The Missing Pan @ Upper Bukit Timah Road

This entry focuses on TMP's dinner menu. For review on The Missing Pan's brunch items, please click here. 

So yes, we went back on the same day wanting to try other brunch items but alas, it was not meant to be. But that did give us the opportunity to try out their dinner menu. Please make reservations if you're going for dinner on a weekend because it was full house when we went! 

 Complimentary bread and butter 

How nice it is when a restaurant offers complimentary bread. Such a simple gesture that doesn't cost much on the restaurant, but is a sincere display of one's hospitality. 

Dairy-Free Pumpkin Soup with Tom Yam Crouton ($10) 

An innovative twist to the traditional pumpkin soup, adding on a spicy and sour touch to the familiar pumpkin soup. Very nice.

Similar to their brunch menu which is meticulously designed and chosen, their dinner menu also ensures there's something for everyone no matter whether you've a carnivore, vegetarian, or pescetarian. 

Seafood Squid Ink Risotto ($24) 

All things squid ink have grown on me over the years, and as long as I'm with people I'm close to, almost always I'll go for squid ink. Well, you know how the lips and teeth turn black when you have this don't you. The seafood was fresh, risotto nicely done with a buttery taste. We scooped up every single morsel on the plate, save for licking it clean. 

A look at their dinner menu 

Whole Roasted Chicken for 2 ($35) 

Stuffed with olive and sundried tomato risotto, roasted root vegetables, homemade ketchup, garden greens 

IMHO, this is best shared amongst a party of at least four pax. If it's just the two of you, this may become a bit gelad after a while. This is such a farmer's dish, I felt like I was in a farmhouse tearing the chicken apart and scooping up the stuffings. Although nicely roasted on the outside, we felt that the meat inside, although tender, was on the bland side. 

La Passion ($14)

Meringue, passion fruit, fruits 

Check out those cute little mushroom-shaped meringues.

Berries 'N Cream 

At first we didn't fancy ordering this cake as it looked very creamy and pasty. However, it was surprisingly good. Modelled after strawberry shortcake but with mixed berries, it was light and fluffy in texture and not too sugar-laden. 

Besides the satisfying meals we had here, I also like the ambience here. The tables are spaced adequately in between, allowing you to have your own privacy. Although the place was full house, it was not too noisy because of how the place was structured. 

And psst, there's buy-1-get-1-free bread after 7pm! 

The Missing Pan

 619D Bukit Timah Road

#01/02-01 Singapore 269724T. 65 6466 4377

Opening hours:Tuesday - Sunday from 9am - 10pm

The Missing Pan @ Upper Bukit Timah Road

When the Sis and I knew that Grace and Bernard have opened a cafe in the very accessible area of Upper Bukit Timah Road (it's the row of shophouses facing main road, few doors down from My Little Spanish Place and beside Coronation Plaza), being food and brunch lovers, we knew we had to try it! What more a cafe opened by someone we know! Heh heh. 

TMP doesn't take reservations for brunch/lunch on weekends, but yes for dinners. We arrived at about 2.00pm on a Saturday and got seats at 2.15pm. By 2.45pm, most of the crowd had subsided. 

You can access their menu here. Although not a super extensive menu, you can tell that each item is carefully designed and selected with at least something that piques your fancy. For the seafood lover, there's Crustacean ($24; clams, mussels, prawns, in tomato pasta). If you're one who likes your meat, there's steak burger ($22), pulled pork burger ($19; a bestseller from the now-defunct Upper Crust run the same husband-and-wife duo), or Oven Hangover ($19; chicken schnitzel with bacon and sunny side up). Of course, for the brunch and eggs lovers, there's the Eggs Benedicts. 

What makes TMP different from other cafes or brunch places sprouting elsewhere like nobody's business is that they have their own in-house bakery! Taking pride in crafting good and heartwarming loaves, all the bread served in the brasserie comes from this bakery. TMP also provides bread to other cafes and bakeries on the island. 

