After a rocky start at Cafe Epicurious, I held my horses and bunnies for Epicurious. The reviews online were not too favourable either, some chastising them for lousy service others claimed it was "not worth the hype". Coupled with two neutral gfs who had a penchant for all things leisure, brunch on a Sunday could not be any better an occasion.
9am Epicurious starts bright and early for breakfast-brunch that lasts through mid-day and even though we reached at a squeaky 11am for brunch, we had to queue. An expected wait of 30 minutes and drooling at other tables' brunch, we were finally shown our table right next to the book-cellar Japanese cafe next door.
To even get to this Vodka bottle of water takes at least 15 minutes and two requests. I nearly helped myself to it. Part one of Epicurious' charm, drinking water from a vodka bottle! Oh yes, by this time we already placed our drinks and mains order.
People-dog-baby watching is particularly entertaining for a Sunday and all three of us ended up fantasizing about living at Robertson Quay so we could pop by anytime for brunch. See what ideals overworked OLs can dream of.
Freshly Squeezed Juice ($5)
Orange-Carrot
Apple-Carrot
After much like what seemed like half a morning, our first signs of brunch arrived! Fresh juices to kickstart a lazy morning. I was actually mersmerized by the shades of my sweet apple-carrot concoction, slurps!
And thereafter it was yet another long pause of waiting time and a half apologetic ladyboss who informed that their pancakes have been completely sold out. I was miffed and slightly annoyed at that piece of disappointing news, pancakes and breakfast are such complementaries...! Watching the other tables getting pancakes served made me all the more annoyed.
More waiting ensues, we ended up watching young Japanese boys tuck into their hearty Japanese brunch next door! Cougar instincts? Hunger must have gotten to us. At long last, after almost an hour and a belly full of juice, our orders arrived!
Ravenous could be an understatement of our state then.
Eggs Benedict ($12)
Two poached eggs, grilled smoked ham on english muffin, hollandaise sauce
Alright, the eggs ben did not spill over in molten yolk but at least the eggs were runny. Muffin was soft and a tad too soft after all the soaking. Adored the hollandaise sauce that had a hint of sour, one of the better renditions so far!
The yummy panfried russet potato cubes that came with it were a wholesome take on salad. Loved the carbo load for this!
For once, I enjoyed my Eggs benny though it did get a tad too creamy towards the end.
Smoked Salmon Bagel ($8)
Cream cheese, capers, red onion, side salad
I think I love my bagels, the feeling of chewy dense dough when the teeth sinks in...that's the way it should be. Pity the smoked salmon was a tad too mushy and cream cheese could be thicker but it was one of those hearty sandwiches that I honestly would not mind trading my cereals for every morning.
Breakfast Burrito ($12)
Scrambled eggs with chorizo, tomato, cheddar cheese, tomato-chilli relish, tortilla, salsa
The lovely roll up of scrambled eggs that we exchanged our pancakes for. Never been a scrambled eggs fan but Epicurious made me think twice. Just the right balance of egg and milk this was a light fluffy scrambled egg stuffed with cheese, tomato and chorizo...flavours so complementary! Liked the thickness of the burrito that was neither too thick nor paper thin.
Way to go, Epicurious!
Ordering dessert was yet another rocket science of its own. All in at least 30 minutes waiting time and watching our empty cups, hoping they got refilled but they did not.
Apple Crumble and Vanilla Bean Icecream ($8)
Whilst queueing, this caught our eye and thankfully it was in stock! The sheer joy alas. The scoop of vanilla bean icecream was slowly melting away into the apple crumble. Decadence is an understatement with this one. The fullness and fragrance of vanilla beans makes icecream worth every calorie. Dig into the soft crumble and apple chunks, it was plain torture watching the dessert get depleted so fast. This could potentially be the best apple crumble, ever (even after a full brunch).
Brunch that took 2 hours in all, the queues never ebbed...even till we left. Service is not half as bad as claimed but cut them some slack yeah? The crowds and neverending wants for attention with that few staff is tough work though they really could do with a bit more help. The Epicurious folks have mastered the way to Brunch and I hope they keep it this way...lunch or dinner sounds enticing already...and pancakes!
Be. Prepared. To. Wait. Maybe bringing a book would help kill the time.
Epicurious
Robertson Quay (Next to Aburiya)
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