Spruce

Late on a lazy weekend morning, we decided to check out Spruce as one of my dining companions had wanted to visit the place for like the longest time. It first opened at Phoenix Park along Tanglin Road in March 2009 and went on to open a 2nd branch at Old Fire Station along Bukit Timah Road in July 2012. We went to the former – a quiet place nestled among trees, and ordered from its weekend brunch menu (last order at 3.45pm). My dining companions had Spruce Chicken Benny and Spruce Big Brekkie while I ate Spruce British Brekkie. Part of The Benedict Collection, Spruce Chicken Benny consists of stewed peppers chicken, bacon poached egg with hollandaise sauce, and corn waffle.

Differences between Spruce Big Brekkie and Spruce British Brekkie are the German sausage, stewed cabbage and roasted potato versus Cumberland sausage, baked beans and cherry tomato in the latter. Both come with a choice of eggs (we chose sunny-side up over scrambled and poached), bacon, mushrooms and focaccia toast. Could neither rave about the sausage nor fault the cherry tomatoes, eggs and mushrooms though bacon and toast were not crispy. Baked beans tasted weird and after trying a mouthful of it, I left the ramekin untouched. Also had drinks, and I was unimpressed with my acidic and bitter cuppa of medium-bodied macchiato that was served with a plastic stirrer.

Update: The Branch at Phoneix Park has closed.