Fat Prince Kafe & Kebabs - new Turkish restaurant, Singapore

There are not many Middle Eastern restaurants in Singapore. So naturally when a new one opened in Tanjong Pagar, we decided to check out this new Turkish restaurant Singapore – Fat Prince Kafe & Kebab. It is situated in a shophouse on Peck Seah Street, a small lane behind the Red Dot Design Museum on Maxwell Road.

The plain white exterior conceals an attractive interior. Decked out with dark wood panels, brass fittings and some sparkling lighting elements, it was pleasing to the eye and one could even say it looks quite glamourous. The outer dining area is the Fat Prince Kafe, a casual dining area. A more serious dining section, the Ottoman Room is located deeper inside this space.

An archway connects the Kafe to the inner chamber that houses the Ottoman Restaurant, which is said to be a more luxurious place for serious Turkish dining. Maybe the night lighting will change the way things look, but in the daylight, we actually prefer the look and feel of the outer cafe area. The Ottoman Room section will only open in October 2016, adding yet another Turkish dining option in Singapore.

Here are pictures of part of the drinks and the Fat Prince brunch menus.

The salt and pepper shakers, Turkish style, made our cappuccino ($5) and Bohemian Rhapsody beer from Sweden ($14) look very pretty.

The Fat Prince hummus ($11) was served with thinly sliced and crispy bread. The bread was heavily salted such that it overwhelmed the mild-mannered hummus. We would have preferred normal bread to go with the humus.

The avocado toast ($11) was a large slice of sourdough toast topped with avocado and zaatar. The latter, according to Wikipedia, is “a generic name for a family of related Middle Eastern herbs from the genera Origanum (oregano), Calamintha (basil thyme), Thymus (typically Thymus vulgaris, i.e., thyme), and Satureja…”. Whatever it was, the taste of this dish was very good. The freshness of the avocado combined well with the exotic herbal taste of the zaatar.

The main courses were the Roasted Mushroom Meneman ($19) and Cyrus Pork Sausage Meneman ($22). It was the first time we were eating meneman which is made mainly of scrambled eggs with onions, herbs and other ingredients. The dishes were identical except for the use of sausages in one and roasted mushrooms for the other. The taste of both of them were good but they were heavy, oily dishes.

We thought the menemen was best eaten with some bread and the slices that came with the dishes were quickly eaten up. An order for Turkish fried dough ($11) was made. These turned out to be similar to the Chinese man tou, bread that had been deep-fried to create a thin crisp skin. Three types of sweet jams were provided with the fried dough – sour cherry, maple and chocolate. The fried dough was nice with the jam or eaten with the meneman.

Overall, brunch at the new Turkish restaurant in Singapore was an interesting experience. The decor of the Fat Prince cafe was nicely injected with Middle Eastern accents. The brunch menu was a bit limited. Hopefully we will get to return soon to try out the kebabs and the full Ottoman menu.