Because I’ve read previously about brunch at Epicurious, and because Standard Chartered was having a promotion and included them as one of “Singapore’s Top 10 brunch places“, we decided to give them a try last Saturday – May 1st, Labour Day.
It was a very hot morning, and the place was bustling. When we called to make a reservation, we were told rather snootily that they didn’t take reservations, but if we really wanted to, we could call them 15 minutes before we arrive to get a table.
So that’s what we did, and as we were travelling along the highway, I requested for “a table at a quieter corner”. This was met with a sarcastic laugh, and I was brushed off rather haughtily with a “we’re fully packed; there’s no such thing as a ‘quiet corner’” return. The lady on the line didn’t even bother with a polite “I’ll see what I can do, although we’re fully booked and it might be rather noisy at the moment”.
Already put off, but the thought of good food pushed us on.
We managed to parallel park for free (Public Holiday! :) ) along the main road, as Epicurious was located just across the colourful Robertson Quay bridge.
We were shown to our seats relatively quickly, but was dismayed that the table that was reserved for us was under direct sunlight (the trees & awning brought little relief as it was a hot, hot day).
Everyone will know that my tolerance to heat is really, really low. This is currently exacerbated by my pregnant condition :(
So even before eating, we were off to a bad start.
Three other things ruined our dining experience:
(1) The food took an awfully long time to come; the drinks alone took a good 15 minutes. The food took more than half an hour. A table of three that ordered after us were served first, so I’m not sure how their queue system goes.
(2) The iced latte I ordered was awfully, awfully diluted – even at first sip, before the ice melted. There was barely a tinge of coffee.
(3) We were billed a “Public Holiday Surcharge”. Although S$2 isn’t a shocking sum, the response we got when we asked after it was a couldn’t-care-less shrug, with an unsatisfactory “it’s a public holiday” reply.
To top it off, the discount with Standard Chartered was valid for everything EXCEPT brunch – kinda ironic since it was advertised under StanChart’s “brunch promotions”.
The food was only so-so, and came up to slightly over S$40 for two breakfast sets and a drink. Give me Hatched anytime – better food, better service, better price.
