meeting of the 'brunch club'.  me, claire and laura met up at the new holland village mrt station and wandered into holland village looking for breko cafe.  and we walked right past it.  it's name was on the awning that we were walking under.  no worries.  we turned around and found it, eventually.

we hadn't made a reservation, being new at this brunch thing.  and it was pretty busy on a sunday morning at 11 am.  especially a sunday morning before a big aussie rugby game.  but we scored one of the tables upstairs with the couches with strict orders that we be out by 1:00. fair enough.

so the ambiance was cool.  aussie-wannabe, with odd little non-aussie touches.  the fans kept the place from sweltering.  i overheard a man complaining to one of the wait staff upon entering of the lack of real breakfast choices. he merely wanted yogurt and muesli.  and at the time, i wasn't fussed.  because i wanted a real brunch.  not just yogurt and muesli.


but when the menu came, i understood his frustration.  it was a weird menu.  with somethings that were close to what i was craving, but not really.  claire is a massive eggs benedict connoisseur, but there was no eggs benedict because there were no english muffins.  however, the wait staff suggested she could have it on toast.

laura ordered pancakes.  can't go wrong there.

and i ordered....  damn.  what the hell was i going to order? it was all eggs and meat or really nothing.  i can usually get the chef to combine an order of hash browns with the vegetables from an omelette.  but there were no vegetable omelettes on the menu.  really no vegetables.  serious.  not even in the sides.

so i eventually ordered a side of mushrooms and a side of home fries.  yep.  and english breakfast tea and a mango ice.

huh.  the food was rather fast.  and somewhat together.  although laura's pancakes had a fried egg on top.  and clarie's eggs were cold.  and my sides were bizarre.  yep. i had a basket of fries and a massive bowl of fried mushrooms.  and the mango ice was essentially a mango popsicle in soda water, so i guess when it melts the flavour accentuates the soda water.  huh.

yeah. it was... um.. ok.  the conversation was excellent.  even though there was a giant t.v over my head that turned on around 12:30 for pre-match coverage and a group of aussie blokes converged, rather loudly around our small little couched haven.

and the funniest thing was the bill.  both laura and claire's meals came as sets.  so their tea or coffee and juice was included.  mine however was not a set.  so i had basically a crap meal. and while their meal came out to just under $7.00 each, i had to pay separately for home fries, mushrooms, mango ice thing, and tea.  two cups of tea.  my meal came to just under $30.00.  awesome.

so............. i am giving breko cafe 3 stars.  its an ok place for ok food.  a cool place i think to hang out.  its relaxed and comfortable. and a good location. but come on.. would a few vegetables kill ya?

breko cafe  
38 lorong mambong, holland village
http://www.brekocafe.com