Hello there!
So… half of em.olts has a boyfriend. The other half doesn’t. And we wanted to write something on Singles’ Day, because being single is awesome. So, for today’s article, I went out with the other half of em.olts, Kiki, and our other friend, Charlene. Both are single. And of course, the attached person – aka me – had to serve a purpose, so I was their designated driver for the day.
So… welcome to our singles’ day post!
I first routed over to pick up Kiki because she stays near me. And then we zipped straight up to W39 to meet Charlene. W39 is a quaint, comfortable little café located at 39 Jalan Mas Puteh (Singapore 128637), which is nearby Clementi’s ActiveSG Stadium. It’s kind of inaccessible, but that’s probably because Kiki and I stay in the vicinity of Bedok. Anywhere beyond Orchard is considered the forbidden forest for us because it’s so dang far by public transport.
First impression of the café was that there were so many adorable fur kids. We were treated to so many adorable doggies puppy-eyeing their owners for food. They have an outdoor area for fur kids, so if you’re looking for a café to go to with your puppers (they allow cats too), W39 might just be the place for you to go to!
We had to wait quite some time for our seat because the café was full. The first thing we immediately noticed was how harried the staff seemed to be. There was only one waiter waiting on all the tables in the café, and he seemed quite frazzled. Despite how busy he was though; he still kept a friendly smile on his face and was superbly nice!
We had to sit and wait for awhile for Charlene – and then we ordered our food through the QR code provided to us. Because of COVID-19, most food places are implementing this practice, which we’re completely fine with. Saves the waiter time scurrying from table to table taking orders, anyway. Anyways, while waiting, Kiki and I went ahead and ordered Truffle Fries (S$15.00) because we were hungry.
The consensus amongst the three of us (after Charlene came) for the Truffle Fries is that it’s not worth the price you pay for it. I personally dislike thick-cut fries (the picture in the menu looked like it was skinny-cut) because I feel that there’s too much mushy potato to crisp ratio. Kiki and Charlene both agree with me – Charlene mentioned that although it was filling, the thickness of the fries made the dish very jelak after a while. Both also said that they couldn’t taste the truffle in the fries, and that the fries wasn’t worth the price.
We were supposed to meet for Brunch, so I decided to order a typical brunch order and went with their Eggs Ben (S$18.00) with Smoked Salmon (instead of smoked salmon, they have another choice of Lamb Shank with Mushrooms for the sides as well). And then because I was starving, I decided to add on an Italian (chicken) Sausage (S$3.90) as well. My Eggs Ben came up to be S$21.90.
And because it was a hot day and we were sitting outside, I decided to go for W39’s Pink Lemonade (S$7.90) as well. I didn’t snap any photos of the Pink Lemonade, but that drink is really good. It’s fizzy but not overly sweet and had fresh raspberries and frozen watermelon inside. It was the perfect drink for such a hot day.
If I’m going to be completely honest with you – I was quite impressed with how the Eggs Ben was presented. But then when I tried it, I felt quite underwhelmed by it. It’s Eggs Ben – what can I expect, after all? But perhaps it was the knowledge that I paid an additional S$3.90 for such a skinny sausage – as compared to One Man Coffee’s Big Brekkie, whose sausage was a chonkosaurus, this sausage was… underwhelming.
Also, I mentioned in the post for OMC that the sausage was not overly minced, and you could taste the individuals chonks that made up the sausage, which is why I liked it so much. At W39, I couldn’t. Everything seemed pretty mushed-up and it just honestly felt like a skinnier IKEA sausage. I love IKEA sausages, despite the lack of chunks, because that’s what I would expect from their sausages, y’know? Salty, delicious and super-duper cheap sausages. You get what you pay for when it comes to IKEA.
Hence why I said I was thoroughly unimpressed with W39’s sausage. I understand that I’m going on for several paragraphs about sausages, but… that’s how unimpressed I was with it. *Edit – I had Nasi Lemak today for lunch at work and had those typical sausages that come frozen – like 10 sausages for less than S$5 or something and it was so good, but I couldn’t stop thinking how I paid S$2.50 for the entire meal and W39’s sausage was S$3.90…
Their bread was pretty good though – it was sweet and slathered over with two onsen eggs and a generous dollop of Hollandaise sauce. I tried asking for more sauce, because I love my bread soggy and drenched in the delicious goodness, but they told me I had to pay an additional dollar for it and I went “Oh no thanks then, thank you!” Cue sad wobble of lower lip.
The smoked salmon was… just normal… packeted… smoked salmon. Nothing much to say about it, except that it was so good when slathered in the runny, yolky goodness. The best part of the dish was probably the grass. And by grass, I mean salad. It wins even the bread, which was pretty good. Their balsamic vinaigrette was *chef’s kiss* and made the grass super duper yummy. I chowed the entire thing down first and was like “why grass disappear so fast?”