Lychee & Lemon Soda ($6)

Mocha ($6.50) 

The lychee soda was definitely an antidote to the 35 degrees weather outside. With a zest of lemon and mint, this refreshed our taste buds, and our minds. Although the latte art on the mocha was not very impressive, the aroma of the coffee was satisfying.  

French Toast Salcipon ($19) 

You must be thinking what's so great about a French Toast topped with Fruits, looks like I can make one at home myself too! That's what I usually think and hence usually I don't order French Toast in cafes. However, TMP serves a french toast like no other place; this dish definitely packs a punch! Stuffed with chicken, spinach and mushrooms, with fresh fruits and banana nuggets (ala your modern goreng pisang), savoury and sweet flavours never went so well together before. 

Besides the flavourful stuffing, the french toast was very yummy as well, fluffy, and nicely charred on top. 

62 Degrees Eggs Benedict with Smoked Salmon (or Ham) ($22) 

A tantalizing dish of wobbly eggs, avocado, in-house hollandaise sauce with a thick slab of smoked salmon, this item is bound to delight any eggs benny lover, like me.

Byo ($14)

Home-made orange yoghurt ice cream, raspberry jelly, marcerated strawberries, basil, chocolate crisp 

Craving for something refreshing on a hot afternoon, we settled for the above. Besides making their own bread, TMP makes their own ice cream too! Now how awesome is that. I enjoyed the chocolate crisp, ice cream, and the crumbly stuff underneath. A sweet ending to a hearty meal.

Simple, modern, tasteful interior decor

Freshly baked bread on sale 

Actually, we weren't satisfied yet. Because there were other items on the menu that we had wanted to try, and another two didn't make it for our lunch date, we resolved to come back again... and it turned out to be for dinner the same day. Brunch menu is served till 6pm on weekends, after which dinner menu is rolled out. Well, dinner is another story to tell. Stay tuned. 

The Missing Pan

 619D Bukit Timah Road

#01/02-01 Singapore 269724T. 65 6466 4377

Opening hours:Tuesday - Sunday from 9am - 10pm

How much did I spend? $40 per pax (A bit on the pricey side, but all worth it once in a while)

Would I come back again? Definitely. 

Shin Yuu Japanese Restaurant @ Greenwood Ave

Two Fridays ago the colleagues and I went out for a celebratory dinner after the completion of a major project. A colleague suggested this place, which he said was the best Japanese ala carte buffet he has ever eaten in Singapore, so all of us decided to take his recommendation.

Located at a very ulu part of Bukit Timah and right smack in the middle of an elite residential area, it's hard to locate this place by bus/mrt. 

It's quite a small place so reservations are recommended. There were 6 of us so we had a cozy room to ourselves.

Wafu steak - Juicy and succulent, not too chewy and just the right texture.

Shin Yuu Signature Chawanmushi - All of us were satisfied with this. The texture of the egg was well done, though I found the roe slightly too fishy.

I love to start off the meal with sashimi. Sashimi Moriawase - Salmon, tuna, yellowtail, swordfish, king fish, tako, and a huge blob of plasticine-looking wasabi. At the price of the dinner buffet ($48++), I expected a certain quality of the food here, and I was very pleased. The sashimi were fresh and had a sweet taste of the sea. I love the flavour and the texture of them and as I write this now and recall, I can almost, almost just taste it at the tip of my tongue again. It was really good. Also, my first time trying king fish - very sweet and succulent!

What I would call Shyo Bah - you know, the kind you eat at hawker center with Char Siew Rice? I don't take fatty pork so no comments on this.

One of my favourite items of the night, though a few colleagues would beg to differ as it was a tad too salty and it resembled orh-lua (Hokkien for fried oyster omelette).This Shin Yuu Special Ebi Miso Mayo Yaki (basically, fried omelette with mayo, miso and prawns) was flavourful and the egg was done fried yet runny at some parts, very delicious. They could've cut down on the salt though.

Complimentary premium items - The Shin Yuu Special Aburi Sushi with Mentaiko Topping was charred to perfection, and for me, anything with the salmon cod roe is bound to good. I felt that the satisfaction of the Tuna Belly Sushi was lost, it just tasted like minced meat sushi. I don't really fancy duck meat so I didn't try the Smoked Duck Breast. 

