Singapore's Best Cafes: Heartland Brunches in the East with 'Brothers in Fine Food' (CLOSED)
The cafe craze has entered Singapore and hit it hard, these days quaint cafes with comfy interiors can be found everywhere on this island from the downtown core to the residential neighbourhoods at every corner. If you're looking for a brunch fix up in the East of Singapore, look no further than 'Brothers in Fine Food', located on the second floor of Tampines West Community Club. UPDATE (2019): Brothers in Fine Food has closed it’s doors at Tampines for good.
And the fantastic thing?
'Brothers in Fine Food' in Muslim-owned, making this a big player in the Halal cafe scene in Singapore, as it should.
Open for brunch, lunch and dinner, I went for brunch on a public holiday and the cafe was packed.
Clearly, word has gotten round and it's not hard to see why tables get full.
On the brunch menu, we had the Butcher's Daughter, Builder's Breakfast, Mediterranean Breakfast, Chicken Karage Waffle and Fresh Fruits Waffle and I'll break them down below. I wanted to try the Eggs Benedict with Smoked Salmon too but unfortunately they were out of that by the time I made it to the cafe. Better luck next time!
The Butcher's Daughter ($14) features a sous-vide and seared beef steak, which you can of course decide how well done you'd like the steak to be. Served with a side of fries, salad and eggs where you can choose if you'd like them served over easy, sunny side up and scrambled. I went with a Medium Well which I think if I were to go for seconds, I think I'd opt for a Medium Rare the second go around. Cooking sous-vide is a lot more even on the meat, so what would normally be a bit more tender on the inside with conventionally grilled steaks turns out a smidgen tougher when cooked sous-vide. So that might be a thing to note! Overall though, it was a good dish, and you'd be hard pressed to find steaks at this price for the same quality. Though I would honestly remark the same about all of the food; 'Brothers in Fine Food' serves up great food for the money.
The Builder's Breakfast ($15) is a hearty platter with a sausage, beef bacon, eggs, mushrooms, potatoes, tomatoes, salad, and toasted sourdough. As mentioned, you can choose to have your eggs three ways here on the dishes and this is no exception. There was plenty flavour on this dish, though I should add the bacon isn't crispy, but this is all down to preference.
The Mediterranean Breakfast ($15) adds a little Middle Eastern flavour to the proceedings, what with hummus, falafel, eggs, spinach, halloumi cheese, smoked aubergines, avocados, and toasted sourdough padding out the plate. With heavy flavours on the palette thanks to the hummus and falafel, the couscous does well to add a neutral element to the plate.
And here was my biggest surprise personally, the Chicken Karage Waffle ($8) served with chicken karage and beef bacon topped off with maple syrup. I normally am not a big fan of sweet foods turned savoury, so yes I am one of those people that can only have sweet waffles, pancakes or crepes. Flashback to that one time we were in a famous shop in Amsterdam selling pancakes and tried a savoury and couldn't will myself to finish the plate. But this was surprisingly good, maybe it's because the fried chicken itself was so good, that it just felt like eating it with a form of carb with the waffle, whether it was potatoes and it's hundred variants or rice or couscous.
We also had the Waffles with Fresh Fruits ($8) which had slices of banana, blueberries and strawberries finished with a hearty dose of chocolate sauce. This was perhaps a little more familiar to the palette but this time around, I feel like the savoury waffle won out for me.
All in all, 'Brothers in Fine Food' whips up good food for great prices. Of course, being so far east it's not going to be the most accessible compared to your cafes at Haji Lane, but this is well worth the trek out should you choose to make this one of your favourite brunch spots.
