The Populus — Restaurant in Singapore

Made a reservation at 1230, I got there around 1205 today and the service crew was kind enough to allocate me level 1 seats as they observed I brought my grandma with me. I was served by a beautiful lady, after she took my order she served the utensils immediately. I really loved the atmosphere there, as you can see couples, family with kids and friends just hanging out there. Its really a good place to have a great catch up with friends/ family. We ordered a Seafood Linguine, Halibut & Leek, Populus Big Brekky and Tater Tots as our sides. I would say the price was a little on the higher side, it cost $28 for Big Brekkie and Seafood Linguine. Some may argue the portions justify the value, I will leave it to personal opinions. For Drinks we ordered 2 8 Oz White Coffee and 1 'Magic'. According to another crew 'Magic' means it is much more aromatic and not so sweet. They have 2 levels to dine in over here. Parking can be a hassle during peak hours. Food was served within 20 mins. For the big brekkie, I would say the rosti was awesome, the cuts was just nice and I like the slightly charred parts on the outside, sous vide egg was on point as the yolk is seen oozing out. You could choose Big Brekky to be served with sausage or smoked salmon. I took smoked salmon. Halibut with leek was rather light and tasted heathy, the sauce was creamy and accompanied the halibut rather well, grandma was ok with it so all is good. Tater tots was portion was huge, which kind justify it costing $14 I guess. There were tables available so they did not try to chase us away, but they were quick to clear our plates, no issue with that I guess thats SOP. Total bill came up to be $144 after GST and service charge. Overall a good experience, will be back to try the beef cheeks and...

pre COVID I felt this place was overrated - and guess what I'm still feeling the same. went in sunday afternoon for coffee and bite coz little oasis was shut.

most staff were pretty aloof, space cadets. lots of huddling/chatting and service was slow. first staff member freaked out when me and my GF asked if we could sit at a 4 seater table considering the place was 3/4 empty. another staff member didn't know what pastries there were (the menu said to ask staff) and instead offered us fries. one staff was chinstrapping a mask which she'd pull up to speak to patrons, then pull down to chat to staff lol.

ordered the buckwheat pancake and the base had been overcooked so it was crispy.

coffees were served in scuffed thermaplastic cups which isn't great feel, def not premium - thankfully the barista (shout-out for best staff by far) served my second cup in a ceramic after I requested. coffee itself was ok.

cost damage was $42 for one buckwheat pancake and 2 coffees. so make of that value what you will.

atmosphere looks nice - it's a bit narrow as shophouse cafes are, and they have a nice aesthetic window at the back. but the chairs and the floor combo are hellish, screeching when people shift their seats back and forth. form over function I guess coz you can't hear through IG pics.

and my pet peeves: the menu is hosted on a google drive link lol. menu excludes ++ in their pricing. and they were playing early country taylor swift which was kinda weird. teardrops on my guitar was not what i was expecting. but maybe they were just on sunday mood?

i really cannot recommend this place unless everything else is shut. this area has way better service and food, and the populus has to be way more competitive to keep up.

TLDR:...

Visited this popular brunch spot on a December Saturday morning. As we could not get reservations by the time we decided on this venue, we ended up having to wait for roughly an hour and got in slightly past 12pm. Staff was respectful enough not to give us a time limit at this point.

Among our group of 4, we got the beef burger with an upgrade to truffle fries (+$3), the populus scramble and the big breakkie. We also got their coffee - flat white and latte. Beef patty was cooked accordingly as medium and fries came out nice and crispy yet soft in the center. They were also generous with the truffle oil and each piece was nicely coated. Each ingredient of the big breakkie was good, with the hollandaise sauce having a thick almost cheesy like texture. The eggs were apparently ‘62 degrees’ eggs, but I personally would have preferred them to be slightly more ‘done’ as it was almost like a soft boiled egg. The bacon on the populus scramble was rather hard and chewy than crispy which my friend didn’t quite enjoy.

As for the coffee, taste wise it was alright but one of the barista was probably not on par as the other as the coffee art was really bad. A good cafe MUST have consistently good coffee art, and this was definitely one of the letdowns. 2/3 of the cups were served with subpar standard.

We ended of trying out the buttermilk waffle ice cream dessert. Did not quite enjoy the ice cream. Waffle was alright nothing special.

Do also note that everything was $2 more than the...