The new “it” restaurant in town
One of my all-time favorite places for a relaxed yet slightly swanky bite is the café attached to the Project Shop boutique in Paragon shopping centre. Owners Peter and Philip, svelte, elegant gourmands, created an utterly charming and effortlessly trendy café there. From the rows and rows of imported fashion, design and lifestyle magazines to pick from and read, to the super-delicious, freshly-baked cakes on display; from the signature blackboard wall announcing each day’s specials to the constant slew of socialites and celebrities that eat there regularly in between visits to their favorite designer shops; from the beautifully refurbished vintage furniture to the simple yet delicious, Aussie cuisine prepared here lovingly; the Project Shop Café has made a name and reputation for itself for both its amazing food and its great style.
However, not ones to rest on their laurels, the boys behind Blood Brothers have one-upped themselves in a huge way. This past weekend, they opened a bigger, cooler, groovier and (dare I say) even better restaurant. The PS. Café is housed in a rebuilt glass, brick and steel building in one of Singapore’s quietest but most central neighborhoods, known simply by one of its main tributaries–Dempsey Road. PS. Café is located on Harding Road, which is accessible by either Dempsey or Minden Roads, both of which connect to Holland Road.
The building is stunning, in a kind of 50s, Hollywood Hills, Modernist kind of way. It’s a one story house, with one side entirely of glass. In front of the glass wall, there’s an outdoor deck area, perfect for diners who smoke or for pre-dinner (or post) drinks for the rest of us. The view–all green grass and tall trees–is, for a Singaporean restaurant in the city, unique. PS. Café shares many similarities with its smaller, older brother, among them wooden floors, a classic, monochromatic color palette, vintage chairs, a chalkboard wall for specials, and cool hip waiters in funky T-shirts. But chief among them is the great, hearty, simple Aussie and Aussie-Singaporean food. Many of their classic, signature dishes–like the caesar salad, the “Laksa Pesto” and the carrot cake (the best in town in my opinion)–are on the menu. But there is a greater variety on offer at this new, larger café.
S and I and two friends visited tonight–their third official night of operation. We started with drinks on the deck. S and I had mojitos while our friends had a longan martini and a Bloody Mary (one of Peter’s signature cocktails). We started our dinner by sharing two specials, a prawn salad and a medley of mushrooms, mixed with roquefort, wrapped in phyllo. The mushroom-phyllo dish was wonderful and we begged Peter to put it on his regular menu For mains, S and one friend had the moussaka; our other friend had a cottage pie topped with cheesy mash. I had a duck leg rendang, that was braised till fork-tender and served with fresh herbs and rice. Peter and Philip also very kindly sent us a portion of the steak sandwich with frites to try. We washed all of this down with a bottle of a lovely Zinfandel. For dessert, we shared a steamed ginger pudding, a steamed lemon pudding (both served with vanilla ice cream), and a key lime pie.
Everything was delicious. Enhanced by the fantastic atmosphere and great music (a mix of 50s swing and jazz).
Right now, PS. Café is only open for dinner. So book ahead, because I guarantee, judging by the enormous number of fans that Project Shop Café already has, the awesome building this new restaurant is in, the expanded cocktail menu, and the great, affordable food, this café is right now and will be for the next few weeks THE place to eat in Singapore.
PS. Café
28B Harding Road
Tel: 6479 3343
About Aun Koh
Aun has always loved food and travel, passions passed down to him from his parents. This foundation, plus a background in media, pushed him to start Chubby Hubby in 2005. He loves that this site allows him to write about the things he adores--food, style, travel, his wife and his three kids!
Cool recommendation. Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll be sure to try it soon.
The Blood Cafe at Paragon is a favourite haunt; thanks for this review, CH. 🙂
I was hoping for pictures from the start of the review till the end, but found none. 🙁
Interesting to know that Peter & Phillip are doing well in their f&b venture, considering the fact that my mum used to work closely with them in designing.. sure as hell did’nt know the bloodbros cafe was so popular. 😉
Annette and Hibiscus: Most welcome.
Fred: Sadly, I discovered my camera’s batteries were dead when I sat down for pre-dinner drinks. Anyway, I think every so often it’s good to keep things slightly mysterious. That way when you actually experience the restaurant first-hand, it’ll be more of a surprise. Peter & Philip’s cafés are hugely popular. We were lucky to get a table on Sunday and we always have to wait way too long for a table at Paragon. But, I think it’s worth the wait.
I’m a big fan of Projectshop Cafe, thanks for the heads up on the new place, can’t wait to try it! 🙂
I eat at Blood Bros Cafe far too often – it’s my fave choice location as opposed to the overcrowded fast food places or ‘restaurants’ in the vicinity. Glad to hear of this new place – wil be sure to try it out
I love the Blood Bros cafe! Thanks for letting me know of this new food place to go try. Now I have a new place to go eat the divine banana cream pie!
PS – Come And Forget Eating
Sharing the experience @ http://dominus91.blogspot.com
I haven’t tried the cafe at Paragon before but went to the PS Cafe at Harding Rd after reading your review. I was impressed! Great atmosphere and good food. I had a totally wonderful experience. Thanks for the recommendation!
P S CAfe was simply superb. Great foos, service as well as atmosphere. I chose to walk-in, the friendly service staff invited me to the lounge as the restaurant was fully booked for the night. Attentive to all our needs, the food was served at ideal intervals and you can choose to lounge either indoors or outdoors. I will definetely visit them for many times to come…. cheerios
first time went with my wife..enjoyed the place but not the food.
second time went with my friends. again enjoyed the atmos all agreed the food is nothing to shout about, and service wasnt that great either..the waitress came to separate our tables when we havent even finished our meals!
third time- no way.
Went there for the first time this year aand was suprised how effective it was – food was good, service struggled with their popularity though, an unfortunate consequence of being a quality place in singapore. Basically, full marks and will happily return (even if i have to fly back from melbourne to do it)
simply forgetable. for the price you pay, you can find places better in food and services.
I’ve given this place 2 chances because my first experience was memorable only for its less than welcoming service. My second experience didn’t fare any better. The food is not so good as to overlook its bad service where the staff are pompous, arrogant and seem to think that the customer is an inconvenience to them. They literally throw the dishes onto ones table and heaven forbid if you should ask them simple questions like whether a dish might be vegetarian friendly. You can actually see the bubble pop out of the head saying “Just order and stop wasting my time!” I now turn down suggestions from friends to meet at this over-hyped cafe. Whether a restaurant is busy or not, politeness from staff should be the norm. After all, we are forced to pay them 10% service charge, which in my opinion, the staff there do NOT deserve.
Love the food, love the ambience. A perfect package on weekend afternoons. Croque Monsieur, Crab Tart to the Lime pie never fail to impress.. Will always go back for more.. Not forgetting the helpful and attentive servers. Thumbs up (=