The Providore

The Providore first opened a 3,000 sq ft concept retail store at Tan Boon Liat Building selling gourmet food, cook books and bespoke gifts as well as wine, craft beer and artisanal spirits. It has since expanded its presence from the spacious and modern industrial warehouse to Mandarin Gallery, Tangs Orchard and The Grandstand. I was enticed enough by its breakfast|brunch menu, which is served 'til 3pm that I dropped by over the last weekend. Located on the 2nd floor of Tangs Orchard by the escalator, there was no queue for seats. Ordered an English Breakfast – could neither rave about the pork sausage and sourdough toast nor fault my choice of sunny-side up (over poached and scrambled eggs) and roasted tomato. While the sautéed mushrooms were lovey, I found the grilled bacon a tad oily. Ended my meal with a chocolate tart where the rich taste of chocolate was well-balanced in taste and texture by the tart raspberries on top and crumbly tart.

Tiong Bahru Bakery

An artisan bakery by French baker Gontran Cherrier has been a hit since it first opened in the Tiong Bahru neighbourhood. By Spa Espirit Group which also owns Kiasu Espresso, it now has two more branches at Raffles City Shopping Centre and Tangs Orchard. Serving what some claim to be the best croissant in town, I left the bakery-café without buying anything as it did not look light and flaky. Then one day, someone who was in the area and heard how good the croissant was bought it for me. I was not impressed by its unevenly risen dough and lamented how the croissant (better ones can be found at Maison Kayser and Paris Baguette) could not make it. Was told its squid ink bun, chocolate croissant and kouign aman were good. The latter, also highly recommended by staff, is Breton's cake with salted butter and sugar. So I thought to myself that maybe I should try other items.

TANGS Market

17-year old Suntec City Mall has completed its first phase of facelift that started last year, with phase two and three to be completed by 1st quarter and end of next year respectively. Similarly, Tangs Orchard started its first phase of renovations last year and the second phase this year. These have been completed and the third phase will begin next year, to be completed by 2015. Located at the basement is TANGS Market with two distinct sections – one is near the underpass to Orchard MRT Station and Isetan Scotts while the other is within TANGS Home. The former includes Singapore's first Krispy Kreme (five to open over the next five years with a production kitchen at Pandan Loop), Seventh Heaven's alter-ego and naughtier twin Ice Cream Junkie and The Mustard Incident selling gourmet hotdogs. And the latter has Ya Kun's family café with its own seating area as well as common standing space, tables and chairs to eat food and drinks from other stalls.