Breakfast at Toby's Estate Singapore cafe

So many new trendy cafes have opened for business in Singapore over the past few years. One of the forerunners of the combined coffee roaster and hip cafe concept was Toby’s Estate Singapore cafe at Robertson Quay who has been at this location since some years back. We were there for breakfast recently.

We were surprised to see so many people up and about on a Sunday morning. This part of Robertson Quay was bustling with activity and it looks like many young people were quite prepared to forego some weekend sleep for some morning time socialisation. The cafe is housed in a large cavernous space. The tall space gave the cafe a bright airy feel and, more importantly, provided sufficient room for a large industrial sized coffee roasting machine to be sited on the premises. Toby’s Estate was packed and was as busy as how we remembered it to be when we last visited a few years ago. There were no small tables available. The only places for us were at the large communal table in the centre of the restaurant. Here is a section of the menu at Toby’s Estate Singapore. We selected a few items from their breakfast menu.

The French Toast ($14) was an interesting combination of sweet and savoury. Thick slices of fluffy bread coated with egg and maple syrup were topped with berries and sliced apple. The espresso flavoured bacon provided the savoury contrast. With such a common dish, it is all too easy for a French toast to be ordinary. This one at Toby’s both looked good and tasted better than the run of the mill versions.

The Brekkie of Champions ($25) was the most substantial item on the breakfast list. It has all the usual ingredients of a full breakfast dish – sausage, eggs, baked beans, mushrooms and salad. What it lacked in originality was compensated somewhat by the distinctive taste of some of the items. The espresso bacon was present to add its distinctive smokey taste. The cherry tomatoes were delightfully fresh and sweet.

The Eggs Benedict Brooklyn style ($19) featured two large poached eggs on a bed of stewed beef on a thick slice of brioche. Those who believe that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and which should incorporate healthy amounts of protein should try this dish. The eggs were well made and blended perfectly with the beef. Not very heavy and yet satisfying.

There were some cakes on display. They did not look terribly exciting but we decided to order some anyway so as to not judge them by their looks. That turned out to be a mistake. The carrot cake and red velvet cake ($8 per slice) were quite ordinary with sweetness being the predominant taste.

Of course you can’t have breakfast at Toby’s Estate without their famous coffee. We tried both the white coffees ($5 each) and the black coffee ($4). They were robust and creamy. The standards of coffee served in many cafes these day are so high that we think equivalent standards can be found elsewhere. We would not come all the way here just for the coffee but the riverside dining atmosphere, good food and their famous coffee still makes an enticing combination that has been packing in the crowds even after all these years. We would however forego the desserts on our next visit.