Because Kiki’s on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), she had a bucketload of dietary restrictions that she had to adhere to. The only thing she could really eat on the menu was their Pork Cheek Quesadilla (S$20.00). She also had a Black Sesame Latte (S$5.50).
Her Pork Cheek Quesadilla was probably the best dish out of what we all had. Dear lord, I could ramble on for several paragraphs about how glorious the pork was. The pork is perfectly tender and well-seasoned. I had a bite from her just to try and I savoured it for quite a long time, nibbling around the edges because it was just that good. They had melty cheese inside the quesadilla for that Instagram-worthy cheese pull (all of us too hungry, sorry, no pictures).
All of us agreed when we said that this was the best dish out of all that we ordered. It was superb. I also absolutely loved the tomato salsa that accompanied the tortilla chips – but it’s not to Kiki’s taste – she doesn’t like tomatoes (boo).
Do y’all like traditional desserts? Cause Kiki and I both love our Yam Paste – and she loves the Walnut/Sesame Paste desserts. Why did I bring this up? Because she commented that her Sesame Latte tasted just like sesame paste. But a super-duper diluted version of it. She found it pretty “meh” and wasn’t impressed with it.
Charlene went for something closer to home – the Nonya Mee Siam (S$14.00) and a Iced Café Mocha (S$6.00). She said that the Nonya Mee Siam was good and that she liked it (honestly, I was like “why you come café order mee siam?! Below my block there S$2.50 very yummy worh.”
But in her defence, the prawns were superbly huge, and the typical hard-boiled egg was replaced with an onsen egg. I snitched a bit from her, and the Mee Siam was really good. The gravy was spicy, but not so much you would burn, and there was a sour twang from the lime to it that really gave the dish extra oomph. Charlene says that the Mee Siam is pretty good, but that it’s too pricey. The Iced Café Mocha she had was also pretty normal – her words, not mine.
In total, we paid S$99.88 for the entire meal. Overall, is W39 worth it? All of us agreed that it’s not. But then again, it’s café level food you’re paying for. You choose what you pick, y’know what I mean? But I still think that there are better cafes out there that has better food for a lower price.
Kiki gave it a 3 out of 5 stars. Charlene also gave it 3 out of 5 stars. Me? I’ll give them a 2 out of 5 stars. Minus one star because of the sausage. But let’s go with the majority, okay? 3 out of 5 stars.
Perhaps W39 might have to stagger more people to wait the floor during their busy hours – so that the waiting time wouldn’t be so bad. We had to wait quite long to get our seats because the waiter took some time to clear the tables, had to wait for quite some time for our food to come… and had to wait quite some time for condiments before we got them because there was only one waiter zipping around the place. But the staff were all really nice! Just busy, I suppose.
After lunch, we headed to Superbowl Jurong for bowling. My boyfriend lives extremely close by there, so I invited him down.
We played three rounds – and then that’s when we learnt that Kiki is a gutter queen. She’s terrible at bowling and tried her utmost best (by utmost best I mean try-hard style, sprawled out on the floor, trying to snooker the bowling ball into the pins – the bowling ball went straight into the gutter. And by straight, I mean that the gutter had a magnetic pull on the ball – it guttered less than a second after she launched the ball).
I think it was terrible of me to suggest this, but we made a competition out of it where the losers would have to buy the winners dessert. Because Kiki’s abysmal at bowling, she was tagged to my boyfriend, who was the best, and Charlene and I who were both normal players (despite it being Charlene’s first-time bowling).
I think y’all can guess who won by now. Charlene and I won with a 15-point difference, which isn’t very big, to be honest with you. My boyfriend really felt the pressure there, with Kiki tagged to him. But still, well done to Kiki for trying her best (she mentioned that whenever she goes bowling, her friends would raise the kiddie bumper for her – we asked if she wanted it and she was the one who said no).
And then we went to Ji De Chi in JEM for some desserts! The desserts were good – which is always the case whenever my boyfriend and I go. Their Milk Shaved Ice is always consistently amazing. Thank you, losers, for the sweet treats. Cue evil snigger.
And that rounds off the Singles’ Day post! I hope that y’all had fun reading about our day – we sure had a lot of fun going out together too.
Till next time, lovelies!
W39 Bistro & Bakery
Address: 39 Jln Mas Puteh, Singapore 128637
Opening hours: 11am to 10pm (Tue to Fri); 9am to 10pm (Sat, Sun & PH)
Superbowl Jurong
Address: 1 Yuan Ching Road Jurong Town, Singapore 618640
Opening hours: 12pm to 12am (Sun to Thu); 12pm to 2am (Fri, Sat & Eve of PH)
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