Five & Dime

Disclaimer: What you are about to see below is solely based on our personal preference. Please don't be too quick to judge. ;)

Hidden along River Valley Road, a street behind the ever busy Somerset compound, Five & Dime offers a cozy atmosphere in their two-storey shophouse for all friends and family to dine in. Easily accessible by bus and car, but it may be a hassle if you're travelling by MRT (our preference always). Here's a map for easier navigation: Five & Dime Location Map

I was thrilled yet a tad bit surprised by the atmosphere when i first saw the cafe. First, it was a quiet street but anyone would easily located Five & Dime due to its brightly lit signboard. However the vibes gave off an impression as if i was reading a book or about to write a composition. Haha! Nonetheless, i really liked the ambience. 

While waiting close to forever (well, two of us were starving while our other two sheep were nowhere to be found), we decided to study the menu a little and begin to 'reserve' desserts as we were afraid they'd all be sold out! 

Really appreciate the warm service from their staffs- i don't know why they were all guys while all the other patrons, literally, were girls (haha, just an interesting find when you're waiting). They were friendly and accommodating to our requests, especially during photo taking when we wanted to get a group shot and you know how particular we girls can be with photos. At that moment it felt like we were all friends. :)

Now here's some food!

Chips with Truffle Mayo, a decent portion and amount of truffle infused, but felt the mayo was a little sweet. It was a 50-50 vote on this, so its definitely a personal preference kind of thing.

Salmon Rocket ($15) - Flame torched salmon sashimi wrapped with arugula leaves and served with wasabi mirin dressing. One of their chef recommendations for starters. Salmon was perfectly torched, with a little too much dressing, but it was something different from the usual tossed salad and some simply-throw-the-protein-above-and-increase-the-price kind of starter. 'A' for effort!

Mentaiko Pasta ($18) - Thought this was most decent out of the lot. Their mentaiko sauce was not too overpowering or 'je-lat' which us Singaporeans would usually describe our meal to be.

Braised Pork Belly ($22) - Served over warm cha soba and all you see is all that you get. Im guessing slow-cooking takes up a lot of time (6 hours in this case) and time equals to $$$ and manpower, hence the price is slightly higher. Then once again, the effort, although nothing much to rave about.

Salted Egg Yolk Pasta ($20) - Homemade salted egg yolk sauce with fresh prawns. A little sweet tasting that could not taste much of the salted egg yolk. Yet another 50-50 vote on this, since i only had a spoon of it this time round, i would not mind giving it another try.

& down to our favourite part of every meal ...

DESSERT!

Golden Custard Lava Cake ($12) - A molten chocolate lava cake with a salted egg yolk center, it was sooooooooooo good (the chocolate part that is). The chocolate-lava-cake bit was so intense that both of us had to 'search' our taste buds if the salted egg yolk center was what it is, while the other half of us had a debate. After our verdict which came to only one conclusion ... we loved it! 

Nutella Brownie with Vanilla Ice Cream - Once again we could not taste the Nutella except for the drizzle on top, but the texture of the brownie was something i'd rave about. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, mmm~