Lunch at Simply Bread @ Guthrie House

After leaving a client's office premise, *Lynette, *Ivan and I decided to have lunch at Simply Bread , simply because of clients' recommendation that their coffee was "very good", and that "once you've tried their coffee, you won't drink coffee anywhere else" (to quote one of them). This surely piqued our curiosity.

Located at One Fifth Avenue, #01-03 Guthrie House, Singapore 268802, the number for this quaint little bakery cafe is 6466 7767. The spacious cafe was rustic in design, furnished in a simplistic yet cosy manner - a brightly-lit and welcoming room that seems to beckon its patrons in.

We took some time deciding on what to eat. Most of the food items were either breakfast sets or sandwiches. Either that, or one could choose from the array of delectable-looking breads in different textures and flavors (raspberry twist, corn cheese potato, herbs, etc). We finally placed our orders and got ourselves a table.

My Corn Cheese Potato Roll (SGD$1.65) was served first (ok, I had to bring it to my own table because they just took it from the display of pastries, duh). While the taste was rather flavorful and the texture was rather soft, with a pleasant chewiness lent by the layer of coated dried cheese, all of us were of the general concensus that this bun would taste much better if warmed / heated up.

Nonplussed, I tasted my Split Pea Soup (SGD$5.35) eagerly once they set it on the table. Instead of the thick creamy soup we were expecting, it was a clear broth (should be cooked with pea?) with chunks of potatoes, carrots and onions in it. The taste was rather good, and homely - reminds me of my mother's "ABC Soup". They served this cup of soup with three slices of fluffy soft bread and jam.

*Lynette had their daily special - the Grilled Roast Chicken with Mushroom sandwich (SGD$10.30). The chicken was rather tender but the overall taste of the sandwich was bland; and the bread was hard instead of being toasted to crispiness. 

*Ivan tried one of their breakfast sets - the Bacon Brunch Plate (SGD$12.75) - which consisted of two slices of crispy toast, average scrambled eggs (he thought that the ones served for McDonalds' Big Breakfast are better) and a plate of crispy but not overly-salty bacon. The bacon strips were tasty but the ones they serve here contained a lot of fats. This "brunch plate" had the talent of tasting exactly how it looked.

Finally, the hot steaming cups of coffee that we were eagerly waiting for - Caffe Latte (SGD$3.85) and Cuppuccinos (SGD$3.25). Maybe our expectations had been a tad too high - but all we could say is that we've had better coffee. While the coffees were all right, there was no "wow factor" or the special burst of aroma we were anticipating.

Overall, we spent a total of SGD$40.40 here, a mediocre lunch which we felt was overpriced.