Dome Cafe (Parkway Parade)

Dome or Olio Dome held many memories for me because when i was a kid, the most expensive meal i could afford was either Swenson's or Olio Dome with a friend. Being kindred souls, we also only liked a few things in those places. Basically, all we liked were the fries and potato wedges and that was all we frequented the place for. Now, he's a manager so he can obviously afford better but its because of a coupon i got from purchasing books that i decided to have my lunch at this nostalgic place.

Chocolate Cake ($5.90) - The first item i ordered was the chocolate cake because thats what the voucher said, order any cake and get a complimentary coffee. And honestly, the reason why i used the voucher was because i was pretty darn sure i'll never make a trip simply to Dome just to use it again and also factor in the fact that it was lunch time. On to the cake, this was a recommendation from the waitress who was quite friendly. The cake was average at best though. The top layer was really hard while the sponge and cream layer was quite lackluster. There's a certain bitterness to the cake that hints at either coffee or good cocoa beans but i'm going with the former. Not too bad since it was served before the main meal but i wouldn't recommend it as a must order when visiting the place.

Long Black (Complimentary) - The complimentary coffee is a long black (espresso plus water) which was decidedly bitter but not as fragrant as i would like. Almost definitely not premium beans used but a grade above general coffee in coffee shops.

Beef burger with Bacon, Cheese and Egg With Fries ($13.90) - And since it was lunch time, my order was completed with a beef burger yet again. This version is a no nonsense and totally huge beef patty that turned out to be surprisingly tough. Its like the beef is squashed to the point there was little or no moisture within. More or less, it means the patty wasn't freshly made but ordered. However, i honestly found it a whee bit above acceptable. It came with melted cheese and a sunny side up and some stringy fried bacon for good effect. The overall appearance was nice but the bread was just bad. It was also hard, maybe because it was toasted, but its hardly suitable for a burger of this size. Overall, i found this edible but probably will not repeat my order again.

Surprise surprise. A lazy afternoon alone at the bookstore left me poorer by $90 worth of Science Fiction novels and an additional $23.30 more for a supposedly 'cheap' lunch. I happened to be one of the few scoundrels who sipped a coffee for 1 hour just to read my books as well.

Its not a bad place per se. The feeling is decent for a book *** cafe combination and nobody chases you out of the place when you simply sit and read and drink coffee. They could do with better coffee and cakes however and the mains need to have freshly made patties. Once they get that down, we may get a little bit of France's reading atmosphere and culture in Singapore after all.