Raw oysters at a Japanese buffet? You bet. Another kind complementary item. It was fresh but not as big and juicy as what some other places offer, but I'm not complaining because this was definitely more than expected.

I can't remember whether this was complementary or on the menu. The Grilled King Crab Legs were awesome as well, the meat sweet and tender, leaves you wanting for more.

Shin Yuu Special Dory topped with Cheese - A calorie-laden item with the dory smothered with cheese. The flavours didn't really complement each other. Using cheese over fried dory fish is not very remarkable. I can do this at home too!

The amount of food on the table was quite scary. In total, we had 3 Mixed Sashimi Platters. The 2nd and 3rd serving came with...drum roll...omg tuna belly!! It was oh, so, good. We couldn't believe they offered this at a buffet! It wasn't on the menu though, it just came when we ordered the mixed platter. Ms Sashimi Queen (she's bestowed with this title because she truly eats a lot of sashimi) and I thoroughly enjoyed the sashimi there.

At 3/4 into the meal, a waiter popped his head into the room and asked, do we want a complementary salmon or yellowtail cheek? I exclaimed, "Oh yes of course!". The flesh around the head is the most tender and I enjoy picking my chopsticks at it and dissecting every bone at that area.

The Hotate Mentaiko was puny, though the mentaiko partly made up for it. Decent but not overly inspiring.

relish by wildrocket @ Cluny Court

Last Saturday a bunch of us went to Relish @ Cluny Court to celebrate the tennis stars' birthdays. "Tennis stars" because they used to be, gasp!, national players?! I think. Anyway. It was a rainy morning but we still managed to get ourselves out of bed and met there at, 1.15pm. More like lunch. All of us had heard of this place before, but never been here. We had our virgin experience together.

While trying to locate this place at Cluny Court, I came across several interesting cafes on the first floor - another potential brunch place, a cupcake cafe, Awfully Chocolate, Marble Slab Creamery, and what we would later find out, 3-Inch Sin! And Cold Storage. Next to this mini shopping centre is Botanic Gardens. This place has everything you need on a weekend! 

Thankfully we had a reservation, because the place was packed with families, couples, friends, expats... 

Blue Cheese Beef Burger with Rucola, Poached Pear & Walnut Butter ($19) -

Beef burger with pears?! Walnut butter? Blue cheese?? An experimental recipe that would go awry, or be awesome? 

Verdict: Simply, awesome. Two thumbs up! We had it medium done. The pears added a refreshing and delightful taste to the burger and left my taste buds wanting for more, and same goes for the walnut butter, which tasted more like peanut butter. Beef burger with pears and peanut-butter, hm, sounds like an unmixable mix, but they surprisingly well together. I couldn't really taste the blue cheese unless I scoop it out, but Pineapple, whom I shared this with, insisted the taste was very strong. Either my taste buds doesn't work well or I'm not adverse to blue cheese. 

 The Englishman had a Pauwel Kwak (a kind of Belgian Beer) to go along with his Steak Sandwich, and it came in an interesting-looking beer glass and wooden stand. Very authentic, I must say. The Peach Beer and Honeydew Beer sounded interesting as well but sadly, no one ordered them.

Eggs Royale   - 

It wasn't on the menu but Ms Soprano requested for the ham to be changed to smoked salmon instead, with an additional charge.

Smoked Salmon, Scrambled Eggs and Cream Cheese Bagel - 

The eggs was good, but the smoked salmon was too fishy and the bagel too hard. Wrong choice, unfortunately. Pineapple shot daggers at me because I kinda forced her to share this with me. 

 Crabmeat Linguine 

This tasted pretty good for the first few twirls, but it could be too much for your palate if you were having this on your own. Food taste best when shared IMO :)
Because it wasn't my main and the grass is always greener on the other side, I stole quite a few forkfuls from TY, teehee.
Real crabmeat with generous servings. After a while it tasted like Chili Crab Pasta - East meets West. Which starts to taste strange after you have half of the dish..

