Nylon

This great little spot is situated in Everton Park HDB.

I had a chat with one of the owners who was very friendly and gave me a lot of information about their coffee.
It should open at 730 instead of 830 on weekdays to attract people on the way to work.
I only wish I had this place right below my block so I could have take away coffee every morning.

Website: http://www.facebook.com/nyloncoffeeroasters
Address: 4 Everton Park #01-40

Dimbulah

I stayed in Sydney for 9 years and over there coffee culture was part of work culture. Every morning, there would be queues in the CDB lining up for hot cups of coffee. Even the ordinary shop in Sydney would serve coffee that was better than some places that call themselves gourmet coffee cafes here. The coffee culture is just prevalent in most parts of the country.

Generous sized latte

Dimbulah is marketed as fine Australian coffee. It is one of the early serious gourmet coffee entrants in Singapore.. They have another store in Raffles Place also targeting office crowds. Having coffee in the CDB does bring back some memories of working in Sydney. Although, I have to admit that it is quite different. The mad rush for coffee isn't here in Singapore and the weather is not really coffee weather.

Dimbulah does serve a decent cup of coffee. I had a latte for about $5 and it was a large size. Taste wise was decent as well although again the forth was too light. I saw the barrista using Green Fields milk at the corner of my eye which explains why.

I previously blogged about Green Fields milk in Selfish Gene and Oriole. A lot of barristas here like to use Green Fields compared to in Australia where I have seen most of them use Pura. The result is a thinner forth which is not to my taste.

I also had a croissant and a cake slice.

Croissant with ham and cheese

The croissant was heated for me which was nice. At about $4.50 it was extremely ordinary. If you see from the picture, it was rather sad.

Espresso macadamia slice

The espresso macadamia cake slice was a sugar shocker. When I chose it, I thought it had a chocolate top. However, upon closer inspection and eating it, I realised that it was like a marzipan type of sugar top. I actually really dislike marzipan. So I am definitely not a fan plus the fact that the lower macadamia base was dry. But if you like marzipan and very sweet, this may be for you.

My take on Dimbulah. If you want coffee, its good. Anything else, you are better off going somewhere else.

Location: 72 Anson House, Anson Road, Tanjong Pagar
Opening Hours: 7am -7pm
Contact Number: 65362949

Selfish Gene

This opened sometime last week. I was quite bewildered by the name. Why would anyone call their cafe Selfish Gene?

A couple of black boards in the cafe gave the hint. Gene is the owner of which he is selfish because… I will let you go there and find out for yourself.

Unimportant details aside, I was pleasantly surprised by this new find.

 Cappuccino

The coffee was really quite good. It was light and smooth. My only slight complaint was the froth. Upon speaking to the owner and barista, I was told they used Green Fields milk. This is the same problem with many other cafes that use Green Fields milk (look at Oriole) The barista said they also use Highlander Coffee Beans of which Green Fields milk work best with. Maybe this is so because the beans don't seem to be that strong and using a lighter milk will be better with such beans. I'm not completely convinced though. I like my froth with more robust texture.

Pesto with poached egg and toast ~ $10

This was pretty good as well. The poached egg gave the dish texture. Pesto came on a crunchy piece of toast. I'm not sure what the red stuff is and if it is necessary….

Banana cake with peanut butter sauce and crumble ~ $7

This was pretty yummy. The sweet cake with the salty peanut butter sauce. Again, there is a play with textures with the crumble. The owners here just understand textures which is something most places lack in cooking. My only suggestion to the owner was if the banana bread could be warm or toasted. I'm used to eating my banana bread warm. 

I spoke to the owner and found out that he and another staff used to work in the St Pierre's Kitchen. This is the fine dining restaurant by chef Emmanuel Stroobant. Its quite a good restaurant (although I would say too over hyped). So its no surprise then that the food in this place is quite good and the use of textures in food is understood here.

