I would imagine avid café-hoppers would have heard (and may have already checked out) The Populus Café that’s located at Outram Park.

I first learnt about the cafe from a girlfriend who said she’s going over for their buckwheat pancake. Now, did someone say buckwheat? Cause buckwheat is wholegrain flour. That’s healthy, and it totally fits into my ‘eat clean (as much as possible)’ diet! =p And with that, I too made arrangement to head down for their buckwheat pancake. Haha.

And these days, I’m a little lazy in making phone call to make reservation. So I did a quick search on the internet and realised I could do so via Chope. My friends and I wanted to come in the late morning, but Chope only allowed reservation between 9.30am to 11am for the morning session. And because we didn’t want to risk walking in and having to queue, my friends and I made reservation for 3 at 11am, the latest possible slot.

But 11am was still too early for me cause I was rushing over from my morning crossfit class. Haha. Thankfully 1 of us was punctual. As the cafe was really popular and thus crowded, my friend had to place order for the food before we reached as the staff kept urging her to. Which I felt they shouldn’t have unless she had been sitting there for 30 minutes. Imagine if I didn’t manage to reach shortly, all the dishes would have been served and left cold while waiting for the rest to reach. Oh yes, my naive friend ordered everything instead of just a beverage to pacify the staff. I would have done the latter. o_O Well, okie. Maybe a side too. Haha.

However, the ambience and food won me over during my first visit. And I had been back twice since. Once on a weekday by myself, and again on a weekend with the same group of friends. Ha.

And from the menu (pages 1, 2), we ordered:-

1) Spring pancake & fried chicken, $21 (above) – Spring onion & corn pancake, crispy fried chicken thigh fillet, hint of cumin, house special ranch dressing. This was ordered upon the staff’s recommendation, and this was so good! Chicken was fried to perfection where the exterior was cripsy and the meat within was succulent. And the pancake was on point! A little oily but hey, this dish wasn’t created to be healthy. I liked how the addition of corn introduced a refreshing crunch to the dish. A must try!

2) The Populus scramble, $18 (above) – Soft creamy scrambled eggs, fresh herb melange, marinated feta, streaky bacon, toasted croissant. I liked how The Populus Cafe set themselves apart by enhancing the taste with herbs. Most cafes would just served the scrambled eggs naked, with maybe a dash of salt and pepper. Croissant was buttery and flaky. I also thought it was brilliant that the croissant was cut into two, with the scrambled eggs placed between the halves. This actually reduced the surface area of the croissant being in contact with the egg, and thus preventing the croissant from being soggy (too fast).

3) Buckwheat pancake, $19.50 (above) – Buckwheat pancake, berry fruit compote, passionfruit curd, cornflake crumb, thyme infused maple syrup, flowers. This was so good that my friends and I ordered this on our repeated visit. Pancake was springy and fluffy within. A must try.

4) Seafood linguine, $24 (above) – Linguine braised in homemade seafood bisque, crab meat, scallops. This was average. And one could top up $10 for additional butter poached Boston lobster tail.

  

5) Pulled pork grain bowl, $9 (above) – Slow cooked pulled pork, quinoa, bulgar wheat & pearl barley. Served with furikake baby corn, red cabbage & apple slaw, roasted zucchini, roasted butternut squash, sauteed cherry tomatoes, L&P mixed mushrooms. And one could have extra serving of pulled pork at $5.

6) Sticky date pudding, $13 (above) – Housemade sticky date pudding, butterscotch sauce, vanilla ice cream, cornflake crumb. One shouldn’t have too much of the really sweet butterscotch sauce cause the sticky date cake is sweet on its own (from the dates). My friends didn’t really fancy this, but I loved it. I finished two-thirds of it. o_O

7) Caffe latte, $5.50 (above)

8) Valrhona hot chocolate, $6 (above)

The price of the dishes at The Populus Cafe isn’t cheap. They certainly charge more than the average cafe price. But what I liked is that a good variety of ingredients was used, and that they go big on their presentation. That allowed us customers to part with our money more willingly cause their dishes can’t exactly be pulled off easily at home. It’s the sttention to small details of using thyme infused maple syrup for the pancake when most cafes just use honey, etc.

However, don’t expect much of the service on weekends. As most of the staff were busy serving dishes or clearing plates, one would need to help oneself to the water, etc. That said, it was a different story when I went on a weekday where the staff were less occupied and were able to assist us better.

Will I recommend the Populus Cafe? Yes, I (still) will. And the cafe is pretty accessible, being a 8 to 12 minutes walk from Outram Part MRT station.

THE POPULUS COFFEE & FOOD CO.
146 Neil Road, Singapore 6635 8420, Website, Facebook
	Overall: 7
Opening hours:-	Food/Beverage: 7
Mon, Wed : 09:00 – 19:00	Ambience: 7
Tues : 09:00 – 16:00	Value: 7
Thu – Fri : 09:00 – 22:30	Service: 6
Sat : 09:30 – 22:30
Sat : 09:30 – 19:00