New Prive Orchard cafe opens at Wheelock Place

If the world is a stage, then some of the best ringside seats can be found at the new Prive Orchard Cafe that recently opened at Wheelock Place. The cafe is situated right at the edge of the pedestrian mall at the junction of Orchard Road and Paterson Road. The terraced levels of seating in the cafe, coupled with the European style small outward facing tables at the perimeter ensures that most seats at Prive Orchard get a good vantage point for people watching.

The innermost diners at Prive Orchard cafe are seated on a higher level on bar stools. The level of seats then cascades downwards to street level.  This provides a good view of what’s going on Orchard Road, including the movie trailers being shown on the Lido giant screens across the road.

The restaurant dining space is quite spacious but the kitchen space appears quite small, which explains the rather limited menu at Prive Orchard. It contains the usual cafe standards plus a few surprises such as Wagyu Beef Roti John.

Prive Orchard Menu

Prive Wheelock Place looks like a place to go for friends to meet up over a drink or two. They have happy hour from 5 to 9 pm when the Archipelago beers costs $5.50 during happy hour, a very decent price for drinks at such a prime location in Singapore.  In addition to the beers, we placed our order for two dishes – baked halibut in parchment ($19) and steak and wedges ($20).

Both  the dishes were not much to look at.  Both were just factually presented without much or any embellishment.  Fortunately, they tasted better than they looked. The halibut was fresh and cooked just right.  The various vegetables and condiments sealed inside the bag provided a light fragrance to the fish.   It is also a good dish for weight-watchers as the portion was quite small and seems almost fat-free.

The steak with wedges was even more basic looking.    However, once we started eating it, its plain looks can be overlooked as this was a flavourful piece of ribeye steak, albeit a bit small and thin.  The peppercorn sauce provided was also good.

Overall, the new Prive Orchard cafe is a very convenient dining option on Orchard Road.     The most attractive part is the prime location and the way it is set up. Probably not the place to go for serious dining, but certainly a place to go to meet up with friends or to have a drink and watch the world go by. It is not air-conditioned but there are many fans whirling to keep the place cool.

Prive Orchard is open on the first and second days of Chinese New Year 2017.  Reservations (phone and by Chope online) are available, but only for groups of 8 and above. We do not know if this is a permanent condition or only during their initial opening period.

Ratings:
Food: 3
Service: 3
Value: 3
Atmosphere: 4
Overall Rating: 3 TOPs 

Prive Orchard
Wheelock Place, 501 Orchard Rd, #01-K1
Singapore 238880

Opening Hours:
Monday to Thursday: 9am – 1am (last order for food at 12am, drinks at 12.30am)
Friday: 9am – 3am (last order for food at 2am, drinks at 2.30am)
Saturday: 8am – 3am (last order for food at 2am, drinks at 2.30am)
Sunday & PH: 8am – 1am (last order for food at 12am, drinks at 12.30am)
Eve of PH: last order for food at 2am, drinks at 2.30am

Prive Wheelock Website