The Plain Cafe Craig Road Singapore

April 15, 2011 | 8 Comments

The Plain Cafe Singapore

With so many new Cafes in Singapore, it took me quite a while to explore some of the more popular ones. A few weeks ago, I brought my friends to The Plain Cafe for brunch.

The Plain is a Melbourne-style Cafe located at Craig road and it has been getting good reviews from the Singapore foodies.

It has an all day breakfast menu that serves simple food like toasts ($5), eggs ($5 – $11.5), ciabattas ($8.5) and sandwiches ($9). Occasionally, they also have home baked sweets like tarts and mini cakes.

The Plain Craig Road

The interior of The Plain Coffee House is causal and unassuming, with grey-scale wall and simple furniture.

It is a nice place to chill and read a book, whilst having sandwich with a cup of Genovese coffee. The place is not very big and it can probably accommodate around 30-40 people.

Pastrami Ciabatta

The Plain’s Pastrami Ciabatta ($8.5) was more than good – it was excellent. I am not sure if it was because we were too hungry, but everyone agreed that it was a winner. Definitely will try out the other two Ciabatta (Salami & Antipasto) the next time round.

Darling Eggs

There was barely anything to the Darling’s Eggs ($6.50 for 1/$11.5 for 2): just sourdough toast, roma tomatoes, cheese and poached eggs. But it was an extremely satisfying breakfast.

The key, I think, is the Roma tomato. I’ve told you about the benefits of eating tomatoes before. Needless to say, the idea of having the sweet and juicy tomatoes with the poached eggs was the clincher.

On the other hand, my friends preferred the simple taste of the Plain Eggs ($5 for 1/$8 for 2) – poached eggs on buttered sourdough toast without tomatoes and cheese.

The Plain Egg Toast

Out of curiosity, we ordered the Dean’s Breakfast ($6.0 for 1/$10.5 for 2) which came with Vegemite spread. The dark brown Australian food paste on the sourdough toast was surprisingly pleasant. If you like Vegemite, there’s also the Humpty Dumpty & Vegemite soldiers (dippy eggs on buttered toast sticks) on The Plain Cafe’s menu.

The Plain

Considering that The Plain Coffee Shop was not very crowded when we were there for brunch, service was slow and the staff made a mistake with two of our orders.

It was quite puzzling to see that there was no proper billing system at The Plain Cafe. The staff do not record down the items when taking the order, so you have to repeat your order when paying at the counter.

I asked the owner the rationale for this and he explained that most cafes in Melbourne operate this way. Most importantly, he wants The Plain to be a place where you feel the familiarity of having dinner at a friend’s house. Whilst I think it is very admirable to charge based on a system of trust, it can get quite messy if there are many too orders. Furthermore, it increases the waiting time during payment.

The Plain Cafe

Having said that, I like the fact that The Plain Cafe is not commercialised. It is refreshing to see cool cafes like these in the Singapore food scene. I do hope that they can sort out the teething problems and be here to stay.

For more recommendations, read my list of Cafes in Singapore | Brunch Places in Singapore

Singapore Food Blog Review
The Plain Cafe
50 Craig Road #01-01 Singapore
(Near the intersection with Duxton road)
Tel: +65 6225 4387

Operating Hours: Daily 7.30am – 7.30pm

Category: # Restaurant Review, * Central Singapore, Dining Guide Singapore, Food Photography, Singapore Food Blog
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Comments

8 Responses to “The Plain Cafe Craig Road Singapore”

  1. Kayla @ Fitter Than Choc
    April 15th, 2011 @ 12:19 pm

    I have not tried the food (except for a toast) at The Plain, but I have to say that their soy latte is beautiful. It is probably as good as the ones that I used to have in Melbourne when I was working there.

    The owner, Vincent, is really friendly and nice too. When I went there for the first time, I assumed that they accepted NETS, and went there without any cash on hand. Vincent trusted me and simply asked me to come back on another day to make my payment.Of course, that won me over:)That said, I hope that people will not take advantage of their system.

    Well, I think I have to qualify the statement made about the payment system in Melbourne. In Melbourne, there are smaller cafes that follow this system, but the bigger coffee places usually have proper ordering and payment system.

  2. emy@thehandiworks
    April 15th, 2011 @ 4:03 pm

    Thanks for sharing. How’s the coffee?

  3. Sharon
    April 16th, 2011 @ 10:47 am

    the coffee here is a solid-cup of full-bodied, aromatic, well-crafted goodness! i went there without expectations when it was still relatively new and was totally pleased at how good the coffee is.

    you’re right, the Darling’s Eggs is very simple, but it’s satisfying nonetheless. Must be the coffee and the ambience of the cafe.

    i’m actually quite bummed that you’ve done a post on The Plain, because that’s going to mean the place is gonna get more crowded! haha. but great pictures anyway! seeing them makes me wanna go back again =)

  4. Julia
    April 17th, 2011 @ 1:25 am

    I was disappointed though during my 2nd visit to Plain. I have plain to celebrate my friend’s birthday by getting her a mini cake where 5 of us can sit together, enjoy a cuppa coffee while blowing the candles with her. However, the owner of the plain do not allow us to blow the birthday cake in their shop even though we will be ordering the drinks. I guess I was offended because they did not put it across to us politely. Chill peeps

    I find it rather puzzling since their shop dont sell any cakes at all. Well, guess they do have their own character.

  5. Eileen
    April 17th, 2011 @ 4:25 pm

    i see a big communal table.. guess it means have to share when it gets crowded.. it abit out of the place but wouldn’t mind dropping by if i am going vivocity :P

  6. Jillene
    April 21st, 2011 @ 9:08 pm

    love The Plain!
    did you know he puts honey in the ice coffee?
    reallyyy goood!
    and now that i’m in Melbourne, The Plain really is like all the cafes here.
    awesome stuff!

  7. My Engrish betterest
    August 4th, 2011 @ 10:02 am

    I like the fact that The Plain Cafe is not commercialise… COMMERCIALISED lah!

  8. ladyironchef
    August 4th, 2011 @ 10:03 am

    MEB: thanks for pointing out the mistake.

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