Olivia & Co Suntec City - new cafe - The Ordinary Patrons

Olivia & Co Suntec City is a new cafe that just opened in this big shopping mall. It is located on the ground floor at the atrium that is in the centre of the mall (between Suntec Towers 1 and 2). Olivia & Co cafe is made up of two parts. The kitchen and service facilities are housed in a regular shop space while the dining area is an open-concept area in the atrium. The bright and wall-less space makes it a rather attractive restaurant to dine at. It also enjoys high visibility and good pedestrian traffic.

Olivia & Co Suntec City serves the usual Western food selections – all day breakfast, sandwiches and burgers etc. These are items served in many restaurants and sounds very predictable. Olivia & Co has however injected some variations to these common items and given them catchy names such as “Ginza Burger” and “Hanoi Wings. Here are pictures of the Olivia & Co menu.

We tried the Boston Burger ($18). It was served with a knife plunged into its core and a basket of fries. The last time we saw a burger so brutally treated was in a cafe in East Norfolk, Tasmania (read Eat & Play in Tasmania). We are glad to report that notwithstanding the harsh treatment, the burger tasted fine. It was a good burger but despite the name, no different from other burgers. Although the fries were rosemary fries, the quantity of the herb used was too low to make their presence felt.

The Spring Chicken (14) must have been really young. It was very small – almost quail size. The chicken was tender and cooked just fine but it was just so small. Thank goodness for the generous serving of wasabi mash which was nice and creamy. There was hardly a detectable wasabi taste in the mash.

Several versions of the ubiquitous fried chicken wings are available at Olivia & Co Suntec. We decided to try the Bangkok Wings ($9 for 6 pieces). They were good and crispy and well marinated with Thai herbs.

For something sweet we had the the Cinnamon Roll ($12). This was served in a large portion, a nice change from the preceding items. It was not really a roll but a stack of waffles with a full set of trimmings – cinnamon. almond slices, ice-cream etc. This was very good. Dish of the day!

Olivia & Co also serves a decent cup of coffee ($5 each). Overall, it was a pleasant lunch at Olivia & Co Suntec City. Although the items on the menu are the usual suspects, it is good to see the effort to inject some special flavours into them, although we thought that these flavours need a bit more prominence to create a distinctive taste in the dishes. The staff were friendly and helpful.