Mad Nest @ East Coast Road

I was thrilled when the vacant shophouse previously occupied by Hongkong style café had “Now Hatching” signage with a mege sized egg in it – the only delightful clue to all day brunch. Many a drive past saw it change name to Mad Nest and being filled with drinkers mostly.



All day brunch. I so agree.



Nonetheless, that did not stop us from checking out this brunch place on a Sunday morning. They open for brunch at 11am but were gracious enough to allow us in earlier. The place is sleek, décor chic with art pieces and well, a mad nest quite literally.

The concept soon sunk in – Japanese, north Indian and everything else. Brunch is currently only available on weekends.



Interior.



Arty farty.



Cute coaster concept.

Cuppucino ($4)

The joke about the barrista is he did not arrive till much later hence the companion’s caffeine fix could not be satisfied till later in the meal. None too impressive from the art to the taste, apparently.

Smoked Salmon and Spinach Eggs ($16)

Liquid gold.

The portion is not huge but attention was drawn to the smaller than normal dense English muffins. One breakfast item executed well – runny poached eggs, decently creamy hollandaise and delicious muffin. Loved the use of avocado here! Smoked salmon moderately salty – plus point for this! Spinach resembled the oriental fry up that would appear on my dinner table but with a portion of vinegared mushrooms, all was good. For a brunch place, they have pretty much nailed it well with good poached eggs!

Jamon Iberico Croque Monsieur ($16)

Cheese + Iberico Ham = One happy me. Iberico is the new honey baked ham, infact, it is almost the yardstick for croque monsieurs these days. Gone are the days where honey baked ham is the revered. Another welle executed dish – cheese galore! It would have tipped the scale if mozzarella was also used but this was sublime. Good quality Iberico Ham and cheese! Lipsmacking good...seconds of this anytime!

Million Dollar Pancakes ($13)

I wonder what’s with the naming of dishes sometimes. With a moniker like that – I laugh. I honestly do not remember the last time that any dish had a name like that it exceeded expectations – think Million Dollar Burger by Morton’s. Ever recalled when you even felt like a million bucks? I have not even had a million dollar dining experience before – but dreams are worth having sometimes and I still look forward to the day a cheap treat can be million dollar amazing.

So here’s it – three thick pancakes that resemble those straight off the stove of jollibean. The only downside is, there were no fillings within. Just doughy batter and these were heavily dusted in icing sugar. The berries compote gave this a fruity touch but that was it.

Neh, no million dollars experience, just thirteen buckeroos worth.

Golden French Toast ($12)

Two thick toasts topped with a butter chunk and dusted with more icing sugar, the presentation was getting yawntastic with the overusage of passé icing sugar. Decent with cinnamon sugar and honey.

Ura Maki ($10)

Having stayed past noon and the rest of the menu was available, we had a go at their sushi. Texture of sushi was too soft – infact, all of mush. Unimpressive infact.

Mango Lassi ($5)

Like mango milk.

While I am happy with their brunch items, I am not too sure about the rest of the offerings. Having a Japanese chef plate my brunch or even prepare it is quite hard to reconcile. Mad Nest needs to find a unique selling point for diners to associate with – or well, a mad confusing nest if anything.

Mad Nest

378 East Coast Road