Subsequent visits

The barista did 2 lattes for me to compare. One latte used Green fields milk and the other Pura milk. Green fields milk is used generally as the barista feels that it suits the highlander beans better in terms of taste. After tasting the 2 lattes using different milk, I still like Pura milk better. Pura milk is from Australia and provides a richer foam and a creamer latte. Highlander beans produce quite a mild coffee and perhaps from that angle Greenfield does blend well with the coffee made from those beans.

I was quite touched that the barista made me 2 coffees to try and made an effort to see what I preferred as a customer.

Other dishes I have had there:

Lemon Meringue Pie

The crust of this was good although I would have liked it more crumbly. Lemon curd was nice and tart. The pie had a nice meringue burnt top. Most places only make lemon tart and not the Meringue Pie so this was quite nice. 

The desserts in this place are a good size.

Bread and Butter Pudding

I don't like bread and butter pudding unless it is a good one. This is good. Creme anglaise makes the pudding richer and cuts through the sour berries. Good combination of flavors and well thought through.

Website: http://selfishgenecafe.com/

Location: 40 Craig Road

Opening hours: 10am- 6pm except tuesdays

Contact Number: 64231324

Oriole Coffee Roasters

Oriole Coffee roasts, brews and educates about coffee. There are shops at Somerset and Raffles Place. This place in Jiak Chuan Road in the Tanjong Pagar shophouse area just opened about a month ago. My husband and I happened to chance upon in when walking around the area.

We went there for coffee and brunch this morning.

Cappuccino $5

The coffee had sound flavor but was a bit on the bitter side. Frothing was a lot better than a lot of places but felt watery instead of creamy. The Barista said that they use Green Fields full cream milk. I've had coffee in other places that use Green Fields and the froth in those places have the same watery texture. 

I'm not sure what the protein and fat content of this is but somehow it doesn't give a rich mouth feel to the froth. Green Fields use Australian cows but are reared in East Java for part of their life. I wonder if the rearing of the cows in East Java will have some impact on the milk. 

Strawberry cream cake $3.80

This was not a bad cake. The strawberry sponge was moist and quite light. I'm not a fan of butter cream    though which is the other component of the cake. I find butter cream too oily and rich. Also, I think that this is so when premium butter is not used which we cannot expect for at $3.80. 

Truffle infused Eggs with tomatoes and toast $6.90

The eggs were nice and fluffy. While I could smell the truffle, I could not taste it at all with the eggs. The chef uses truffle cream here. Perhaps a slight sprinkling of truffle salt or adding mushrooms to the eggs may help enhance the taste of the truffle in the eggs. The tomatoes were nice and plump. According to the barista, they use Roma tomatoes. I could definitely taste the difference as local tomatoes are not as sweet and tend to be a lot more watery. The bread is a let down here. The bread is the traditional soft white bread that goes well with kaya. However, a crusty bread would have gone much better with soft eggs.

This is a nice warm space to hang out that serves decent coffee. The shophouse is also used to roast coffee, have corporate training events and serves as Oriole's head quarters. 

Website: http://www.oriolecoffee.com/

Location: 10/10A Jiak Chuan Road

Opening Hours: Mon- Fri 10am -6pm

Contact Number: 6224 8131

Black Gold

1st recorded visit

The eateries below HDBs are traditionally coffee shops. However, a new slew of boutique eateries is starting to pop up in Tanjong Pagar Plaza Block 7 HDB that break the traditional mould.

Meii Sushi was the first.  Now, Black Gold cafe has just opened. Blue Mist pub will be opening soon (this is moved from Amara hotel). So look out for more updates in the Tanjong Pagar Plaza space.

Post pregnancy, a friend of mine popped by for lunch. I wanted to go out but it needed to be close to home for me to cope with the pregnancy wounds and the newborn. Fortunately, Tanjong Pagar is such a great spot to live that I can pop in for lunch in numerous places within mins. This was a good chance for me to try Black Gold cafe.

Black Gold cafe specializes in coffee and affordable french cuisine.

