The Provision Shop

Disappointed that this place went downhill. I went to Provision Shop last February and walked away with a great impression! I fell in love with their traditional carbonara and my friend tried the truffled mushroom dish. Their salted lemonade is a must try!
I came back last Saturday for brunch and was really disappointed. The service was lackluster! We had to ask for our table to be cleaned when we were seated. The eggs benedict was borderline inedible. The hollandaise sauce was bland and the egg was too runny. I get the concept of being green and do appreciate how the owners thought about being an environment friendly restaurant. It is however difficult to eat the eggs benedict using paper plate and wooden forks and a real plate and utensils would have been better. The eggs reuben saved the day and the brioche bread was really good. Sadly my favorite salted lemonade was not as good anymore.
The pastry display was crowded and stocked with cream cheese and other ingredients which made the cake look unappetizing.

So, I had to check out this place. I was told, it’s pretty hipster, and the place that put Everton Park on the map.
Eeeeks.
To begin with, I went on a monday evening, and was told that a few dishes were not available due to the weekend crowds. Ok. I can understand that, but then, there’s not much else I can eat. I was just looking for a simple meal. Some meat and veggies.
So I ended up ordering 2 salads. One, pork and kale, and salmon, with just olive oil.
I got what I asked for. For $ 20 I got 2 super bland, and unbeleivably pathetic salads. don’t get me wrong, nutritionally, it was great, but for a café? Seriously?
i know I could produce something much better, especially in the food porn sense.
I could go back. Only if i don’t have any food in the fridge, and I’m dying of starvation!

For brunch last weekend we opted for The Provision Shop. This place is hidden in the HDB blocks of the sleepy Everton Park Estate. It’s one of those places where you have to know where you are going to get to, as you won’t really walk past it. Walking around though you will discover that Everton Park has become quite the up and coming hipsterhood but fortunately still retains that sleepy charm as it is not yet invaded by the crowd gathering in the neighboring Tiong Bahru. We arrived at 12:30 pm on a Sunday and the café was almost full, but there is no need to wait, perfect!
I had the Reuben sandwich and it was pretty decent, although the corned beef was not what I expected. Their version is in the form of nicer sliced beef pastrami and not the minced loaf kind that I usually associate corned beef with. Funnily, I think the beef tasted a bit like soy sauce, not sure why? I shared a burrata with my friend, it was tasty and reasonably priced. The only thing though, was that it came covered in way too much pesto, a bit overwhelming for me and covers the taste of the cheese that I ended up scraping away the pesto. My friend ordered the ragu pasta and loved it, but was less impressed by the cabonara. He also had the pierogi (a large polish dumpling) which is a little bit unusual to find on a brunch menu but added some character and variety. It looks good although I didn’t try. Coffee was decent and the red velvet was not bad. Service was fast and friendly. I quite like the décor (bright and airy), and the hidden location (a lot better than the overcrowded cafes in Tiong Bahru on weekends where you are herded like cattles once you finished your food). There are a few café joints around the area if you want to pump more caffeine into your system.

I love going to Provision Shop. The food is awesome and the staff is very friendly. I’ve tried most of the items on the menu and everything is quite tasty. My favourite dishes are the Reuben sandwich, the chicken sandwich and the home made lasagna.

Neighborhood cafes are a hit with the café hopping Singapore these days and here’s another quarter for you to explore– Everton Park. This seemingly sleepy estate is now populated by hipster cafes and bakeries and even a lifestyle shop!
My CSI experience led me to The Provision Shop, the most promising café of the lot (the others were practically empty on a weekday) for a brunch date with Z.
To draw the office crowd in, The Provision Shop does a weekday set lunch at $ 15 nett and it includes a sandwich of the week, soup, and a long black. You have to get the Reuben for sure. Let me start with the bread. It was AMAZEBALLS. Super springy, lightly chewy and incredibly buttery brioche. I could tell its awesomeness from the slightly layered bread crust, which i left none behind. The corned beef was more like thinly sliced pastrami instead of the lousy mashed up canned rations. The garlic mayo/​aioli gave the salty meat that right amount of punch.
What’s different about this Reuben sandwich is the asian flavored sauerkraut which tasted a little like chinese preserved salted vegetables or mui choy. That sesame oil coleslaw on the side gave this dish a fusion edge over the regular versions on the market.
Other savories to order are The Belinda’s Perogis ($ 6), a traditional hot polish dumpling filled with mashed potatoes and ricotta cheese, topped with bacon, onions and sour cream. This was a favorite at the next table. They ordered 1, then another, and another… I reckon it must be pretty damn good.
We wanted to go for something other than the usual Blueberry lemon cake ($ 6.50) so we had the Cherry Almond Cake ($ 6.50) instead. Z wasn’t happy with how the cake sank in the middle (it means that it’s no good apparently). I thought the cake was alright. It was certainly moist but not overly wet. There was a hint of the grainy almond but the nut was overpowered by the cherries (real ones).
Coffee was really strong and that kept me going for my yoga classes.

