Spruce - Brunch

Pleasantly surprised that Spruce's brunch was pretty good. After the so-so dinner there nearly half a year ago, I wasn't expecting much.
Had a lazy brunch at Spruce during the public holiday (since I have school on Saturday) - a much needed break from the madness of school! So glad that there's a PH this week. I was nearly tempted to get the Garden Breakfast ($15++) which the table opposite us was having - a heaped plate of avocado, tomato, grilled vegetables, garden salad, mushrooms, goat's cheese and brioche toast looked really good!The Eggs Benedict with Corn Waffles ($12++)

Though it looks like a small portion (half a waffle), it's actually rather filling. I was quite stuffed after finishing it. The corn waffles were incredibly soft, and there were kernels of juicy fresh sweetcorn in it. It's a unique twist to the usual eggs ben with muffins, and I'm quite glad that I ordered it instead of the more ordinary Garden Breakfast.
I don't particularly appreciate streaky bacon (unless it's in my carbonara), but I enjoyed the leg bacon, which was lean and not too salty. However, part of the reason why I liked it was because it tasted more ham-ish than like bacon.

The poached eggs were done nicely, with the yolks still runny. The hollandaise sauce was thick and creamy, and they're pretty generous with the sauce, though they didn't go overboard with it. I liked how they used chives and not spring onions, which is the cheaper alternative used in some restaurants here.

I was quite amused that it was served on a porcelain plate which looks like those plates you find in Chinese restaurants.

The Spruce Big Brekkie ($16++) with Eggs, bacon, German Sausage (beef), Roasted tomato, potato, mushrooms with focaccia bread.

The sausage is really huge and juicy looking, go here for the review on the sausage since I don't eat beef. Mushrooms were so-so - would have been better if they added garlic and herbs to it.
The scrambled eggs were creamy and moist, slightly runny and lightly seasoned. The portion is pretty good - you'll definitely be stuffed when you're done eating this, especially since it comes with 2 big pieces of lightly buttered toast (supposed to be focaccia, but I think it tasted more like Brioche? not too sure, the waitress said it was focaccia).

Banana Pancakes with Honeycomb butter and blueberry syrup ($13++)

Which was sorely lacking in honeycomb butter! Plus, there was less than 1/8th of a banana in there. They should consider re-naming it, since the honey is apparently mixed into the blueberry syrup?

I didn't like the grated orange zest in the pancakes (since I don't like orange). The pancakes were light and fluffy, and tasted like the kind you can make at home with those instant pancake mix. I especially liked the grainey bits of crumble sprinkled over them. The amount of blueberry sauce was too little, but fortunately, they gave us additional maple syrup for the pancakes.
Arnold Palmer ($6++) which is half lemonade and half unsweetened lemon tea.
Looking at my photo makes me feel like brewing my own sun tea, especially since I've been waking up extremely early even on weekends, it'll be done by noon if I make it once I'm up.

The pricing here is pretty reasonable for the portions, much better than Dempsey's breakfast portions in general, and I liked the ambiance (sat outside on their wooden patio, overlooking the garden/playground this time). Despite the scorching hot sun today, the large shady trees in the garden kept the dining area cool and airy.

Would have given it 4/5 stars, but service could have been much better - they were extremely slow, kept forgetting our extra orders (like hot water, tomato sauce etc). Though we took our order by a nice Chinese waitress, who kindly recommended that we don't order the banana pancakes along with our mains, since we will be too full. But we were greedy and ordered it anyway (couldn't finish my half). Plus, there was a fly on the pumpkin pie we wanted to eat...

Spruce
320 Tanglin Road
Phoenix Park
Tel: 6836 5528
(Opposite Brunei Embassy)

Lunch: (Mon-Fri) 10.30am-2.30pm

Bakery, Tea & Coffee: (Mon-Sun) 2.30pm-5.30pm

Dinner: (Mon-Sun) 5.30pm-10.30pm

Brunch: (Sat, Sun & PH) 8.30am-2.30pm
Do go early or book a table, since it got really crowded around noon. Free parking, though there's not many spaces once the restaurant starts filling up.

I've just realized that I've been posting really very little during the month of November. It's probably my record for the least no. of posts in the whole month :/ Hopefully it'll be better in December! Crossing my fingers now.
I really do believe a dslr makes photos look 1000x better even though I have no photography skills!