Little Rogue Coffee was one of those cafes that had opened their doors during the Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) period where dine-in wasn’t allowed — also notably one of the places where everyone seemed to have headed down on the very day when dine-in restrictions were lifted. One of the draws to the establishment is probably its clean, “Balinese-inspired” decor; something that had been widely mentioned about on social media.
Visiting the cafe on a weekday afternoon for mid-day brunch (around 1pm), the cafe was pretty much hitting full seating capacity despite occupying a rather spacious lot (there again, the limit of two pax per table with social distancing rules also meant that there isn’t as many people around). Little Rogue Coffee serves up typical brunch fare and mains (think pasta, burgers, sandwich etc.), apart from a section in the menu dedicated to “sweets”; pastries and cakes are also displayed at the counters. Specialty coffee is available here, brewed using beans sourced from Proud Mary by Ballad of Anna May, which is located at Craig Road.
The Bacon Wrapped Prawns Risotto was one of the few dishes that actually caught our attention — perhaps being a slightly more adventurous item than the rest. While there were positive reviews on the item, we felt that the dish lacked contrast; consisting of elements such as bacon, prawns, spring onion, prawn bisque, truffle oil and parmesan, the dish sounded fairly appealing but was largely overwhelmed by a monotonous hint of saltishness that comes after the truffle aroma which hits the taste buds on first taste. It’s noted that the risotto’s texture was also a little inconsistent; some parts carrying a slight more crunch than the others. The dish also seemingly lacked the natural sweetness of the prawns used in the prawn bisque. While the bacon-wrapped prawns were a good attempt on being creative, the chewy bacon wrapping the prawns (which were reasonably fresh), there was not much else to note about it. Perhaps the whole composition was just something that my tastebuds aren’t quite agreeable to by preference overall.
With the glowing reviews on the various items being served up here, we will like to believe that the Bacon Wrapped Prawns Risotto was more of a one-off; the cafe was visibly busy on the day of our visit, and they are also possibly getting used to dine-in operations given how they have only opened recently. Would say that Little Rogue Coffee is a great place for coffee and catch-up though; a comfortable environment that serve up pretty good filter coffee (we had a Barista’s Brew which used beans roasted by Flip Coffee Roasters; a local coffee micro-roastery). Have seen many others ordering the Soft Scrambled Eggs & Ikura here too; perhaps that is the item to go for if one is intending to drop by.