Singapore may be home to dirt cheap $ 2.20 Nasi Lemak and Bee Hoon noodles that are literally called economical, but it’s also one of the most expensive places in the world for a good ol’ weekend brunch. On this island, your regular Eggs Benedict can shoot upwards from $ 25 and don’t forget that in most cases, the prices on the menu don’t include a 17% hit from Singapore’s ++ Syndrome (10% service charge + 7% GST) When a friend told me that she actually found a café in Singapore that served up Eggs Benedict for $ 10, I insisted that we go to scope out this little miracle.
I had it on good authority to give the coffee at the Provision Shop a miss — I’d definitely rather fork out the extra dollar for a cold drink than to spend $ 5 on a mediocre coffee, especially when one of Singapore’s best coffee roasters; Nylon is just around the corner. I really liked the Sea Salt Lemonade ($ 6.00); its the perfect thirst quencher for those who accidentally lose their way, after take a wrong turn around the winding walkways of Everton Park!
The real showstopper at the Provision Shop is their Reuben Sandwich ($ 14.00), that came generously stuffed with tasty corned beef and oozing with melted cheese. The staff behind the simple open kitchen totally have the proportions layered out perfect; it’s the best Reuben Sandwich I’ve ever had. Their Beef Brisket Ragu ($ 16.00) with housemade fettucine was also pretty good, but the sauce itself was a little thin for my liking.
As far as pricing goes, it’s definitely one of Singapore’s most affordable brunch cafes — GST is already included in the price and there is no extra service charge. It’s a worthy pitstop within the growing café culture around Everton Park and I highly envy the residents who get to have awesome Reuben Sandwiches and Singapore’s best coffee, all within a 2 minute walking radius of each other!

I finally found the perfect opportunity to head back here to try the dumplings that were out of stock on my last visit.
The café was people-​less when I stepped in at around 3pm on a Saturday afternoon. Shortly after, throngs of people in groups of 2, 3s and 4s stepped in. I whispered a short thank-​you to the café gods for my good time management! I was tempted to have the same cake order as before (lemon blueberry tart) but realized that it was not available.
Anyway let’s get to the verdict:
— Flat White — came in kopoitiam cups and it tasted as good as before. Full-​bodied and flavourful
— Nutella Hazelnut Cake — failed on presentation with the cake looking like it was a mud-​slide-​about-​to-​happen but the taste was heavenly. The main portion of the cake was full of nutella’s sweet creamy goodnessI forgive the presentation and gave 2 thumbs and 2 toes up to this dessert!
*See pictures of dumplings under photos
— Belinda’s Perogis — also known as the dumplings. It’s the ultimate comfort food for the soul and an absoute delight to have these calorie-​rich dumplings on a cold, rainy day. The dumplings were not very warm but the mash potatoes, whip cream, butter and bacon bits were. It was so good that we ordered 2. Note that it is $ 5 for 1 dumpling per plate and good for 2 person to share one. However, if you are famished, I would suggest that you order one each. Hey, sometimes we need some sinful, calorie-​loaded comfort food right?
Tip: If you sit where I sat (near to a power socket), note that the staff will remind you to limit your usage to 15 mins. That’s if they spot your plug and cable! So, hide these well! =p

Officially open on Monday, but I saw a notice for a preview opening on Sunday (30% off the menu? Okay!), and it’s literally around the block from Nylon, my regular coffee joint, so off I went!
As with all shops in this estate, it’s small… I’m sure they’d prefer to be called cosy, which don’t get me wrong, it is, but… It’s small lah. Thankfully it wasn’t a major event, so we were still able to get seats pretty quickly, and got down to surveying the menu. That we did pretty quickly, since the menu also not very big lah.
The chef in question is the dude who helms Cocotte at the Wanderlust Hotel, and he’s recently taken on a pastry project — *hint* lots of croissants — so this feels like a fun, new adventure.
My pick of the menu? Pierogis. Never had them, so why not right? $ 5 a pop, so I’ll have two to start, please! Tasty stuff, I say. Again, I have no point of comparison, but good for me! If baked potatoes and fat noodles had a baby (in Poland), this would be their child. Thick skin on that dumpling, but that mash inside, and the sour cream, bacon bits and chives dancing on top all made for a tasty mouthful.
I’ve got my eye on the Reuben for next time.