food & drink, travel, singaporeBlake ErikApril 17, 2018singapore cafe, singapore best cafe, singapore best cafe 2018, singapore best restaurants, what to eat in singapore, the botanist, the botanist cafe, singapore brunch, singapore best brunchComment

Singapore's Best Cafes: Al-Fresco Brunches with 'The Botanist' (CLOSED)

While a lot of the cafes I've been covering on here have been relatively new discoveries for me, The Botanist most definitely isn't. UPDATE (2019): The Botanist has closed it’s doors.

Located along Neil Road, The Botanist is right in the area of Outram Park, Tanjong Pagar and Duxton Hill, and has most definitely made a mark amongst all the many F&B outlets around from cafes of the like, coffee shops, restaurants and food courts.

Stepping in, you'll be ushered to the outdoor seating portion, with a retractable roof in use when it gets too hot or when the rain comes in, or if you'd prefer to be air-conditioned, you can go up a flight of stairs for more seating available on the second story.

I have to admit, I do prefer the outdoor seating a lot more.

It is a sharing table concept, which means you can even bring a big group in and they would all fit into a table.

It's tastefully decorated, and makes you feel like you're sitting in an open patio in a backyard.

One thing I love is that the food is plated really beautifully, and in already aesthetically pleasing setting, your food's going to look as good as it tastes.

I've tried quite a handful of items off the menu, including the Guac Smash ($18), which featured hearty slices of avocado and guacamole on toast, served with a side of two poached eggs. The savoury flavours of the egg matched the avocado and toast perfectly, but I will say that compared to say, 'Merci Marcel' in Tiong Bahru, because there's a lot more avocado here, the overall taste is slightly sweeter than what you'd get at 'Merci Marcel', which is not a bad or a good thing, it really depends on the person, and this is definitely one for guac lovers so this was right up my street.

Singapore's Best Cafes: 'Merci Marcel' Where France Meets the Tropics

For the pasta aficionados, there's the Duck Tagliatelle ($18), which is pretty cool because I don't usually see duck served with pasta at most of the cafes I've been to. The dish offers just the right amount of pasta (egg tagliatelle, if you're interested) for me, and is served with mixed mushrooms and shredded duck, and is doused in a flavourful brown sauce.

Speaking of duck, The Botanist also has Duck Hash ($20) on the menu, with shredded duck leg confit served with crusted potatoes, mixed mushrooms and a side of free ranged poached egg drizzled with hollandaise sauce. This is possibly the option to go for if you'd like meat instead of carbo (Guac Smash), and offers a lot more of a savoury flavour as well.

If burgers are more your thing, go for the Pulled Pork Burger ($18), served on a charcoal bun topped with caramelised onion and coleslaw, the meat itself paired with a delicious barbeque sauce. It comes with a hearty side of fries so if you're feeling hungry, this should do you up nicely.

Pulled Pork Burger (front), Duck Tagliatelle (back)

There are plenty of other options on the menu including a Botanist Breakfast, Beef Burger, Slow Cooked Beef Cheek, Salmon Fish and Chips, Rib Eye Steak etc. and most of these range from $18 to $25.

For sides, we had a serving of Truffle Fries ($8) which was decent, and had a big dose of parmesan shavings and it was quite a big serving.

For drinks, you have a wide range of stuff with most of your standard (good) cafe fare so there's not much to report there.

All in all, The Botanist isn't about reinventing the wheel, and that's okay, but what it does whip up is good, especially for it's price point, I added the actual prices here because the prices here are nett, which is always good news.

Not to mention it's great location downtown, and the really nice atmosphere the patio seating provides, and you can see why I've genuinely lost track of the number of times I've had my brunches here.