On a mission to bring diners the world on a single plate, Coalesce—a new casual family-friendly restaurant nestled on the third floor of NTU Alumni House—serves up cosmopolitan dishes inspired by various international cuisines but with Singaporean cuisine at the heart of each creation.

And for those working in the Buona Vista area, you would be pleased to know that Coalesce has a S$8.80++ Weekday Power Lunch set which comes with a soup of a day, main course and a drink.

Diners can choose from 6 different main courses to enjoy with Coalesce’s Weekday Power Lunch Set (S$8.80++), which includes mains such as the Spicy Balacan Seafood Linguine Pasta, Asian Chicken Ragout and Al Fungi Mushroom Aglio Olio Linguine Pasta.

With a top-up of S$2, diners can enjoy rice bowls such as the Aburi Miso Cured Salmon Rice Bowl, Grilled Pork Belly with Ajitsuke Egg and Roasted Pork Belly Rice Bowl with Ajitsuke Egg.

Do note that Coalesce only serves 10 sets of each rice bowl every day.

One of the highly recommended dishes that we try with Coalesce’s S$8.80++ lunch set was the Spicy Balacan Seafood Linguine Pasta. As Belacan—shrimp paste made from a fermentation of tiny shrimp marinated with salt—is a condiment typically incorporated in curries, sauces or in stir-fry vegetables, we admit that we had our doubts as to its performance as a pasta sauce.

Well, did it work? Although the pasta was tasty, we felt that it lacked the rich and aromatic prawn flavours that we would usually identify with Belacan. Otherwise, we were served a good portion of pasta and seafood—albeit only squid and prawns—which justified the S$8.80++ price tag.

The other dish that we tried was the Roasted Pork Belly Rice Bowl with Ajitsuke Egg (S$10.80++). We liked that Coalesce kept the presentation simple yet elegant but were slightly disappointed with the execution of the roasted pork belly. Aside from having a crispy skin, the pork belly pieces were tough and were not seasoned sufficiently. We also felt that the Ajitsuke Egg and rice left much to be desired.

Coalesce
11 Slim Barracks Rise, #03-01,
Singapore 138664
Tel: +65 9186 0685
Mon to Thu: 11.30am – 12am
Fri: 11.30am – 2.30pm, 5.30pm – 1am
Sat: 11.30am – 1am
Sun: 11.30am – 12am
Nearest Station: Buona Vista