Hortus — Restaurant in Singapore

i made a reservation on 26 may 2022 during the late lunch timing. i wasn’t aware of the min. spend and just wanted to have some desserts after eating lunch somewhere else. when i was making a reservation online the night before, i had to key in my credit card details.

on the day of my reservation, after ordering the carrot cake and panna cotta, we were told off by one of the staff who couldn’t stop glaring and rolling her eyes that we had to spend a min. of $90++ as we made a reservation and had 3 pax. we made a small commotion to clarify as to why the exact minimum spend was not stated when we made a booking, and the rolling eye lady said some super rude stuff that was inaudible under her mask. fine, i admit it was our fault for not making sure before even making our regretful reservation .

not long later, the supposedly manager of the hortus cafe came over with a ‘may i know what’s the issue here’ attitude and we explained that we just came for some desserts and don’t intend to spend over $90++ on it. she started taking leverage of the fact that she has our credit card details and if we don’t spend $90++ here she will deduct a total of $150++ from our CC. oh wait, apparently that’s their policy so she has all rights to do that. she also said that ALL her customers call to confirm with them about the minimum spend first so it’s technically MY WRONG for not calling in. ok lor, my fault. in the end we had to just buy lots of excess food to meet our min. spend if not our dear hortus cafe people will deduct $150++ from my credit card, of course i scared leh.

here comes my point, DONT EVER KEY IN YOUR CREDIT CARD DETAILS B4 DINING IN A CAFE/WTV DINING PLC. restaurants can use that as a leverage to make you spend as much as they like you to and blame you for not calling in to confirm or check with them before making a booking.

food was 7/10, staff’s attitude was passive aggressive. super ridiculous and unethical policy so i don’t recommend making a reservation here because it’s not worth it even with the free entry to the flower dome or the lame buggy ride from the flower dome to the entrance of gardens by the bay (not even bayfront mrt, might as well walk it’s just 2 mins to walk, the buggy makes a big round, waste of time). if you want the free entry to the flower dome, just buy the 1 day tix ($12), it’s cheaper than being forced to spend $90++. if you wna dine at hortus cafe, don’t bother making a reservation cos it’s empty anyways and then you don’t have a min. spend rubbish and threats to charge ur CC since they freaking don’t have your CC details. take care, don’t be scammed. thanks...

Update nov 24 Beautiful place to celebrate special occasions with nice food for sharing. The service staff is always warm and customer centric. Thank you to Celine n team❤️for supporting our special night tonight!

Update March 2023 Whenever we want a respite from the hustle and bustle, we take a day off and make a lunch booking here. It never fails to leave us satisfied in the taste and tummy department. The food is prepared with care and pride. We can have the vegetarian options while our friends enjoy the non-vegetarian options. Plenty of choices for everyone. Our favourites remain the dips and bread, watermelon salad, shakshuka. My parents had the daily special scallops on shells and also the Fremantle octopus. They were pleased! The deserts are always a delight, there were some new ones - we savoured the tart of pear soaked in redwine - and the good ol favourites carrot cake nutty and moist and the zingy oozy lemon tart.

But it’s the superb service quality and the atmosphere that keeps us coming back again and again.

The fabulous staff take up opportunities to engage - my dad was thinking about bringing home the massive scallop shells for the kids and wasn’t sure to ask for it, but the staff offered (as if she had heard him!) to rinse and pack for him! Of course the helpful hand in taking good photos of the group is always welcome.

After lunch, we joined the happy crowd outside to admire the cherry blossoms on display. It really put us in a good mood, like a holiday.

March 2022 Coming in here for Friday lunch felt like a holiday treat! Started from the buggy ride from GBTB carpark (the board still says Pollen). Seemed like we took the scenic route of about 2 min, slowed down (not complaining) by slow cyclists blocking the entire lane.

Took a seat with some sun in it. Felt like we were having an alfresco lunch on a Turkish rooftop. So nice!!

The Mediterranean menu was very welcoming to vegetarians. We enjoyed our lunch very much: shakshuka, bell pepper dip with pomegranate seeds, watermelon, olive and feta salad was so refreshing! So full already but after the patient waiter went through the offerings for dessert with me, I had to have the plain looking pistachio/date tart over the other tarts, panna cotta, carrot cake. It was the right and best choice!!!

We were glad to have booked as we saw other walk ins being turned away.

I forgot to take pics of the food as it was just so good I...

While the restaurant was closed out for our company dinner, the menu items are selected from their existing menu.

Mediterranean cuisine served communal style, hence some of these half-eaten photos. Didn't want the rest to wait for me to take photos before digging in. The hummus (no photo) was excellent, the Watermelon Salad with Feta Cheese and Olives was refreshing and appetizing. The Fritto Misto was delish, can never go wrong with deep fried stuff I guess. And a lovely tangy surprise Kingfisher Carpaccio, compliments of the chef.

The mains were equally amazing, from a whole Corsican Fish to Grilled Steak to Chicken with Barley grains. The steak was my fav here, perfect doneness and those potatoes, oh my yums.

Desserts were individually plated, with a choice of Blueberry Tart or Paris Brest (choux filled with hazelnut, peanut butter cream with roasted hazelnuts). Am glad I didn't have to choose and could share with someone so I can try both. Such a tough choice picking my fav between the 2 though. The sweet-savoury combi with generous portions of nuts in the Paris Brest was unique. The jumbo blueberries, not-so-sweet cream and fragrant short-crust tart base were delish too.

Ambience was excellent, though a little chilly, being inside the temp-controlled dome. Service was on point and most importantly the guests seemed to have...