Latte & Traditional coffee  

My husband is a bit of a coffee addict and had 2 coffees.
I only had a sip at the latte. The latte was decent with a proper froth. My opinion is that it isn't in the same league as The Plain or Highlander Coffee but it is far better than what you get in most places.
I did not try the traditional coffee as I have have been advised against too much caffeine during breast feeding. The wait staff said that the local coffee here is a lot stronger than in most coffee shops. He said most coffee shops have coffee that can only make one stay alert for an hour, but this one has enough strength to last one for several hours. If strong coffee is your thing perhaps you should try this out

Pork Sausage with Lentils and mash

We did lunch there as well. There are some good lunch deals there for about $10-$13 dollars. This includes a soup/ salad, a main course and a tea/ coffee.

I had the sausages for my main. This is like bangers and mash but I guess I can say what makes it french are the lentils. The sausage was undercooked the first time and had to be sent back. Other than that mistake, the dish was quite good. A lot of sausages served outside are bad. This pork sausage didn't taste too oily or dry and it went well with savoury mash and lentils. It wasn't a wow dish but everything was seasoned properly.

Chicken Legs in red wine sauce

My friend had chicken legs in red wine sauce. I think this dish is traditionally done with frogs legs. Chicken was braised and tender in a rich tomato sauce. 

Stuffed tomato with pork and olives

This is the lightest meal among the three and I think its a good option if you don't want a heavy lunch. The ratatouille is quite nice. The stuffed tomato is a healthy and tasty option. 

I can't say any of the dishes were spectacular but everything was quite nice. If you want a good affordable lunch in the CDB area for a good price, this is a place to consider. 

Meals during subsequent visits:

2nd visit

Salmon

The Salmon was very fresh, moist with a nice brown sear on the outside. This was good as it is very easy to overcook fish. 

Location: Blk 7 Tanjong Pagar Plaza
Prices: About $2- $5 for a tea or coffee. Set lunches come at about $10 - $13

Highlander Coffee

Highlander coffee is another decent coffee place around the Tanjong Pagar area. In fact, I would say its one of the earlier pioneers of decent coffee in Singapore

This place is actually situated at the fringes of Tanjong Pagar in Kampong Bahru, which are the conservation houses across SGH.

The place has a coffee academy at the back of the cafe.

Latte with a cookie

You can see from the latte above that the coffee frothing looks decent. Decent frothing doesn't have plenty of holes and the froth is not thin but has shape and texture. Looks like a marshmallow top.

Coffee was a good temperature and was quite smooth.

The food here is practically non existent though. I understand if coffee needs to be the focus but I think its a waste of money having unappetizing wraps in the glass counter. 

Its a good place to go to after you have lunch in the area. 

Website: http://highlandercoffee.com/

Location: 49 Kampung Bahru Road

Opening Hours: Mon - Sat 9am - 6pm
Prices: About $4 for a cup of coffee

The Plain

This is my regular Saturday morning breakfast spot.

The Plain has a simple unpretentious Melbourne style feel to it. So it will be no surprise that the the owner Vincent learnt his cafe trade from Melbourne, Australia.

The strengths of the Plain is without a doubt its coffee. Good milk froth and well extracted coffee at about $4 per hit, it makes this place hard to beat. Especially since the general market price for even coffee half the quality of this one is about $6. The fact that Vincent engages with his customers is also part of the charm.

You can just see the quality of the froth in the picture below. Bad frothing means plenty of bubbles. Good froth produces a meringue type feel to the cappuccino.

Breakfast selection is limited but whatever you order will be of decent quality.

Some Regular picks for Breakfast

The Toastie

1)The Toastie is a classic tomato, cheese, ham on toast. The bread is crusty and fresh, tomatoes ripe and with the right cheese. All the good fresh ingredients needed for a good toastie of simplicity.

2) Dean's breakfast is toast with vegemite, cheese and poached eggs.

3) Fruit Salad with yogurt

Other things available

1) Summer breeze. This is a refreshing fruit iced tea. Vincent's concoction

2) Cakes. It's hard to know what is available that day. Vincent's sister in law makes good desserts at a decent price.

Website: http://www.theplain.com.sg/location

Prices: About $15 per pax for breakfast & Coffee. Very decent value for good quality

Location: Ground Floor 50 Craig Road