Coffee Club (East Coast Road)

I've been coming to coffee club so many times its amazing. You can view my previous 3 visits here. It does get a little boring if i keep returning to the same branch so this time, we switched to the branch along East Coast road for a try.

Garlic Prawn Pasta ($14.20) - I've reviewed this dish in my previous post and i'm glad to say its still as good as ever. Please refer to my previous post here. The only difference this time was that it was a little salty but otherwise, just as delicious.

Warm Confit Duck Salad ($9.80) - Something new to whet our appetites, the warm confit duck salad came in moderately warm duck slivers atop a bed of steamed tomatoes, greens, potatoes and some nuts thrown in for good measure. All covered with a generous dose of balsamic vinaigrette. As far as an appetiser goes, this is pretty heavy stuff since its firstly a big platter and secondly has a good dose of potatoes in it. The meat was a little dry and lackluster in the taste department but i still found the salad and potatoes itself to my liking, maybe i just like the heavy dosage of sweet and sour vinaigrette but IMHO, its passable.

Crusted Dory Gremolata ($13.90) - My Gf's dish. Another new item in Coffee Club. Plenty of chopped garlic, bread crumbs and olive oil make up this dish. There are also 2 reasonably sized dory fillets piled atop a standing ovation of potato salad. I tried a little of it and it tasted quite bland to me, the fillets are a little dry on the outside while only having hints of garlic and pan fried crumbs. The salad was also a little too....plain for my tastes but my gf liked it. She did say the dory was sweet but ultimately not filling enough.

Apple Crumble With Vanilla Ice Cream ($6.90) - Now this is an excellent dessert. Thus far, i have yet to have an apple crumble to rival this version. Caramelized apples form a small tower base while the top portion consists of a cumbly crust of nuts that surprisingly enhances the overall experience by a fair bit. Topped with a humble vanilla ice cream and this dessert is a winner. Warm and cold desserts are my favorite and this one takes the crown thus far. The apples hover between sweet and mildly sour just well with the nuts providing each bite a texture and fragrance that is totally different. Having it with ice cream as well simply makes this an indulgence not to be missed.

Chocolate Delice ($7) - Chocolate mousse cake with vanilla ice cream littered with chocolate chips. The mousse cake is of the dark chocolate variety and is quite rich. Smooth and filling describes it best while the ice cream, though normal, had chocolate chips strewn in it for a surprise crunch when eaten. Reasonably good.

Filling and satisfying. This meal came to $54.87 and is an invitation to revisit again. Which we did.

Based on the impression that Coffee Club has so far done no wrong and have yet to disappoint, we returned again and this time, tried to eat within a fixed budget as we were trying to have a cheap meal.

Fish And Chips ( $12.50) - I was intrigued that the restaurant so far had done no wrong that i thought they must serve a different version of fish and chips which would probably surprise me somehow. I was wrong. The fish and chips were very normal, too much so since i have the impression i could have gotten 2 servings at the same price. 2 reasonably portioned slices of fish fried in light batter with fries... The batter was quite thick actually while the fish, written as Cod Fillets in the menu if i'm not wrong, tasted the same as dory to me. In the end, this is my first true disappointment at Coffee Club.

Swiss Mushroom Melt Sandwich($9.90) - My gf's order turned out to be much better then mine. A warm toasted baguette with chopped mushrooms, tomatoes, cheese and lettuce was simply a healthier and better choice then mine. The bread was crunchy and soft at the same time with the cheese melting and oozing between the pieces of mushrooms. Simply divine.

Modern Lychee Tart ($7.50) - Another disappointment this time around was again, my order of the lychee tart. As of now, i've had every dessert in Coffee Club and basically, the apply crumble is still the best. The lychee tart is firstly very very small portioned. Secondly, it was not cold as i thought but rather room temperature and very soft, akin to unsolidified mousse. It also didn't taste like much but girls may be happy to know it tastes "light as air" to the point you wouldn't feel sinful after finishing it. I definitely won't order this again for sure.

This meal came up to $35.19 despite trying to keep costs down. So its quite obvious that a good budget is necessary to dine here.

Out of 5 visits, i've had only one visit which the food did not go too well. Service level is generally excellent so far and basically, for the one failed visit, its mostly due to the wrong choice in food. In summary, the food is still good and if you order only the recommendations i've had so far, you are guaranteed to be at least reasonably satisfied by the end of the day. My take on the place is, go for the good stuff and you won't regret it, but come with a good budget as well.