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“Ugly Delicious” - ugly photo, of which I take full blame of but delicious sticky cinnamon bun.
In fact this is (IMHO) the best cinnamon bun in Singapore because it’s simple (no cream cheese fan fare needed) yet so gratifying 🥹
Fresh soft white bun with just enough sticky cinnamon syrup ✨

Many people would now know about Bahrakath Mutton Soup because of their feature on Michelin Guide with Bib Gourmand award.

Sadly this place doesn’t offer the mixed version, so you can only order specific type of meat to go with the soup.

I went for the mutton meat, which comes with few pieces for the small portion. Pair the soup with a plate of bread.

The soup is flavourful but not rich as I’m expecting.

It seems that Cluny Court has been through quite a bit of change after most of its tenants located outside of the mall had moved out of their respective shop units — this includes F&B establishments such as that of The Affogato Bar which had made their move to The Star Vista recently, as well as Ollella x Swish Rolls with the former making its move to Far East Square, and the latter having just opened their own location at the basement of Paragon. Since then, we have seen more commercial brands like Tiong Bahru Bakery take up tenancy within the building, though the new opening of Gelobuna still suggests that there is some indie F&B appeal to Cluny Court after its revamp. An establishment that aims to be “one place for artisanal gelato and specialty coffee” based on their bio on social media, Gelobuna might be a new name to the local F&B scene, though it does seem to be affiliated to brands that already has a presence in the local F&B scene — there are suggestions that the spot may be affiliated with PaPa Gelare by CoffeePlus and CoffeePlus; both brands having a presence at the Farrer Gardens neighbourhood at Queen’s Road near Farrer Road MRT Station. Indeed, the similarity in branding is pretty stark; while the decor and facade of Gelobuna can be said as pretty ultra-modern with a sleek look considering the use of metallic elements throughout the whole store, the splash of red used from the exterior to the interior is pretty consistent with the colour which CoffeePlus uses as a theme. As expected, the main offerings at Gelobuna would be their gelato — patrons would be able to opt between having their scoops of gelato in a cone, cup or with a waffle. Meanwhile, the beverage menu at Gelobuna mostly comprises of espresso-based specialty coffee, as well as drinking chocolate and Fiji water.

We were pretty much in the mood for surprises on the day which we made our visit to Gelobuna, so we left our dining partner to try some of the flavours which they have to offer in the display fridge and went with some of the flavours that we were presented as options to go along with a waffle. Our choices of the two scoops of gelato to go for would be the Pumpkin Pie gelato and the Muah Chee gelato. Some waiting time would be involved for those whom are enjoying their gelato with a waffle since the Waffle at Gelobuna is only prepared upon order; similar to the practice that most ice-cream / gelato parlours around the island adopts — it is interesting to note that we were not provided nor informed of any options on adding a sauce / drizzle for the Waffle here. As we dug into the Waffle, we found that the texture of the waffle was pretty decent being plush and of the sort that seems to focus on the fluffiness and denseness of the waffle from within, though one thing that really marred the entire experience was how alkaline or metallic the Waffle seemed to have tasting — almost akin to the addition of too much baking powder into the batter to the point that we found it difficult to finish the waffle anyway.

As for the scoops of gelato, we did feel that the flavours were decent but they do seem to deviate a little from what they were intended to be; perhaps being so due to how they seemed to be holding back on the level of sweetness of their gelato creations. The Muah Chee (which was also indicated to have no peanuts according to the description card in the display freezer) was more like a sesame-flavoured gelato at-heart; the flavour was lacking of any stretchy bits of mochi for a texture that replicated Muah Chee, nor carried any distinct note of sweetness from rice grains that usual form the flavours of rice cakes in general. When it came to the Pumpkin Pie, the gelato did carry a hue of yellow that seemingly resembles the colour of the flesh of pumpkins, though the flavour profile of the gelato seemed to heavily focus on the spices such as cinnamon that one can find in the making of a pumpkin pie. What seems to be lacking is that underlying sweetness of pumpkin, while they could also look into adding some crumbles that could replicate the texture of the crust of a pumpkin pie that would give some contrast of textures to further elevate the gelato flavour. Overall, a product that one could tell that some effort was placed into the creation, though the execution could have been refined; a little bit of a shame especially considering how the texture of the gelato was actually smooth, creamy and a little sticky. Overall, Gelobuna isn’t really a bad place to stopover for some gelato and specialty coffee if one is around the immediate area of Botanjc Gardens MRT Station; that being said, we do think they could easily push themselves further if they are able to rethink how they do gelato — perhaps a spot that things will get a little clearer as time moves along once they get past the initial days of its operations.

