Rokeby
15-9 Jalan Riang
Singapore 358987
PRICE: $$
RATING: ????-

A new and very lovely place has popped up in the Serangoon area, called Rokeby. Pronounced roc-ker-bee, the Australian-style bistro is spacious and airy, and a wonderful place for brunch with the family.

Our kids LOVED it!

The absolute, hands-down best part of Rokeby (and parents with young kids will probably agree wholeheartedly with this) is their kids play area – a little corner with kiddie-sized tables and chairs, and stacks of toys and books! Plus, there’s also nice lounge chairs for parents to sit at, right beside the kids area. It’s perfection. If only more cafes had this sort of set up!

The Vegemite Down Under was a simple but satisfying dish. The thick and soft slices of toast were excellent, and they were slathered with just the right amount of vegemite. There was also a generous tumble of soft scrambled eggs on top, though remember to scoop them off the toast quickly if you prefer your toast to be kept un-soggy! I would have loved this dish even more with some cheese on top of the vegemite.

It normally comes with baked beans, but Chris hates the stuff, so we swapped it for fresh avocado. The avocado we got was kinda brown and squashy which was disappointing, but I performed some avocado-surgery on it to remove the gross bits and Hunter gobbled the rest of it up.. as well as half the scrambled eggs and toast.

The French Toast came out very very basic looking. I guess I’m used to seeing thick-cut toast and lots of fancy accompaniments, so the version at Rokeby looked rather drab and unexciting.

However, they cooked it perfectly. It had the perfect amount of egg, wasn’t too soggy or dry, and was lightly crisp on the outside but moist on the inside. Oddly, it wasn’t served with maple syrup and I had to request for that.

The Chocolate muffin looked fat and delicious in the desserts display case, so I ordered it, but it was pretty normal. It was more crumbly than moist, but at least they warmed it up so the melty chocolate drops studded on the top were nice.

Rokeby boast an excellent section of Aussie coffee, teas, wines and beers. We had a Latte each and thought it was excellent. Creamy, rich and flavourful, and not too acidic. It really hit the spot.

I personally thought Rokeby could ‘dress up’ the food a little more to give it a bit more of a ‘high quality’ kick, and think of the little things like ensuring there’s butter/maple syrup served with French toast, and serving water without being asked to (I had to ask twice as it was forgotten the first time). But, they are really new so still getting to grips with things.

Still, it was a fantastic place for a family brunch, and the kids really enjoyed having their own space to do something, instead of being cooped up in a high chair. We’ll be back!

Finally got round to video-ing Hunter doing a full memory game
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU-vs0F0V5Q