Brommie Breakfast Ride!

Posted on 3 Jul 2012 by Diane

In early May my camera, a Canon S100, screwed up and got the dreaded “Lens Error” screenshot of death. It was a pretty common problem within a certain batch of S100′s shipped in October/November last year. Warranty still in effect, the Canon Service Center swapped out the whole optical lens mechanism with a new piece. I got a text when it was done, so I biked down to Keppel Bay to pick my camera up. Hooray!

Now we can take photos again, blog!

My next stop was heading over to the Orchard Road shopping mecca to meet up with the rest of the Saturday bike gang. Ivan had just gotten his new Brompton, so we planned an instant brekkie ride to christen his new set of wheels.

From Ion, we cycled the “scenic” route to Dempsey Hill. While mostly on the pavement, Ivan’s declaration that this was going to be a “slow” ride didn’t happen. The guy is fast no matter what bike he’s pedaling!

Our breakfast destination was House. We parked our bikes outside and got a corner table next to the windows. The place was packed!

All of us ordered these Barracks Freeform Eggs from the brunch menu.

Some of the kitsch inside the restaurant.

House names its toilets “Cock” and “Pussy” (stop thinking dirty thoughts!) with a photo of the said animal next to each door. I didn’t get that though, and I accidentally entered the men’s toilet! I didn’t even know I got the wrong one until I sat back down at my table and saw the door with a “Pussy” sign on it — I just figured that the toilets were unisex considering there were several bidets and stalls inside! HAHAHAHA!

This was found in the men’s toilet.

The smoking area doubles as Brommie parking.

After breakfast, we decided on continuing our ride to a coffee place Ivan recommended somewhere near Novena.

In the middle of nowhere (Hooper Rd.) lies Papa Palheta.

It’s a hidden coffee place that specializes in micro-production coffee.

In Papa Palheta, there’s no menu and no price list. You basically tell the guys behind the counter what kind of coffee you want with what kind of roast bean brewed a certain way. That means you pretty much need to know your coffee too.

Another unique thing about this place is that you pay them whatever you feel your coffee was worth.

I ordered the same cuppa Ivan did. It was creamy and slightly bitter with a sweet aftertaste. Much more yummy than the second cup Okky got which had lemony notes. I don’t like citrus with coffee much, do you? It reminds me of stale coffee from the machine.

Some equipment look like science experiments.

Brommie biker gang! Same bikes kitted up in different ways.

This is Okky’s bike. I like how he mounted his camera bag directly on the seatpost through the light mount. That’s pretty clever.

Once all our coffees were downed, we huddled again to decide where next to go. We ended up at LifeCycle of course, what else is new? Hahaha.

The Yahaja Jive

Posted on 28 Apr 2012 by Diane

Coffee! The thought of its dark, rich, warm aroma wafting through a cool room… well, that was enough to wake me up on another Saturday and head off to Coffee-Ride-Commander Ivan’s planned rides. After tarpau-ing ice lemon tea from the shop downstairs, I headed over to Tiong Bahru Plaza to meet up with my buddies!

We headed up towards Evans Road to have breakfast when I spotted this “famous” Moulton. I quickly took a shot of the Uncle riding as we’ve never seen him before, only his bike.

Specializing in eggs, you can find all-day breakfasts at Hatched at 26 Evans Road.

The airconditioned area indoors could hold us all. Alas, the benches were already reserved. The staff set up some tables for us at the foyer area.

I had the Burly Benedict, a wagyu corned beef version of the classic Eggs Benedict.

Don’t mess with my comfort food!” says Mr. Benedict. Devour your way through half an English muffin, topped with corned Wagyu beef, poached egg and Mornay sauce, served with sautéed potatoes with caramelised onions.

It’s not bad though I must say I prefer the classic version with the strips of smoked salmon.

After brekkie, it was time to get back on the bikes.

Why am I behind the sweeper?

The main activity for the day was a Coffee Appreciation Course at Yahava KoffeeWorks.

Look at this little cutie. He’s actually a floating duck tea infuser. Perfect for non-coffee drinkers like myself! Vince and I bought one each, haha!

The shop had a lot of things to check out.

I saw this being sold as a tshirt in Siem Reap and in Bangkok as well. The design gets around!

Coffee sacks make for good decor.

Coffee has leather taints? Really?

Before heading to the taste test portion of the class, Ian had us move our bikes indoors.

Indoor bike parking, wooohooo! Thank you Yahava!

The company actually produces its own beans. Here’s their store room.

Fresh unroasted coffee beans look like overcooked mung beans.

Everyone else was sipping or slurping so I took shots of people’s bikes instead. Here’s Matt’s fix against the red wall.

Vince, another non-coffee drinker, playing games on his phone. After a while, we eventually headed off for lunch.

A small band of us decided to go ride some more. Unfortunately, we were caught by the heavy rains. We took shelter underneath the bridges of one highway somewhere in the east.

Another way to light yourself up. Ingenious!

We stopped by Song Seng Chan at Joo Chiat to fix the gears on Christine’s Dahon Classic. They weren’t hooking properly and she couldn’t change them.

Ro’s not-so-new fiery Brommie.

Our coffee rides seem to always end up at LifeCycle. We wiled away the time as we were stranded by heavy rains once more.

New Twinsix shirts are available at LifeCycle! (18 Gemmill Lane) Go grab yours now.

Tour de Café: Toby’s Estate

Posted on 5 Mar 2012 by Diane

It was guilt that woke me up that Saturday morning. Guilt, along with a good dose of reality as I recalled how I missed the first Coffee Ride that Ivan planned because I didn’t wake up on time. A mild tinge of shame as well because this time the ride meetup started in my neighborhood, less than 300 meters away from my apartment block. And so with that in mind, I hauled myself out of bed and prepped the Tikit and myself to spend the first day of this weekend with avid coffee lovers. Or maybe, just avid bikers in general.

First stop, Toby’s Estate at Robertson Quay. Way too early for the regular breakfast crowd, we were able to park wherever, no issues at all.

Lest we forget, a group photo. Not much energy as people still weren’t fueled by breakfast.

I like the interiors of this atas kopi shop with it’s high ceilings, cement floor and stripped brickwork siding. The white furnishings might have made the whole effect stark and industrial if not for the greenery and the warm tones of the wooden tables and ceiling lights.