Oriole

When I visited my brother in Singapore a couple of months ago, he took me to Oriole for brunch. That, my good reader, was where I discovered the delicious Garlic Prawns Bruschetta mentioned in the previous post, which incidentally turned out to be the most memorable food item of the entire trip. That last comment will probably irk my brother a little because he always makes an effort to take me to interesting/nice (read: often expensive) food places in Singapore whenever I visit, knowing what a greedy, fussy little sister he has, and Oriole was not one of the fancier or more expensive restaurants that we patronised. Having said that, it is very likely that the Garlic Prawns Bruschetta lingered in my mind more than anything else I that had in Singapore because I happened upon it soon (a few weeks) after being visually tormented by that bruschetta scene in Julie & Julia.

I know I sound like I don't get out much when I say this but I couldn't believe it when I saw the Garlic Prawns Bruschetta on the menu. I'd be dreaming about Julie's bruschetta for weeks - the scene replaying in my mind over and over and over. And there it was, right in front of me. I was finally going to satiate my craving. And ladies and gentlemen, it did not disappoint!

NB: Let me apologise for the crappy pictures and warn you that all my posts about food from my trip will feature pictures taken with the 2.0 MP camera on my Nokia 5310 cellphone - I didn't have the good camera with me.

Upon each crispy, golden brown slice of bread was a bed of tasty, seasoned, diced tomatoes - upon which sat a springy, savoury prawn, crowned with a single slice of sautéed garlic. Each bruschetta was the perfect bite-size and each bite delivered the wonderful combination of the sweet, juicy tomatoes, savoury garlic and prawns and the crispy, crunchy texture of the toasted bread. MMM-mmm-mmmmm! Absolutely delicious and totally satisfying.

Of course that's not all we had. I ordered the Philly Steak & Cheese for my main and my brother ordered his tried and true Spaghetti Prawns. Mine was alright, and his was very good and very similar to my Chili, Garlic & Prawn Vermicelli dish. The only difference was they used fresh sliced chillies and added rocket and tomatoes and the only fault was that the tomatoes were tasteless.

For dessert I had a disappointing grilled lemon cake, which had such an overpowering spiciness (I think with cardamom?) that I couldn't finish it. My brother, however, had the affogato and gave it the thumbs up. Oriole also serves good espresso - my brother should know, he had two and he's a coffee fiend. [10:38 PM Edit: Apparently he didn't really like the espresso because it was too acidic for his taste, even though that's not how I remember it and he did still have two - one espresso and one affogato.]

Verdict: Worth a visit for the bruschetta and spaghetti and coffee if you're in the neighbourhood.

Oriole

96 Somerset Road

#01-01 Pan Pacific Serviced Suites

Singapore