Ms Skinnyfat

A Food & Travel Blog from Singapore

Cafe Review: Hidden Finds- L'Etoile

By Tuesday, November 29, 2011 , , , ,

One of my favorite weekend activity is to go hunting for indie shops/restaurants with the boy. It started sometime early in 2011, partly because like all couples in Sg, we ran out of things to do and places to go. Plus we can't be traveling all the time even though our friends think we travel quite extensively (i digress).

Anyway back to the subject on our weekend adventures, I was rather apprehensive about starting a blog to introduce all the little finds that we have discovered. The reason? Most of the time these cafes are not run like chain businesses. They do not have the capacity or ability to handle big crowds. When they get overwhelmed, service drops, people stay away and the business closes down. I've seen one too many good eating places close down because of that. It's sad. The other selfish reason is that I don't like my favorite cafes to be crowded. I want to sit there, enjoy my cuppa, watch the world go by SLOWLY and not be rushed into finishing my food and leaving.

You would think that with the proliferation of coffee-shops in would be able to meet the demands of the consumer but you're so wrong. While i have the luxury of having brunch or tea on a weekday, most of the working crowd will swamp these places on weekends. And boy! The chatter in some shops can wake the dead, make a deaf person hear again or cause a normal one to go deaf.

I honestly don't know what changed my mind. I'm still half decided on revealing the name/locations of the cafes I review even though i'm sure my tech savvy readers would be able to figure them out on their own. But i think some of these cafes could really do with more business so i'm gonna do my part to help them grow.

The food 
Luckily for me, my first visit to L'Etoile on a sunday was a quiet and pleasant one. I suppose people don't wake that early on weekdays for brunch (i got there at 930am no thanks to the growling tummy). The place is airy and cool with high ceilings on the 2nd floor. Ample space between tables (though that may change when they try to cope with the crowd). I like that the natural light seems to fill up the place. Smart and elegant use of white lace curtains that filters the strong rays and it feels so very French. All that's missing is probably the water heaters and a gramophone.


I ordered the big breakfast (as shown below) and the boy had the French crepes with butter and sugar. The breakfast was only $9.90 and the crepes were $5. Amazingly cheap but the portions are really small (even for me). Guess i've been spoiled by Jones and Wild Honey. Good thing is that for greedy people like me, you can try more of their brunch offerings. One good thing that L'Etoile got going is that they do not offer an extensive range of brunch items. I think there were 7 items? By keeping to what they do best, it maintains the standard. Plus it also helps indecisive eaters like me decide faster. Kudos to that!
I love the toast even though it's just simple white toasted bread with salted butter. That is good enough for me because that's already like brioche! Brings back fond childhood memories of me wolfing down stacks of butter toasted bread. The texture of the little hashbrowns was interesting, it's almost as though they were layered potato slices. The crepes are typically French, made of buckwheat, it's chewy and slightly spongey. It's a tad too cloyingly sweet so 1 piece was just about right provided you have savory food to go along with it. They also do eggs ben, heard it's not bad. It's on a bagel instead of the usual muffin so i suspect that it'd be quite tough to bite into.  All in all, it was quite a nice breakfast place. Limited photos because i brought the camera out without the memory card. :(

Shall bookmark this for my bdae brunch party, if i ever got down to organizing one.

L'Etoile
160 Owen Road

Tel: 6289 2872
Tue- Sun, 9am - 8pm
Brunch only served on weekends!




You Might Also Like

6 comments

  1. Love this place, as its right in my backyard (walking distance from home)! Hope they stay around for a long time as its always nice to have a cafe to chill out at so near one's home. Oh, and they have free wifi too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice estate Kevin. Explored the area a bit after brunch. Quiet and chill. Have you tried the desserts? Are they any good?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've only had their brownie and French crepe with butter & sugar, not too bad considering their low pricing, albeit smaller portions...

    Been exploring great off-the-beaten track brunch places (other than the Robertson cluster), like Bronte @ Greenwood and a few others in the Tiong Bahru area, great for just chillin too

    ReplyDelete
  4. Try drips at Tiong bahru. Really awesome avocado cheesecake and their chocolate tarts are to die for. They do brunch too. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yeah, had the coffee at Drips before, not too bad, and like their interior too... conducive for nua-ing the afternoon away

    The cakes at the Orange Thimble just across the street from Drips rocks too, a must-try are their cheesecakes.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I tried the food at OT and it was bad. Only redeeming thing was the ice cream. Was too disappointed to wanna try the desserts.

    ReplyDelete

Comments