Artichoke, Singapore

Ross' sunny side up 

Renee's butter toasted chicken sandwich

House-blend breakfast cereal - now with Little Creatures Pale Ale!

We love Singapore - it seems that you cannot go wrong with the food lah! Today we joined our friends and our friends' friends at Artichoke Cafe and Bar, which is located in Sculpture Square. It has a large inside area, plus a delightful covered outside area with a long wooden table. We had gathered together enough people to fill the outside table! Artichoke has a great ambience - the owner told us that he had spent some time in Melbourne gathering inspiration. Artichoke officially claims that it is "inspired by the fascinating flavours and smells of Spain, Turkey, Lebanon, Greece and Morocco," and they are spot on in this respect!

The "November weekend brunch V1" menu contains a whole bunch of goodies that cost between S$14-18, that I can't resist going all out on:

• House-blend breakfast cereal w dried apricots, freeze-dried strawberries, almonds & cold milk (S$7);
• Creamy scrambled eggs w organic Kin Yan Farm mushrooms, parmesan & wild rocket, w Turkish bread;
• Eggs baked in tomato sauce w country sausage balls, chorizo, Spanish onions & homemade lebneh;
• Pan-fried haloumi on toast w organic mushrooms, crushed avocado & wild rocket;
• Renee's choice - Butter roasted chicken sandwich, grilled onions, almond romesco sauce & aioli + salad leaves; and
• My choice - Sunny side up w Moroccan mergues lamb nuggets, pistachio dukkah, babaganoush & fresh herbs.

The owner happily told me that my meal had made it into the top 100 dishes of 2010 (in Singapore Cosmo). And boy did it deserve to be in that list - it was meal perfection! It looked great on the plate, and had an array of different ingredients hidden under the egg to be found, like a treasure hunt! Renee found her sandwich to be tasty, but complete food envy!

The presentation was a winner - the dishes were fun, and we enjoyed the way that the cereal was served in a paper bag; cute! When we left, we were all given candy in small paper bags; such a great idea and certainly icing on a great cake!

We both ordered iced caffe lattes (i.e. iced coffee) that were delicious! Renee had another one, and I returned for a macchiato which was honestly one of the best maccs I have ever had.

The Verdict

Coffee 4.5/5
The Eggs (the meal!) 4.5/5
Service 4/5
Atmosphere 4.5/5
Overall 17.5/20
Would we go again?
I think we could easily live on Singapore's food - it really is good. Thanks Artichoke, for showing us how a breakfast place should be!

Website: http://www.artichoke.com.sg/