 For desserts (which we placed candles at the side and on top of the dessert cup), we had the Signature Cheesecake ($9), which surprised me when it came in a cup (no photos) with ice cream, strawberries, cream cheese, and crumble. It wasn't fantastic, but it might be because I'm not a fan of cheesecake and sour stuff (strawberries). 


Now this was good - Lava cake with ice cream. Look at the volcano of molten chocolate oozing out! Yummy.

It was a good meal - the restaurant was packed but it wasn't too noisy, which some restaurants could be when they have that amount of people. The ambience was laid-back and the atmosphere casual, sunlight streaming in from the side window after a rainy morning, company of friends who enjoy a good meal with you, what's not to like?


How much was spent per pax: $26 - $33 (I can't remember!)
Would I come back here?: Definitely!

501 Bukit timah road
#02-01 Cluny court
Tel: 6763 1547

Hatched @ Evans Lodge

A bunch of us went to Hatched a few Saturdays ago to celebrate the twins' belated birthday. I love going for brunch, and brunches seem to be all the rage for a long time now! Besides Wild Honey, most of the other brunch places are at ulu places if you're taking public transport. 

Tucked away at a small street next to the NUS Bukit Timah Campus is Evans Lodge which houses Hatched. We didn't make a reservation, were scheduled to meet at 11.30am but everyone ended up reaching at 12.30am, but we didn't have to wait long for a table of 8. 

I was surprised at this location, it was right outside the gate to a student hostel, and we looked like we were breakfast at a void deck, no joke. Atmosphere = 0.

The menu however was quite cute. I visited their website before going there, and it was refreshingly interactive and cute, with different kinds of eggs having different names to them. Takes a while to load though.

 I can't really remember which photograph is which egg, but here goes anyway -

Philly $14.00 - Omelette with minced beef inside and a piece of toast. When I saw the prices on the menu I thought they were rather decent, considering one set in Wild Honey costs around $18-$24. But when the dishes came the portions were really small! I knew from one look I could not possibly satisfy my hunger pangs (from getting lost in the hot sun before finally finding my way to this place) no matter how delectable my dish might be. I was sorely disappointed at the size of the serving. The presentation looks very mediocre as well, as you can tell.

Burly Benedict $11.00 - I do like the names though, and the concept that it's all about eggs, because I simply love eggs, regardless how they're done. Hard or soft-boiled, scrambled or omelette, benedict or sunny-side up, braised or not. We lamented to one another, sigh why didn't we think of this! We could've made millions.

Anyway, this is basically eggs benedict with steak underneath.

Smoked Royale (Single Egg) $11.00 - Consists of Eggs Benedict with smoke salmon, mashed potato and salad. This was mine, so I have a bit more to say about this. The egg was nicely done as well as the sauce, and usually I don't really fancy smoked salmon (sashimi anytime please) but I was craving for anything that resembled raw salmon the slightest bit, so I chose this. The smoked salmon wasn't fishy at all, and I did like this combination. Still, the portions left much to be desired, and I polished off the plate and eagerly waited for my companions to finish theirs so we can proceed on to another place for a second round.

One thing that was really good at this place is their mocha  ($5.50).

 This is Cowboy ($16.00) I think? A steak burger.

Papillote ($14.00) -  Same as Smoked Royale, only that instead of eggs benedict, the smoked salmon comes with scrambled eggs this time.

Le Rossini ($20) - The priciest of the lot, because of that blob of brown stuff you see on top of the scrambled eggs. Foie gras!

 You can choose whether you want one or two eggs for some items. This is Smoked Royale with twin eggs.

Overall I would say the taste was quite decent (I mean how wrong can you go with eggs right), but the portions were really meagre. Worth a try though. Service is good as well, which does contribute to the overall dining experience.


How much was spent per pax: Around $18 per pax
Would I come back again? Hm maybe once in a long while...

Address: 26 Evans Road #01-06 Evans Lodge Singapore

Tel: +65 6735 0012

Opening Hours:

Sun–Thu: 8am – 10pm
Fri–Sat: 8am – 12am
(Closed on Mon)