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With fantastic quality food and huge selections of craft beers, this is one place you can consider for a good time with friends and loved ones. We tried a variety of dishes, and here are my favourites:

The Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa ($15) came huge, with a large piece of fillet which was fried to perfection, and a huge load of salsa ingredients. The salsa really complemented the fried fillet well, making this dish actually refreshing.

The Har Cheong Gai ($13) is a must get! Extremely crispy batter with strong umami, the meat within was very tender and juicy as well. Pair them with their spicy sambal and you know this is perfect with their beer!

Their Squid Ink Fried Rice ($15) was also very good. With a significant amount of wok hei, the seafood flavours and tender squid really made this addictive. Totally can finish on my own!

Definitely coming back!

Lovely place that my family and I love to spend our weekend mornings after our stroll in Botanic Gardens. Thankful for polite and friendly staff there. Kudos to Janice and her team!

Mochi Croissant Egg Tarts

Swirl Rolls
Address 🛖 : 1550 Bedok North Ave 4, JTC Bedok Food City # 05-03 Singapore 🇸🇬 489950
Website 🕸️ : https://swishrolls.sg/

It’s a simple n tasty Don bowl! Salmon is fresh.

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Finally closer to home, Hello Arigato’s newest space at Bukit Timah was a great chill spot. Here for their sandos, I had to get their popular Tamago Sando and outlet-exclusive Wagyu Hamburg Gyu Sando to share.

Oddly, I wasn’t expecting a cold sandwich thus I was pretty surprised when I bit into their Tamago Sando ($14). However, once I got passed that, the cool Japanese Egg Mayo really delivered. As I personally enjoy a more well-seasoned sando, the tamgoyaki and jammy Ajitama Egg added that nice oomph. The medley of eggs was wonderfully sweet, creamy and luscious (just the right amount of mayonnaise for me) which served as a great contrast to the lightly toasted Japanese-style fluffy milk bread.

For those yearning for heartier fare, the Bukit Timah special Wagyu Hamburg Gyu Sando ($28) was the real deal. The juicy, moist hunk of a homemade Hamburg patty was flavourful and oh-so-tender on the inside (mildly beefy and not at all gamey). Love love the thinly battered exterior, I found the delicate crunch to be just right. Layered with caramelised sweet onion jam and American cheddar, the milk bread sando wasn’t too cloying either on a whole though certainly pricey for a casual brunch grub.

I had lunch with a friend here and was so impressed by their wagyu steak. I’m still thinking about how juicy and full of flavour it was from my first bite. I’m usually a tough critic on my steaks and hate when it tastes rubbery, but the steak I had here met my expectations and more — when seasoned with a little sea salt on the side, was SO savoury, smoked to perfection. I love a tender steak! Also, I liked that FBS was a 3min walk from botanics mrt, so it was very accessible. We had a series of dishes and on the whole was really satisfied with everything, the staff are nice and hospitable plus the food was served at just the right pace. For starters, we had the sourdough and it looks unassuming, but it was torched in front of our eyes, so the result of that was a crisp, perfectly buttered, just-enough portion to whet your appetite. This was served with the burrata, in little bite-sized pieces and was served with pesto, which was delicious. Cheesecake was homemade and of a firmer texture, balanced with yuzu (which I found quite zesty), and topped with tangy berries so that made for a rich, fuller flavour (but you’ll definitely want to share this dessert as it feels a bit much if just for 1 person). The star for me in all this was still the wagyu steak of course (I think this was the Denver for $68), which was so tender, as well as steak with fries ($32). The latter was still good but is firmer. Overall really enjoyed this cosy little steakhouse, nice for dates, both romantic or with good friends!

The draw of this nasi lemak has got to be the rice! It’s very fragrant and flavourful with the coconut and pandan aroma infused. The chicken is not as juicy as I like, but I like the flavour of the crunchy skin / batter. The meat is not too dry so it’s still ok. Otah was very soft and p legit, a little like those you get in a peranakan restaurant. It’s not the fishcake type. Was sad that the begedil wasn’t crisp. It tasted quite meh. Chilli not super spicy, was on the sweeter side.

Egg was freshly fried so it was still piping hot, yolks were pretty cooked as expected. Ikan bilis and peanuts were crunchy!

It’s not bad, I liked it! If only their chicken was juicier.

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