I apologize in advance if you’re reading this in the middle of the night, while tossing and turning in bed and unable to sleep because you’re hungry. Last Saturday, I was invited for a food tasting at The Marmalade Pantry with a bunch of my fellow ION Insiders. While I’m not one of those ‘early-bird-catches-the-worm’ morning types, there’s nothing like the allure of good food to get me out of bed at 10 on a Saturday morning.
We ordered eight dishes to split between the five of us. Well technically it was seven dishes, but because of the promotion (more on that below!) The Marmalade Pantry’s got going on we ended up with eight! What we ordered:
Brunch Menu
- Bananas and Berries Hotcakes (with honeycomb, butter, and maple syrup)
- French Toast (with caramelized pear and vanilla bean ice cream)
- Chorizo Frittata (with wood roasted red piquillo pepper and baby potatoes)
- Eggs Benedict
À la carte
- The Marmalade Caprese (with buffalo milk mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil marmalade)
- The Marmalade Mac and Cheese (served on a skillet with mozzarella, parmesan, emmental and gruyere)
- Truffled Field Mushroom Risotto (with herb oil)
- Oriental Grilled Salmon (with soba)
I don’t usually take breakfast (I’m not a morning person remember?), but my stomach was raring to go when all the dishes presented to us, and after all the necessary photo-taking was completed. Speaking of photo-taking, we found it pretty worrisome the French Toast with the vanilla ice cream arrived first. Why, you ask? As bloggers, taking multiple photos of the food when it arrives is de rigueur. And with four of us crowding around a plate and snapping away for a good five minutes or so, it’s a miracle the ice cream didn’t melt into a sad little puddle. I swear there must be a magical ingredient or something…
My absolute favorite dishes were:
French Toast
Sporting the perfect brown tan, the french toast was thick and spongy, and went so well with the vanilla bean ice cream (nothing like ice cream first thing in the morning, amirite?). I loved how real vanilla beans were used instead of artificial flavoring. Definitely brings out the flavor so much more! I thought the pears could’ve been caramelized longer though, they were still a tad crunchy. But that’s just my personal preference.
The Marmalade Mac and Cheese
Everybody’s favorite childhood snack but elevated with three different types of cheese. Super cheesy, salty, gooey, you won’t be able to get enough even though you’re really full. That’s how good it is.
Truffled Field Mushroom Risotto
An avid watcher of Gordon Ramsey’s Hell’s Kitchen and MasterChef, I’ve learnt risotto is a deceivingly simple dish to cook, but can easily go wrong. Clearly evident in the number of saucepans of lobster risotto he’s thrown into the trash. I was really pleasantly surprised by how well the rice was done, very glossy, creamy, and oozy. There was just the slightest hint of truffle oil, complemented by the taste of wild mushrooms (truffle oil and mushrooms are always a winner in my book!).
Oriental Grilled Salmon
I am a sucker for the double S’s; Salmon and Soba. My eyes were immediately drawn to this while I was browsing the very extensive menu, and I was so glad I picked this because everyone loved it! The salmon wasn’t overcooked (a huge pet peeve of mine!), and was seasoned to perfection. On the other hand, the soba wasn’t really anything to shout about. It wasn’t bad–it was just really all about the salmon. This will be a repeat order when I do visit again. Highly recommend!
While there wasn’t exactly a badly executed dish in my opinion, there were a couple minor things I felt needed improvement. The Banana and Berries Hotcakes were saturated in maple syrup so they were slightly soggy by the time I tried them, I would’ve much preferred the syrup to be served on the side. I thought the Eggs Benedict could’ve been presented more appealingly, that’s not to say it didn’t taste good. The muffins were toasted well and weren’t soggy, which I can’t say the same for other times I’ve ordered the dish elsewhere.
I also got to take home some cupcakes to sample. I chose Red Velvet (red velvet cake topped with coconut cream cheese frosting and coconut shavings) and Hazel (chocolate cake topped with hazelnut frosting). I don’t have a sweet tooth, and the red velvet was by far too sweet for me. I really did enjoy the hazelnut one though!
Thank you Shena for the invite, and spending half your Saturday to host us. I definitely enjoyed myself, and I believe Eric, Dennis, and Thiang did too!
If you’ve been holding off a visit to The Marmalade Pantry, hesitate no more. From the 6th September to 26th October, they’re holding a Rise & Shine promotion and serving all-day weekend brunch at the ION Orchard outlet. If you need further motivation to wake up early (service starts at 9 am on weekends), grab some friends and order at least three items from the brunch menu to receive a fourth dish for free! My advice? Please go early because there was a snaking queue waiting to be seated when we left slightly past noon.
2 Orchard Turn
ION Orchard, #03-22
Singapore 238801
Tel: (65) 6734 2700
Disclosure: Compensation was not provided by The Marmalade Pantry. The opinions expressed herein are those mine and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of The Marmalade Pantry.
