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Chill Out Fridays

Cheong Haw Liau
Jan 22, 2016
3 min read

Five & Dime Eatery

What better way to kill time on a Friday without lessons than hunt down some good food! Today’s destination: Five & Dime! Situated along River Valley Road, this neat little café which originally was a two story shop house, is a popular spot amongst foodies for breakfast/brunch. Be prepared to queue up and wait for seats if you did not make a reservation as the café is often fully packed during lunch hours!

Nice place to chill!

So why exactly is this eatery so popular amongst Singaporeans such that it is able to draw crowds from all over the island? Online reviews will attribute that to the splendid food served or the soothing ambiance the café provides but what actually sets this eatery apart is its unique concept. The eatery prides itself on its fusion food, bringing a lease of new life to existing well known dishes by infusing different cuisines together. Two of the dishes we tried that day, perfectly exemplifies this concept.

Bangers & Mash ($18)

Bangers & Mash, a traditional dish comprising of sausages and mash potatoes that originated from the UK (United Kingdom), is given a slight twist by infusing elements of Japanese cuisine within the dish. Instead of the usual thick brown onion gravy, Five & Dime pairs the mash potatoes with Japanese curry. Unlike Indian curry, Japanese curry is much thicker and on the sweet side. Yes I was surprised by how well the curry complemented the smooth and creamy mash potatoes! And how can we forget about the sausages when we are talking about Bangers & Mash?! Five & Dime offers two types of sausages: chicken herb or Italian garlic and thyme pork. You can choose either or have a combination of both.

Mentaiko Pasta ($18)

Likewise for the Mentaiko pasta, a dish born from the collision of Italian and Japanese cuisine. Yes Five & Dime certainly did not invent this dish but does a pretty decent job with the pasta. Springy yet firm pasta that is tossed with creamy Mentaiko (Mentaiko is basically marinated Pollock roe, roe of a type of Cod fish), this dish perfectly captures the flavour of the sea. Every mouthful of the pasta is filled with the strong distinctive flavour of fish roe. As you chew on the pasta, the beads of fish roe pop and burst like tiny bubbles and upon swallowing, you will able to taste the marinated fish roe’s mild spiciness. And it is precisely this spiciness keeps the pasta refreshing and so addictive!

Beef Takaki Rice ($20)

If you are a beef lover then be sure to try their Beef Tataki Rice. A rice bowl with lightly-seared Black Angus beef sashimi and an onsen egg as toppings, this has to be my favourite dish among the three. The beef is soft and raw in the middle which makes the meat chewy. Not to mention that the steaming hot rice that is drizzled with delicious yakiniku sauce, I could probably eat three bowls of this any day!

Salted Egg Lava Cake ($12)

Wrap up the meal with another fusion dish, dessert in this case, the eatery’s famed Salted Egg Lava Cake. Served on a steamer basket that is usually used to serve Tim Sum, one would have difficulty in imagining how it would taste like. The salty flavour and sandy texture of the salted egg sync well with the warm melted hot chocolate held within the lava cake.

Overall I was very satisfied with the food and I believe that Five & Dime is indeed worthy of the title "Cosmopolitan Cafe". Do head down and enjoy a sumptuous meal!