If you’re not sure of what to do this weekend, having brunch with your other half or girlfriends is always a good idea. Here are five places to check out:
Text: Tan Min Yan/HerWorld Plus Additional Reporting: Atika Lim
What: Brunch becomes a decidedly more adult affair at Manhattan Bar’s Adults-Only Sunday Cocktail Brunch, where the bevy of libations is given as much attention as its New York-inspired food menu.
Start off with a handcrafted cocktail (there are six new ones) as you get acquainted with the delicatessen counter of salads, cold cuts and breads. Then make your way to the Ingredients Room to build your own Bloody Mary, best paired with half a dozen (or more) of the freshly shucked oysters from the seafood bar.
The selection of comfort sweets like classic apple pie, black and white cookies, caramel banana cream pies, cronuts (a necessary homage to the NYC creation, of course) and the highlight, a Baked Alaska of chocolate mousse filled with orange curd, feuilletine, meringue and drizzled with aged rum, are must-tries.
Price: $150 (inclusive of free-flow craft cocktails, beers and wines) per adult
Where: Level 2, Regent Singapore, 1 Cuscaden Road, Tel: 6733 8888, www.regenthotels.com
What: Dim sum brunches don’t need to be just tea-swigging affairs. Empress’ Champagne Dim Sum Brunch rolls out a selection of premium dishes including Singapore Chilli King Prawns, Crispy-Battered Sea Grouper and Triple Roast Platter (one serving per person), in addition to the standard issue dim sum favourites, rounded off with two alcoholic top-up options.
$48 gets you free-flow Mumm champagne, beers, house wines, juices and Chinese tea, while the $60 option swaps out the Mumm for a more premium Perrier Joeut.
Price: $58 per person
Where: #01-03, Asian Civilisations Museum, 1 Empress Place, Tel: 6332 7798, www.acm.org.sg
What: The Edge has upped its game with a refreshed spread that includes a smorgasbord of new items, and brand-new food stations like a Caviar Bar and Peking Duck station. The entire brunch offering remains as grand as before, with 16 food stations and three cocktail bars to tempt even the most steadfast of wills to spend a decadent four hours at brunch.
It’s no easy feat trying to round up all the new highlights, but must-tries include the ohmi wagyu striploin from The Grill, the roast chicken with lemon from the carvery, and seafood paella. If there’s one champagne brunch in town that we’d willingly fork out a pretty penny for, this would be it.
Price: $118 per adult ($178 and $198 for alcoholic options)
Where: Pan Pacific Singapore, 7 Raffles Boulevard, Tel: 6336 8111, www.edgefoodtheatre.com
What: It’s a pity that this a la carte brunch only happens on Sundays at Humpback – we would enjoy the small plates menu of well-thought-out brunch items (no sub-par, overpriced eggs benedict and pancakes here) any other time of the week too.
The small selection of oysters is the obvious star attraction, and the plump, ocean-sweet molluscs are worth a couple of rounds of indulgence (these go at happy hour prices from $3 each). But don’t forget to home in on equally impressive sharing small plates like the fried egg with orzo pasta mixed in with chopped octopus bits and a luscious tete de moine cheese ($14/$24), the generously portioned lobster roll ($39), and a decadent soft-shell crab topped with gruyere cheese ($16).
Cocktails like Coffee Negroni and Aperol Mojito ($17 each) really drive home the brunch factor, but it’s the DIY Bloody Mary (go crazy with the list of ingredients) that will make the boozy affair extra fun.
Price: Varied
Where: 18-20 Bukit Pasoh Road, Tel: 9772 9896, www.humpback.sg
What: The a la carte brunch offerings at Salt Tapas are distinctively more modern Australian than Spanish but we reckon it’s the sexy, laidback Spanish vibe (and the iconic Sangria), rather than the food, that the restaurant wants to emulate.
Highlights include the Egg Berentine with bonito flakes ($14) that’s apparently an amalgamation of the eggs benedict and eggs florentine – think poached eggs, chopped ham, and spinach on homemade muffins and topped off with dashi-infused hollandaise – as well as French toast with Okinawa ice cream, clotted cream and mango jam ($15), and Blackmore Wagyu minute steak with mash, watercress salad, poached egg and truffle dressing.
The house sangria ($18 per glass, $47 per jug, and $125 for a punch bowl) amps up the booze factor with a brandy, Cointreau, red wine and lime and orange juice mix.
Price: Varied
Where: #01-22A, Raffles Shopping Centre, Tel: 6837 0995, www.salttapas.com