Ah, Five and Dime, we meet again. A place which has encapsulated most of my dating memories – we celebrated his very first birthday here, and we had our first date at this very space as well! If you’re curious, here’s the previous review and story written by me, before I was Explodingbelly. Actually I think the picture quality from then and now… About the same leh.
I was of course excited when I was asked to head back to Five and Dime to try out the new items on their brunch menu last weekend! On all three occasions I was there, as well as the countless of times I’ve walked past the place, it is PERPETUALLY crowded. It’s crazy. My latest visit was no exception.
The Place
Like I’ve complained previously, Five and Dime is indeed located very inconveniently along River Valley Road. I tried walking from 3 different MRT stations on all 3 visits. The first being Somerset, second from Clarke Quay and third from Dhoby Ghaut. I think Somerset feels like it is nearer to walk from BUT it’s not that near anyway. You should expect at least a 15 minutes walk.
My partner took a train straight bus right to the bus stop at Five and Dime from City Hall. So.. She’s smart. Be like her. Nonetheless it’s a super pretty place. It’s like a nice little house sitting along the streets. They have a substantial number of tables within the cafe, BUT it can get really noisy with all that chatter. I previously mentioned about how I liked the glass windows because the natural light can come in.. But this time, the sky was simply threatening when we were having our meal, and all I got was the orangey spotlight shining directly on to my plate. Sigh.
The Menu
This is their weekend brunch menu. We only ordered one new item from the menu because I really wanted my partner to try the Mentaiko Pasta I love SO MUCH.
What Five and Dime serves is slightly different from your usual brunch fare from other cafes as they tend towards Japanese-Western fusion dishes like the mentaiko pasta, soft shell crab burger, spinach tamago etc, since their head chef is a Japanese! Pretty cool!
The Food
We kick started the meal with some drinks.
Matcha Latte ($6.50)
Mocha ($5)
Iced Shaken Tea (Sorry never take note of the price)I thought their drinks were okay, coffee was average but this iced shaken tea got me really impressed. It was really refreshing and hey, there were even real food pulps and flesh with every sip. Super shiok. I approve!
For starters, we had the chef recommended Salmon Rocket ($15++) This was the dish I’ve been eyeing since the previous visit simply because it looked so yummy! This consisted of flame torched salmon sashimi wrapped around aruguala leaves and served with wasabi mirin dressing. Umm.. While the first roll of salmon got me with the ewwwww-ish taste of rocket, my partner absolutely loved it because she says “oh it’s an acquired taste! I got it from my guinea pigs”. Damn weird this girl.
The salmon was really enjoyable though! I made the dish more bearable for myself by removing the leaves within the salmon and stuffed the entire chunky slab into my mouth. Mmmm.
Next, we tried the Full of Crab Burger ($20++), which was NEW on the menu!
OOOH IT’S SERVED WITH SWEET POTATO FRIES! Okay the sweet potato fries were just like Alexia’s (the frozen one from NTUC), but I like sweet potato fries so… OMG SWEET POTATO FRIES!
Well… That’s not the point.
We were pleasantly surprised that the burger actually lived up to its name, it was.. FULL OF CRAB. I’m not sure about you, but my usual soft shell crabs have minimal meat within, and of course I was naturally expecting that from this burger as well. BUT NO. This crab inside got meat one hor. And quite plentiful too. The chili crab sauce added further dimensions to this already amazing burger with its super flavorful punch and that slight spicy kick. Weeee~
Everything was great, apart from those cheap looking buns. Can at least use like brioche bun? Or at least toast and make it more presentable? Haha!
Of course, when at Five and Dime, have their Mentaiko Pasta ($18++)
2 years later, this still looks damn good. My partner says this is definitely one of the best mentaiko pastas she ever had. So.. I guess you got to try!But for me, I thought I remembered it tasting better though. I thought this plate was slightly too dry and not as creamy as I’d like, even though I like the occasional crunch provided by the roe! BUT I cannot complain because it still tasted good, and I did take a pretty long while to get done for the photos! Do try and tell me what you think about it!
For desserts, while I’ve tried the Salted Egg Lava Cake ($12++) before, I thought it’s the kind of dessert you shouldn’t miss on your first visit to Five and Dime! It’s SO SPECIAL, and partly because I wanted to remember how it taste like especially since I recall that I wasn’t too impressed with my previous one!The first thing I noticed was that this looked different from the one I had 2 years ago. It was slightly smaller, and had a much smoother looking shell. But we’ll see if the taste differs or not!
But first, here’s my favorite part – THE CUT.
And my next favorite part, THE FLOW.
We were all taken aback by how well this flowed especially with the recent failed salted egg items we’ve tried. VERY SEXY.
What’s different I thought from my previous experience was that this time, the crust of the lava cake was crisper, so it gave the dish a slight crunch on top of what the salted egg bits give! Yikes, I can’t keep looking at that picture because it’s seriously very food porn.
While it tasted largely of chocolate, you could taste the hint of salted egg in the after taste and feel the sandy texture of it with every mouthful. This time round, I thought it was much better than the one I had previously, but equally horribly sinful.
Closing Remarks
I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at Five and Dime, yet again. The food was good, albeit at a slightly steeper pricing. I’d think the full of crab burger was one item that surprised me with its quantity and quality, I APPROVE. It makes me want to go back there to try out their other new items as well. I might.. One of these days.
How to get there?
297 River Valley Rd, Singapore 238338
Opening Hours
Monday to Thursday: 12pm to 10pm
Friday: 12pm to 12am
Saturday: 10am to 12am
Sunday: 10am to 10pm
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