The Plain

Date: 12 June 2012

Address: 50 Craig Road

Opening Hours: 7:30am - 7:30pm

Nearest MRT: Tanjong Pagar

Website: The Plain

I'm trying to visit as many places as I can in the tanjong pagar/duxton/ann siang area and I know "The Plain" is one not to be missed. 

After a short 7 minutes walk from the train station, my friend and I arrive at the cafe, sweaty and hungry. 

The rectangular sized space boasts of high ceilings and a cosy setting. 

The moment we stepped in, welcome greetings met us and a nice friendly waitress sat us down. 

I've heard this was a melbourne-based establishment so I wasn't surprised to see vegemite toast on the menu.  I can't stand vegemite so i limited myself to the items I could try. 

Salami Ciabatta - S$8.90 

This surprised me because there was sweet chilli in it. I'm not sure if i'm all for it, but it didn't taste too bad so i'm not complaining. 

The roma tomatoes were AMAZING. I think the roma tomatoes made what could have been an average ciabatta into a mouth watering one. I would have liked more rocket though. 

Having said that, the beef pastrami ciabatta ( also $8.90 ) paled in comparison.

For some reason, the bread wasn't as crispy and well toasted as the salami one. This one was too hard and almost impossible to bite through. The sundried tomatoes failed to impress after being outshined by the roma tomatoes. Netiher of us finished our half.

 Once again, the roma tomatoes made the Darling's eggs ( S$6.50 ) a tantalizing rendition of poached eggs on sourdough toast. 

Instead of using hollandaise, they use melted cheese. Instead of salmon like the one in Group therapy's poached eggs, they use ham. 

If given a choice, I would combine both cafes' poached eggs to create my idea of perfect poached eggs - a thick slice of sourdough toast with roma tomatoes, a small portion of hollandaise sauce with poached eggs on top, garnished with black pepper.

Our waitress recommended we try the Summer blue iced tea - S$5.50 so we did.

The recipe included Gryphon english breakfast tea with lychees and mint leaves. 

It was refreshing and something new, mixing fruits with tea. 

I've read about how messy the billing system is but we had no problem when we asked for the bill. 

The waitress who attended to us simply told the cashier what we ordered and we were politely told to pay at the counter. I do understand how it can get disorganized if it were a busy day and the waitresses aren't free to cater to each specific order. 

But if they say this is the way the people in Melbourne roll, who are we to criticize? 

All I need is reasonably priced good food, smiles from friendly staff and aircon (Singapore is too humid for me to enjoy my food in alfresco dining areas).