Neptune Cafe: Beautiful Pastel Green and White Cafe Located at East Coast
Brunch lovers will be familiar with some big names in the local cafe scene such as Atlas Coffeehouse, Apollo Coffee Bar, Columbus Coffee Co., and Lunar Coffee Brewers. Impressively, these brands are all helmed by the same folks, who have now claimed a spot along the East Coast with their newest offering called Neptune.
Read: Chanterelle Cafe— New Heathy Brunch Cafe at Siglap
Read: Five Oars Coffee Roasters— Beloved Cafe Reopens at East Coast
Read: Brew & Co— Gorgeous Coffee Joint with Pastries at Ang Mo Kio
Read: Butler Koffee— New Tranquil Hidden Coffee Joint at the Edge of Chinatown
Read: Dough— New Sleek Bakery Cafe at Chijmes
Read: Seng Coffee Bar— Hearty Brunches with an Asian Twist
Read: Gentle Roast— Upper Thomson’s Newest Aesthetic Brunch Cafe
Their reach and success is rather impressive, and effectively kind of cover most of the island now, certainly all the buzzy spots one can go for brunch anyway.
Located at the corner of 237 East Coast Road, Neptune takes up a decent amount of real estate, not unlike their aforementioned sister branches.
Read: The Brewing Ground— New Glasshouse Cafe in Joo Chiat
Read: Simple Cafe 簡單。— Minimalist Taiwanese-Style Cakes and Pastries Cafe
Read: House Downstairs: New Scandi Style Cafe at Ghim Moh
With seats available indoors and out, expect Neptune to pack out the crowds at peak brunching hours, as many have caught wind of this new opening.
We waited about 10 minutes for a table for two on a Friday lunch, which wasn’t too bad, and the team at this point run like a well-oiled machine, effectively clearing tables and seating new customers with remarkable efficiency.
The interior is decked out in soothing shades of pastel green— the mix of tiles, light wood furnishings and arches in the architecture are as tasteful as they are aesthetically pleasing. I loved how expansive the glass doors were, as they bathe the entire space in natural light, so Neptune feels a lot bigger than it actually is.
Many reviews speak about a Japanese-inspired menu, though if you pop over to their official website, they clarify that they are not a Japanese-inspired cafe and leave it as that. The ellipses before the statement and the word Japanese in air quotes read as a little passive aggressive to me. Though it should be noted they’re getting marked down a lot on places like Google Maps because many are saying they’re not Japanese-inspired enough. Still, as someone born and bred in the service industry, this statement did grate on me.
Regardless, you can also find more traditional brunch favourites at Neptune.
They’ve even got the Summer Chicken Stew available here as well, which I enjoyed at Atlas Coffeehouse.
I wasn’t super keen on the Japanese-inspired (I feel weird for using 'Japanese’ now by the way) choices, so opted for safer options, like the Chorizo, Eggs, Avo (S$20.90) and French Toast Standard (S$19.80).
The Chorizo, Eggs, Avo came with two spicy sausage chorizos, organic sunny-side-up eggs, smashed avo, and two pieces of sourdough. The dish was decent enough, though this is a pretty difficult dish to get wrong. The eggs were a bit overdone though, as the yolk was not flowy.
The French Toast here was topped with fresh strawberries and strawberry coulis, with butter and maple syrup on the side. The toast was very soggy though, and quite eggy. The strawberries were a little sour, which provided a good balance to the sweetness of the dish.
As expected, you can find all the usual suspects over on the drink menu.
We had the Iced Matcha Latte (S$7.50) and Iced Black (S$5.40) and had no complaints there.
Overall, brunch in this area comes with a price tag, so I wasn’t too put off by the prices. It’s a very pretty cafe, and I genuinely really like the decor and layout. The team was efficient and effective, and I thought the food was okay but not something I’d actively come back to.
