Wow it has been awhile since I’ve blogged, I’ve been busy with, well… Life. Amidst of struggling with life, the famous Hawaiian-Japanese based Brunch place – Eggs & Things has sneaked up upon our shores, making their first outlet out of Hawaii and Japan! No news, no hype, small media tasting group hmm.
I’m not sure if you guys have heard about them before but I’ve sure did because it was one of my to-go cafes on all of my Japan trips, but I haven’t gotten a chance to because the queues are crazy. Known for their pancakes and eggs, Egg ‘N’ Things pride themselves in using fresh, organic ingredients in all of their dishes, and of course, not missing out on their signature whipped cream tower. I was of course excited when I heard that they are opened for their soft launch in Singapore in mid December, and so I sacrificed work to head over there. Is that what they call gluttony, or rather, passion for food?!
The Place
Well.. I thought they opened up at a pretty unlikely place – at the new wing of Plaza Singapura. Too mainstream for my liking, but I guess they are keeping things as centralized as possible. After all $20 pancakes lose its appeal in the heartlands.
I would have imagined them to have their own shop unit just like the ones in Japan, something like what Kyushu Pancake has! No qualms about the design there, but just felt that it lost its exquisiteness and charm being so easily accessible. They don’t know Singaporeans like to go to cafes as inaccessible as possible one meh.
The interior of the cafe was really spacious and had that clean, homely touch to it with the woody woody furniture.
There are really…
A lot of seats.
They’ve got their “bar counter” where you see their baristas at work. We heard that all their staffs have been sent over to Japan for service training for 4 months before operations. Ok I heard 4 years, while my other counterpart heard 4 days, and the other heard 4 months. So we came to a compromise. But the “latte art” on our coffee looked like 4 days of training uh. A smear of milk on top of the latte. Hmmmmm. A bit sad.
The Menu
The menu at Eggs ‘n’ Things was expansive and well, expensive. It boasts of their pancakes, eggs and places an emphasis in the usage of “organic, top quality” ingredients with Hawaiian influences such as their Poke bowls and seafood. It’s rather ironic how they’ve pride themselves in keeping their prices affordable with quality ingredients, but this was definitely not reflected on what I saw on the menu. $19.90++ for a stack of pancakes, am I missing something here? Hmm. Their special blend coffee deserves a shout-out though, the customized blend of beans brought out the notes in my flat white, quite shiok. But just don’t order the hot version just for photography purposes cause it’s a fail.
The Food
We’ve got almost one item from each category, so here’s a quick run down for you guys.
Out from the Dinner Menu, as first timers at Eggs ‘n’ Things, we got ourselves the Hawaiian Pancake Sampler ($21.90++) which consisted of 5 of their pancakes of different toppings and their supposedly towering whipped cream.
This was what was served to us, a bit sad because it’s not photogenic any more, but this was kind of a blessing in disguise since it shows that they really do use legit whipped cream and that the pancakes were still really hot. But visual factor fail la.
The sampler had 5 different flavored pancakes – banana, strawberry, blueberry, macadamia and chocolate! Actually it’s just the various toppings embedded into the buttermilk pancakes, not as interesting as it initially sounded. The pancakes also do not taste any different except for the fact that it has different toppings in it.
BUT the pancakes were overall pretty yummy – light textures yet flavorful all at the same time, that mountain of whipped cream added to the textures and was the perfect complement to the pancakes.
Every table also comes with these bottles to go with their pancakes. From left to right, guava syrup (yes I said guava), coconut and maple syrup.
The coconut one was my favorite out of the the 3 but can get cloyingly sweet after awhile; whilst the guava was a nope.
We also stole a picture of the generic strawberry pancakes.
We don’t know why our pancakes were served before the savories, probably because for them, pancakes are mains, not desserts. Hmm.
Meats and Eggs
From this section, we picked 2 items. For all mains that you order from here, you get to choose a side of potatoes, rice or I forgot. I’m such an embarrassment to food bloggers. OH IT’S TOAST. Potatoes, rice or toast!
You can also choose how you want your eggs to be done. For us, we got the scrambled eggs!
1) Steak and Eggs ($25.90++)
Looking at the pricing, I was expecting a legit slab of steak or at least something that has more fat since they mentioned that they keep things affordable mah. In the end, this was what we got.
Omg is this a prank? Is this the $9 beef steak I get at my kopitiam downstairs? And I’m paying $25.90++ $30 for this?! NO WAY. It tasted well, average at best, probably would pay $8 for it. The scrambled eggs were a pleasant surprise as it was actually more fluffy than it looked; the potatoes though.. don’t need Gordon Ramsey to rant about it, explodingbelly would eat it and spit it out and shout, I CAN STILL TASTE THE SOIL ON THIS. It was so dry, and bluntly speaking, disgusting.
2) Surf and Turf & Eggs ($27.90++)
This was the above plus 3 grilled prawns. The prawns were pretty dry but ok la. $2++ more for 3 prawns, if you really have to have the steak and eggs, go for this. The 2 slices of toasts were homemade gardenia standard. Why.
Eggs Benedicts
3) Kahlua Pork and Cabbage ($21.90++)
This was served upon a toasted English muffin, and it’s probably my favorite dish of the night. RELATIVELY.
The Kahlua Pork was just pulled pork drenched with BBQ sauce which tasted very familiar.
Not too bad though but the price point. Sigh.
Special’s & Things
These were apparently their unique offerings in Hawaii. We’ve decided on the Ahi Poke Bowl ($16.90++), because poke bowl.
The ahi tuna was prepared in thinly sliced and cubed portions. Overall it was average but I definitely wouldn’t spend $16++ for a poke bowl here. With that price point, I would expect like relatively thick slices of tuna.
Sigh.
Closing Remarks
Some of you may feel that I’m being too blunt about the comments on the food especially since it’s a tasting session right before their soft launch. However, for me to put myself in your shoes to pay that kind of price for mediocre food, incurs my wrath.
Honestly the food here isn’t half that bad, but neither is it half as impressive nor worth the price point at all. I would have been satisfied and content if not for the exorbitant prices on the menu. Well if you got to charge that kinda price then you got to justify it! That’s my stand. Then again, they are still in their soft launch period to gather feedback for their official launch in late January, so let’s wait and see, and hope they do work on improving their offerings!
How to get there?
Plaza Singapura 68 Orchard Road, #03-79/83 Singapore 238839
Opening hours
Monday to Sunday – 10am to 10pm (last order 9pm)
Love your honest comments esp about the pricing aspect as i feel lots eateries r over charging nowadays n bloggers dun ever even mention it. Keep up your good work!
Thanks for the honest review!! This goes to show your blog is much more trustworthy than many other food blogs out there.
Hehehe you’re too nice, Gladys! Thank you for the support!