Roosevelt’s Diner & Bar – The Perfect Brunch Venue To Visit This Weekend

If you are around the Outram Park district and are looking for a cafe that sells affordable Western grub, then you might want to consider Roosevelt’s Diner & Bar.  Located beside Outram Park MRT Station, the cafe boasts a comfortable setting with heaps of natural lighting streaming in that makes it oh-so photo-worthy. The cafe is also dotted with rustic wooden tables, furnished run-down brick walls and a picturesque view of the bar counter with distinctive drops of lights.

Roosevelt’s has recently launched a new menu with a variety of brunch treats that you can brighten your weekend mornings with. The dishes were a combination of hits and misses, but it could have been due to the irregular consistencies of the cafe as we did hear from our friends that the food they tried were good.

Coconut rose yogurt – S$16
(With chia seeds, cinnamon banana, house made maple syrup and berry compote)

We felt that this was rather pricey for its portion, but then you really get what you paid for. Though it can be easily recreated at home, the ingredients that are sold here at Roosevelt’s are prepared with the finest qualities.

Southern fried chicken burger – S$18
(Served with tangy house sauce and coleslaw)

What caught our attention when we first visited Roosevelt’s around half a year ago were there signature Southern Fried Chicken – fried to a crisp golden brown that came with a hearty crunch with every bite and prepared with an addictive secret marinate. Therefore, we were rather stoked to try out their rendition of a fried chicken burger, and we were not disappointed. The ingenious idea of slotting the coleslaw in the burger made the whole dish less cloying.

BBQ pork belly benedict with cayenne hollandaise – S$18

If we were to compare both eggs benedict dishes, this would be our favourite. The trio of eggs, creamy hollandaise, and succulent pork belly complemented one another really well. Our only gripe was that the eggs were not exactly poached well, and wasn’t as flowy as we had expected.

Smoked salmon benedict with Yuzu hollandaise – S$18

This dish was indeed photogenic but IMO, I felt that this was rather disappointing. We were expecting a more tangy yuzu hollandaise sauce but we couldn’t exactly taste it. Rather, it only gave off a very subtle aftertaste which we felt that was quite a waste.

Cinnamon donut – S$13
(With a choice or Nutella truffle dip or salted caramel sauce)

Even though this dessert came with two choices of sauce, we only got to try the Nutella truffle dip. You must be thinking – wow, Nutella and truffle? That’s probably a first. Besides, it’s two of the most coveted ingredients in any desserts, so what can possibly go wrong?

Well, we felt the same way about it too, but little did we know that the taste turned out to be a little haywire. After our experience with this, we came to a conclusion that Nutella and truffle are two ingredients that should never, ever go together. The donuts were a little on the drier side too, so this dessert was quite a let-down for me 🙁

Nutella banana crumble with smores – S$13

Simply put, it was a delicious mess of banana, oatmeal, and marshmallows. This dessert fared better than the previous one.

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Overall, my experience at Roosevelt’s was still pretty alright – apart from the Nutella truffle dessert which I still can’t seem to comprehend. The servers were friendly, and the food was served promptly. I remembered liking their dinner menu better, I’m sure that with a little more trail and error with the current brunch menu, it’ll certainly flourish in time to come.

Roosevelt’s Diner & Bar
Dorsett Residence
331 New Bridge Road, #01-02
Singapore 088764
Tel: +65 6538 3518

Opening Hours:
Mon to Thurs, Sun: 8:30am – 10:30pm
Fri to Sat: 8:30am to 12am

All photos from Cassandra (Instagram @cforcassan)