Bearded Bella
8 Craig Road
73 Hillcrest Road
https://www.beardedbella.com/
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| Scallop & Cold Pasta (SGD $22) |
Pet-Friendly, Australian Cafe With Great Brunch Options
(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)
Overall: 7
Ambience & Setting: 7
Food & Beverage: 8
Service: 7
Value for Money: 7
Spent about SGD $22 per person.
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Opening in January 2018, Bearded Bella is an Australian Melbourne inspired cafe serving Modern Australian brunch and coffee, which opened to much fanfare. Even 4 years on, Bearded Bella still attracts a good sized crowd for their delicious yet wholesome brunch plates, and their fantastic coffee which is expertly brewed and precisely poured, thanks to the guidance of co-owner and barista champion Regina Tay.
Ambience at Bearded Bella reflects a chill Australian cafe vibe. The shophouse space is warmly lit, with wooden topped tables, and a mix of metal and wooden chairs or cushioned booths, in shades of white, black, red, blue, brown, and beige. There's ample indoor and outdoor seating, the latter because the cafe is pet-friendly, with treats for your fur-kid. A glass-covered display shelf of enticing treats beckon as you step through the glass-panelled entrance.
Service at Bearded Bella is partially self-service, with ordering via app, though staff will serve orders to your table. This means reduced staff interaction, and with the menus being helpfully detailed, also reduces the need for staff to demonstate product knowledge. That said, staff appear friendly and chirpy, working efficiently to clean up when diners leave. They also engage in light banter when serving dishes. At times, a faint lingering aroma of frying hangs in the air, sticking to your clothes.
Food at Bearded Bella is Modern Australian cafe dishes, being large in portion size, made with fresh ingredients, and designed to be healthy and wholesome. Dishes are bold in taste, executed in simplicity to let the freshness of the ingredients shine, and well-balanced with ample greens. Being large, each dish is really filling, and can easily be shared. Coffee is the standout beverage here, and they take pride in it. Prices are comparable to other cafes, budget about SGD $22 per person.
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| Bearded Bella Signage |
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| Bearded Bella Exterior |
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| Bearded Bella Interior |
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| Seating Outdoors |
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| Seating Indoors |
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| Breakfast |
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| Bearded Bella Bicycle |
The White Coffee (SGD $5) has a medium strength of body, with a fragrant aroma of toasted coffee beans. Straightforward, a good pick-me-up. Good!
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| White Coffee (SGD $5) |
The White Cold Brew (SGD $9) has a stronger taste of milk than coffee, and oddly, tended towards being more sweet in flavour. Could be improved.
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| White Cold Brew (SGD $9) |
The Homemade Chai Latte (SGD $7) is so fragrant. Made with their own house blend, topped with a sprinkling of cinnamon powder, this has warm earthy sweet spice flavour, yum. Good!
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| Homemade Chai Latte (SGD $7) |
A decent Bacon & Asparagus Quiche (SGD $7), nothing outstanding, just acceptable. The soft flaky quiche pastry holds the chewy pork bacon strips, crunchy asparagus chunks, and the soft egg and parmesan cheese custard well, having medium eggy vegetal sweet savoury salty flavour. Would have liked a firmer texture to the filling, and a more satisfying crunch to the pastry crust. Could be improved.
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| Bacon & Asparagus Quiche (SGD $7) |
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| Bacon & Asparagus Quiche |
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| Bacon & Asparagus Quiche |
The Kookoo (SGD $22) reminds me of the healthy brunch dishes I had in Melbourne. This vegetarian dish is a large salad, with a base of tender mushrooms (beech, straw, king oyster), topped with a crisp potato rosti. Garnished with a generous portion of crisp rocket leaves / arugula, and a soft poached free range egg (whose yolk was unfortunately semi-cooked) seasoned with paprika. With bright vegetal earthy bitter herbal starchy eggy sweet savoury spice flavour, this was so wholesome yet tasty. Good!
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| Kookoo (SGD $22) |
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| Kookoo |
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| Kookoo |
The house signature Scallop & Cold Pasta (SGD $22) was delicious, largely thanks to the base which featured a generous portion of twirled capellini pasta noodles (or angel hair pasta noodles), served chilled. Dressed with crunchy black sesame seeds and white sesame seeds, which lends a mild nutty aroma. The pasta picks up the truffle oil with yuzu ponzu sauce, resonating with deep earthy sweet savoury salty flavour, contrasted by the crisp red radish and wispy chuka wakame / sesame marinated seaweed, with vegetal earthy nutty sweet flavour. Was unfortunate that the generous garnish of wispy alfalfa sprouts held sharp vegetal bitter herbal flavour, and the thin sliced bouncy seared Canadian scallops were overly seasoned and salty. The pasta though, was fantastic.
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| Scallop & Cold Pasta (SGD $22) |
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| Scallop & Cold Pasta |
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| Scallop & Cold Pasta |
Loved the yummy Chocolate Bundt Cake (SGD $8), which is made using 70% dark chocolate ganache. With a soft yet dense feel that's so satisfying, and coated with a shiny chocolate glaze, the moist cake holds deep chocolatey bitter sweet flavour. Rich and comforting, I crave more of this. Highly recommended!
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| Chocolate Bundt Cake (SGD $8) |
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| Chocolate Bundt Cake |
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| Chocolate Bundt Cake |
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CONVERSATION