It has been a couple of months since my Co-Diner and I travelled all the way to the East for a spot of brunch because "this place came recommended and the reviews were good".
And as much as I remember the cotton candy-fairground-whimsical-fantasy atmosphere of the café, as much as I remember the pop art cushions and the soft toys strategically placed around the furniture, and of course, the lovely food, of all things that would slip my mind- it would be the cafe's name.
Embarrassing, and unfortunate it is, really, for the café is indeed a bright, sunny, cheerful spot, with glass panels on two sides allowing tropical sunshine to stream in, cute looking furniture that you will sit and dine from, and a wall of built-in shelves holding various decorative items and knick-knacks to make any picture Insta-worthy.
I would have taken shots with the knick-knacks on the wall- they were really cute- except that I wasn't very active on Instagram at that time.
Still, what matters in a café is the food, and we did have a lovely plate.
Along with complementary freshly pureed juices served in test tubes came a platter of English muffins, scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, sausages, roasted sweet potatoes and salad.
The scrambled eggs were moist and fluffy- not too watery, not too dry- textured with just the right amount of milk and butter, and seasoned lightly with salt and pepper. Smoked salmon was, of course, smoked salmon- pretty huge slices they were- and can I say that the combination of scrambled egg and smoked salmon is always a perfect one, regardless how smoked the salmon slices are?
The sausages were done nicely. You could taste the pork, and yes, it was soft and tender, but you didn't get the overwhelming aftertaste of oil and grease as some fried sausages tend to do. And I love sweet potatoes no matter how they're prepared, whether steamed, stewed, fried, grilled or roasted.
But what made this brunch really special had to be the muffins. I'm particularly fond of them, and though some of us might say that these muffins are commonplace- you can get them at McDonalds any morning- it is precisely because they are part of the Big Breakfast that eating them here was especially heartening. Thickly buttered like how I always do mine, and crusty at the edges, each bite of the muffin brought back a sense of nostalgia for all the special holidays and weekend breakfasts that I had with my family in my childhood.
The scrambled eggs were moist and fluffy- not too watery, not too dry- textured with just the right amount of milk and butter, and seasoned lightly with salt and pepper. Smoked salmon was, of course, smoked salmon- pretty huge slices they were- and can I say that the combination of scrambled egg and smoked salmon is always a perfect one, regardless how smoked the salmon slices are?
The sausages were done nicely. You could taste the pork, and yes, it was soft and tender, but you didn't get the overwhelming aftertaste of oil and grease as some fried sausages tend to do. And I love sweet potatoes no matter how they're prepared, whether steamed, stewed, fried, grilled or roasted.
But what made this brunch really special had to be the muffins. I'm particularly fond of them, and though some of us might say that these muffins are commonplace- you can get them at McDonalds any morning- it is precisely because they are part of the Big Breakfast that eating them here was especially heartening. Thickly buttered like how I always do mine, and crusty at the edges, each bite of the muffin brought back a sense of nostalgia for all the special holidays and weekend breakfasts that I had with my family in my childhood.