Spruce
320 Tanglin Road
Singapore
PRICE: $$$
RATING:

Met up for a quick brunch with at Spruce – this was in Singapore in August when we were getting married, but I can’t remember if this happened just before or just after the wedding. Man, I’m getting old.. my memory fails me! I hadn’t heard of Spruce before, so all I was told it was some modern Western cafe – you know, one of those pricey hip joints that people flock to. Since we live in China, we’re always up for Western food, so we were happy to oblige.

The interior is minimalist and clean, with tables spaced far enough apart to make you feel comfortable. I liked the large glass windows and the huge outdoor patio (as large as the restaurant itself), though we didn’t sit outside because it was a stinking hot day (as usual) in Singapore and we needed air-conditioned comfort 😛 I immediately zeroed in on the coffee – we don’t get great, barista-style coffee in Shanghai. There’s only Starbucks/Coffee Bean, or there’s nothing. Very very sad. So I drink a ton of coffee in cafes the moment I’m outside of China.

We ordered a bunch of dishes to share around, but not a huge amount because none of us were feeling particularly starving. Still, the portions were decent and filling, so we were full after our brunch. We had a peek in their Cheese room, which sounded impressive but was just a litte part of the cafe partitioned off and chilled, with a few miserable looking pieces of dried-out cheese.. and it STUNK to high heavens! I know what cheese cellars smell like, but this was way worse. Very strange.. perhaps they only store blue cheese in there? I don’t know, but it made me glad we didn’t order any cheese whilst we were there 😉

It’s a great place to meet up with friends and have a lazy brunch. They really should have more of these places – both in Singapore and Shanghai!

SPRUCE

Lofty interior

Our little table by the window

A very delicious coffee, and some mint drink?

Three dips with assorted toast and crisps –
they gave a stack of toast, which was awesome! Filled ourselves right up 😉

Ahi tuna tartare with toasted ciabatta and avocado –
I think this was on the salty side, but love the large portion of avocado.. mmm..

Braised duck pappardelle with rosemary –
this was crazy filling, but so tasty and amazing comfort food

Burger with blue cheese, bacon and onion compote –
OMG… gooooood…. ridiculously tasty and love the wedges!

Sundae with Valrhona fudge sauce and brownie bits –
the fruity sorbet totally didn’t match the rest of the dish, but the rest was great

There’s an outdoor area too, but it was too hot to sit there