Dinner at Jewel Coffee Cafe & Bar @ Rangoon Road

129 Rangoon Road, Singapore 218407

Tel: 6298 9216

The Beau and I decided to go to Jewel Coffee for dinner this evening. We tried once, but parking was impossible, hence we headed elsewhere. Tonight we managed to find a lot nearby, hence Jewel Coffee it was!

The cafe itself was not big, but they managed to make it appear spacious with a huge table on one side and smaller ones at the other side. I like the deceptively rustic decor, and service was good even though we chose to dine outdoors.

Well, anyway there's level two (see above the "jewels" hanging on the ceilings). If not for my recent injury I would've made the climb up.

We browsed the menu and made our decisions rather quickly. Unlike other cafes where there's always a shelf of cakes and pastries for us to check out for potential desserts selection before actually reading the menus.

My Soy Mocha (SGD$6.50) came first - a large mug of chocolately, nutty, frothy delicacy with pretty foam art. The use of soy has always been one of my favorite perks, and my coffee was smoothened in flavor and texture.

Then my main course of Umami Prawn Capellini (SGD$23.00) was served. It consisted of capellini pasta, grilled prawns, crustacean oil topped with Umami "magic dust", fish roe and fish flakes. The coloring and ingredients looked really good but see the video before we proceed.

The dish was piping hot and there might have been a little breeze, thus fanning the very-thin fish flakes about - but the flakes were moving in a rather animated way (to quote the Beau), and to me there looked like live coral wriggling about on my plate. I was a little hesitant and wondered if I should eat it.

Anyway, I did after the very friendly Adrian himself that this was merely fish flakes moving in the wind, and that his grandmother used to tell it they were alive ...lol.  The pasta was tasty, infused with all the goodness of the flakes, roe and succulent grilled prawns. The flavor was a marriage of savoury and spiciness, texture enhanced by the crackling ingredients.

The Beau chose to have the Southern Fried Chicken (SGD$20.00), satiating his craving for junk food - crispy fried chicken marinated in milk and special spice mix, then deep fried; served with side salad and fries (we added another SGD$2.00) to upgrade to Truffle Fries.  The chicken was indeed crispy on the outside, and tender on the inside (because of the milk?), and the amazing thing was that this fried chicken dish was not greasy at all.

The truffle fries were so-so, merely crispy fries infused with truffle oil.

For desserts, we managed to share a Pan-Seared Watermelon Steaks (SGD$10.00) - with pineapple sorbet, basil leaves, balsamic glaze, chocolate sauce and sea salt. It was merely warmed water-melon slices topped with some flavored ingredients, disappointingly. The only refreshing item was the pineapple sorbet with its distinctive flavor, and we thought it was a little overpriced to be paying SGD$10.00 for three (albeit thick) slices of water-melon.

Nonetheless, the overall ambience and dining experience was lovely. We liked how this place was not overly crowded on weekends, and one could simply kick back their heels and relax over a slow meal.