Our Review On The Book Cafe
We were having our Indoor Cycling Lesson at XYCO Studios and we decided to have a quick lunch over at The Book Cafe located at Seng Kee Building (20 Martin Road). It was a humid Sunday afternoon and The Book Cafe was mostly packed.
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We had tried to ask for a Table inside but none was available so we just took the table next to this Ice Cream Kiosk. At least four of the tables inside were taken by just one customer each and all of them were busy on their laptops, either on assignments, working on excel sheet or having a conference call.
One of the staffs gave us two cups of ice water and on first taste, we thought it was rather special and it was until we saw the water jug and it was orange-infused. We were then told to scan the QR Code on the table corner to view the menu and make our orders.
The Menu
The Book Cafe has this big Chalkboard on their side wall with (some) of their Menu Items.
On their Online and QR Menu, they have categories like New, Special Of Month, All Day Breakfast, TBC Healthy & Main Menu after 11am, Light Bites, All Day Sweets, Coffee, Tea, Milkshake & Smoothie, Specialty Drink, Book Themed Gelato Sandos, Whisk-y Gelato, Beers & Wines, Happy Hours and Others. There are many items so it’s best to browse through first to decide what you want to eat.
What We Ordered
After browsing to and fro for many times, we decided to try their Eggs Royale ($22.95, not to be confused with their Smoked Salmon – $19.95) from the All Day Breakfast Category and their Pan-Fried Cod Fish Plats ($29) from their Main Menu Category. Note: Some of the menu description may get cut off from the screen so you may need to tap on the item itself to get a bigger picture and the full description. In their Online Menu, our orders were Eggs Royal (without the ‘e’) and Pan-Fried Cod Fish (without the ‘Plats’).
So, we submitted the orders online, presented with the bill amount and payment to be made later inside at the counter.
The Taste
Both items took some time to be prepared (around 15 minutes) and both were served at the same time. We had wished they had asked us whom was eating what before laying down the plates.
— Eggs Royale
As per the menu, this Eggs Royale consists of two servings of Toasted English Muffins, Smoked Salmon, Baby Spinach, Poached Freedom Range Eggs with Hollandaise sauce and a serving of Rosti Potato. Earlier, we mentioned that this item was not to be confused with another dish, Smoked Salmon (as key ingredients) with Two Freedom Range Eggs any style, Hash Brown, Grilled Cherry Tomatoes and finally Toast.
First off, we tasted the combination of the Poached Freedom Range Eggs with Hollandaise Sauce at the top, followed by Smoked Salmon, Baby Spinach and the Toasted English Muffin at the bottom. The English Muffin was fluffy with a tinge of maple-style sweetness. They were quite generous with the Smoked Salmon Slices but it could be a little salty on its own. Baby Spinach had a chewy taste and finally the egg was quite runny after peeling off a tough piece of egg white and the hollandaise sauce was quite similar to nacho cheese taste.
Then we tasted the Rosti Potato which we thought was very nice. It tasted like McDonald’s Hash Brown but without that over-crispiness and oiliness. It tasted good on its own and the sour cream was a welcome taste of added sourness.
— Pan-Fried Cod Fish Plats
As per the menu, this Pan-Fried Cod Fish consists of a piece of Cod Fish Steak, Teriyaki sauce, Spiced Brown Pilaf Rice plus Mesclun Green Salad with balsamic dressing. If you are new to this word “Mesclun”, it means “a green salad made from a mix of young salad leaves“. Missing from the description is the baby tomato.
We tasted the Cod Fish Skin and Cod Fish first. Skin was really good with a thin crisp. The teriyaki sauce was all over the skin that gave it a sweet taste and the sesame seeds gave it that extra crunch. The Cod Fish Chunk was quite generous and the meat was really fresh to taste and easily torn apart.
We couldn’t differentiate how young salad leaves would taste like but we liked how they cut the vegetables which gave a fresh crunch to them. The Balsamic Dressing tasted sour and sweet at the same time with the salad.
The next item that we liked from this dish was the Spiced Brown Pilaf Rice. We couldn’t taste any spices but the texture of the brown rice was really good. There was some additional treatment to the rice as compared to those Brown Rice option we got from the Mixed Vege Rice Stall or Vegetarian Stall. Eating together with the Teriyaki Sauce was an even better choice which gave the rice an extra sweet and sticky taste.
Payment
After finishing our food, we made our payment at the cashier counter inside. Prices quoted above were before Service Charge of 10% and GST of 8%. At that time, The Book Cafe was still pretty much crowded and we could only take a glimpse around which the place was really cosy with many comfortable seats, many books and magazines.
How To Get To The Book Cafe?
Address: 20 Martin Road, Seng Kee Building, #01-02, Singapore 239070 (Google Maps)
Opening Hours:
- Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 5.30pm
- Saturday & Sunday from 8.30am to 8.30pm
Contact Details, Website & Menu:
Social Profiles: