The Broers Café is opened by Kiat and Han, "two incurable coffee aficionados who relish every opportunity to share their mad obsession with those psychedelic nuts to the rest of the world". Their cafe is a small and spartan place, typical of a place "designed" by bachelors (which means no design at all). The light bulbs were scantly covered with cotton wool? It's kinda quirky in a lazy way. This definitely goes into the category of "silly things guys do".
Love the simple wall feature which was all about coffee and tea and all things nice. Certain words jumped out at me. I'm such the caffeine addict. :))
The coffee is made from roasted beans from Highlander Coffee and then lovingly prepared with a Vibiemme espresso machine. I also noticed the expensive Chemex and Pour Over filter set up on the bar counter. Don't quite remember there being filter coffee drinks or perhaps i was just distracted by the espresso. For iced drinks, choose between 12oz (single shot) or 14oz (double shot). The difference in price is only 50cents and the caffeine effect is more than double. The coffee doesn't taste very intense (i thought my Mocha was quite thin in fact) but it was smooth.
In fact, i thought the highlight was the food instead. I had the Beef Sundried Sourdough ($7.50) which was an awesome sandwich. The succulent grilled beef, fresh tomatoes and crispy lettuce was sandwiched in a lightly toasted sundried tomatoes sourdough and it was oh-so-juicy. Well marinated and tender beef which was in harmony to the amount dough. The bread was surprisingly fluffy on the inside and i love that slight tanginess and sweetness from the sundried tomatoes. It's amazing how they taste like berries!
The side of potato salad deserves a mention on its own. The roasted baby potatoes with skin were amazing with the homemade creamy and peppery dressing. I love the slightly starchy texture of the potatoes and the light crunch of the skin. This side is so good you can order it on a salad (S$4).
The Chicken Mayo Croissant (S$6.50) was just a little buttery and airy (nice height to the puff). Perhaps i'm nitpicking but the croissant is not flaky or crispy enough for me. Chicken Mayo is kinda a standard feature so i'm not particularly impressed.
Even though B and i were kinda starving, we were quite full after our sandwiches. Thoughts of a 3rd sandwich was immediately dispelled halfway through our meal. We even had to forgo the desserts! The tarts are from the Muffinry! A pity to let that go to waste (my tummy's loss really).
Verdict- Recommended!
Food: 4/5 Love the Beef Sundried Sourdough and the potatoes! The coffee isn't too bad as well.
Service: 3.5/5
Atmosphere: 3.5/5 Laid back and chill. It's quiet on a Sunday afternoon and quite perfect to just sit and read the papers.
The Broers Café
3 Petain Road
The Broers Café
3 Petain Road
Residences@Somme
Tel: +65 6295 5426
Tue-Thu & Sun: 10am- 8pm
Tue-Thu & Sun: 10am- 8pm
Fri-Sat: 10am- 11pm
During the day, the place is a chic white tower that is majestic and grand with the vast canopy of greenery surrounding it. It's a summer palace fit for the royalty. At night however, she reveals the sensual and intimate side which draws couples in for romantic first dates. The versatility of the place also makes it a romantic place for wedding events, and a dramatic place to hold private events.
First up was the Crispy Duck Foie Gras with caramelized onion, beer and cherry relish ($28). There is an interesting crust on the exterior of the liver which was actually a crisp layer of polenta flour. Call me traditional but i prefer my Foie Gras pan seared. The texture was not the buttery and melt in your mouth sort. Quite unacceptable for something that costs this much? I've had better ones even at little cafes like La Petite, 
The hype that surrounded the Veal Ravioli with porcini mushroom cream sauce scented with white truffle (S$26) had Jess set on ordering it. However, the dish was served lukewarm! I was appalled by the coldness of the dish. It was as though it had been sitting there for a good 10mins before the rest of the mains were ready. Cold food is always a bad thing, no matter how they taste. Could hardly taste any veal because it was almost non existent? Did i mention how pathetic the portion is as well? Jess was considering ordering another main because there were only a few pieces of ravioli. Tsktsk. Would i pay $26 for synthetic truffle oil? Never.
I was charmed by the promise of black truffle sauce in the Grilled beef tenderloin served with Kenya beans($38). Turns out that i was sorely disappointed and then annoyed. Firstly, my medium rare order was served medium well. I would expect a fine dining establishment to do better than this. Again, the steak was luke warm. How is that possible? So food was sent back and the 2nd steak didn't turn out to be much better (once again luke warm). Do they flash freeze the food before serving? The pan-seared mashed potato was dry and powdery. That was flour. Or powdered mash. Or something synthetic and unknown. And what black truffle sauce? I didn't even taste any.
You would think that the evening couldn't get worse but it hit rock bottom with the desserts. We ordered 5 desserts for sharing. From the top and clockwise- Tiramisu, Chocolate Lava, Lavender Creme Bruelee, Semifreddo and Panna Cotta.
In comparison, the Thai Style Beancurd (6pcs for S$6) appears to be bland. This dish is better as an appetizer but we had it at the end of our meal because Melissa wanted more food. Haha! This is plain toufu that is purchased from the market and then deep fried and served with the thai sauce. I thought the sauce was too sweet and lacked the supposed punch of the Thai Chili.
We finally concluded our meal with Black Glutinous with Ice Cream (S$4) and Ice Jelly with Lime. The Black Glutinous rice isn't very sweet and i thought the texture is quite perfect (not too hard) or too gooey. Instead of coconut milk, a vanilla ice cream was used to lightly sweeten the dish. Healthier version! The ice jelly with lime and little agar agar balls was very refreshing and helped us wash down all that food. Phew.
I really enjoyed the dinner at Gu Ma Jia Food Pot. The food was mouthwatering and scrumptious. I still can't believe we ate 12 dishes (13 if you include the ice jelly)! Would like to thank the boss Ms Gwen and Gu Ma for inviting all of us. I will definitely be back with my family to enjoy the food. There is a function room on the 2nd storey which is available for booking of private functions. There is also a karaoke set! Perfect for huge family gatherings. :)
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