Takeout/Delivery food series – Circuit Breaker 2020 (Part 2)

Part 2 of the Takeaway Series, would cover Brunch, Pastries and other new food discoveries.

Gather Cafe opened in Feb 2020 and we did not have the chance to visit them physically. Glad that we could have their crepes delivered. The Off The Bone classic ham, gruyere, cheddar & egg galette travelled well.

Also missed Tolido’s Espresso Nook‘s food. Used to visit them back in the days where we still work in office. In fact I did not manage to dine-in at their premise for a long while after they became hugely popular and requires advance reservation if you cannot afford to wait. Even for the delivery to get through, I had to wait for availability as they do not take deliver orders during the peak period.

The rosti was slightly soggy when it reached me. But was still satisfied.

On weekends, I tend to crave for comfort food and tried to order Pancakes from cafes. On the left was Banana Walnut Pancakes from Clinton Street Baking Company. The pancake was slightly soggy after travelling though I liked the walnut and banana pairing.

I was impressed with the one on the right – Earl Grey Pancakes from PUNCH. The poached pear was very nicely done and the tea-infused triple stack had the right texture even after travelling. I did not know that PUNCH and Gather are both established by the same owner until I did a search on the eateries while drafting this post. These 2 cafes are great new discoveries for me during the Covid period.

More sweet bakes to munch on while stuck at home. The basque burnt cheesecake was one of the in trends that took Singapore by storm in 2020.

While many people may remember that bubble tea shops were shut during Covid circuit breaker period, probably not as many folks recall that there was even a time where confectionaries were banned from selling cakes between 22 Apr to 12 May 2020!

Perhaps absence makes the heart grow fonder, hence I went on a cake spree from several bakeries. I quite like the Sesame Blancmange Roll from NOW Bakery as it’s not too sweet.

Thanks to the delivery men who took care not to smash the cakes up! Most cakes were delivered in pristine conditions, except for a few rare occasion where minor mishaps happen.

In 2020, Joy Luck Teahouse (pictured right) opened their first outlet to much fanfare. Long queues reported at the ION outlet. And I also tried egg tarts from Honolulu Cafe located further down Orchard Road.

Singaporeans would not miss the Durian season even though it was in the midst of a pandemic. While I’m not a fan of the actual fruit, I’m not adverse to trying out durian flavoured confectioneries. During Covid, I even managed to order the Durian Pengat (right) from Tiffany Cafe & Restaurant. This signature item runs out fast whenever we visit them for buffets!

Since we would be staying in and dining at home, I also ordered a bottle of Archar to go with my meals.

It was only in later stages of the re-opening that we ventured out more often to buy takeaways from hawker centres (as many of them were not on delivery platforms). Finally tried the popular Ah Xiao Teochew Braised Duck from Golden Mile Food Centre. The photo didn’t do justice as the meat was pretty tender.

From the same hawker centre is a relatively new stall – One Prawn Noodle. They made the news for selling a fusion Prawn Ramen where the soup is thicker than the traditional type. It does reminds me of Le Shrimp Ramen. P.S it appears that they will be shifting to a new location.

The Golden Mile Food Centre packs lots of popular stalls and it was a test of patience when trying to purchase food pre-Covid. Although I’m empathetic to the hawkers’ reduction of earnings (generically across Singapore), the queues at the popular stalls were more tolerable post circuit breaker. I tend to buy a bigger portion or a top-up version whenever I buy takeaway from hawker centres, hoping to help in my small way.

Although dining in finally resumed on 19 June 2020, I remained pretty caution. I only dined-out a handful of times. Only felt safer to dine out more often from Nov 20 onwards.

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