The Bravery is one of those names that should not be a stranger to most who have been cafe-hopping since the uprising of the third-wave coffee movement — the Muslim-friendly establishment at Horne Road had since moved out of its former premises, and found new digs at Amoy Street recently, and is currently in its soft launch phase serving up a menu that differs between breakfast, lunch and dinner hours.

Being an item off the lunch menu that is being served only between 11am to 3pm, the Seafood Alfredo features elements such as tiger prawns, white clams, crab meat, cream sauce, garlic, shallots, crustacean oil and Ikura. While some pasta purists may lament on the use of cream sauce for their rendition of an Alfredo which usually only involves butter and parmesan, the Seafood Alfredo is an item that would please the average cafe-goer who are less into traditionalist approaches to cafe fare, and are more accustomed to the creamy pasta that is pretty much a crowd pleaser otherwise. The pasta here is seems to be done slightly past al-dente; slightly softer with lesser of a bite, but not particularly bothersome. Otherwise, the noodles are tossed in a mix of rich cream sauce and crustacean oil; the latter added to give a slight umami note that cuts across the creaminess for some balance — a nice touch to have in my opinion. Coming with a good variety of seafood, the clams were fairly decent, while the crab does give the pasta a slight crustacean sweetness that enhances the flavours of the crustacean oil used; the prawns could however be slightly fresher, though should still be pretty decent for those who are less picky overall. Not a fan of the microgreens (i.e. Alfafa sprouts) that they have included as a garnish; perhaps a slight sprinkle of herbs such as rosemary or thyme would have done a better job given the stringy texture and the slightly “green” flavour that we were not too much of a fan of, and did not seem to gel well with the seafood elements of this dish.

Hadn’t been back to The Bravery for quite a while; my visit to The Bravery previously was when the concept was still being run by the same folks behind The Plain and RONIN (both of which had since closed, and are succeeded by PUNCH and Gather). Times have changed pretty much for The Bravery; while we are unable to comment if they had pretty much stayed the same or have been consistent at Amoy Street when compared to their time at Horne Road after those times, The Bravery does seem like a spot that would work well for the folks who prefer safe and conventional cafe fare without being particularly over-the-top — a spot that would work decently for those who are just looking for something comforting that will not go wrong.