Thursday, December 24, 2009

TCC Wisma Atria

Despite having grown up in Singapore and gone out often with my friends to eat, there’re some popular food chains that I’ve somehow never had a chance to dine at. The Coffee Connoisseur is one of them.

Before eating there a few days back, I’ve always thought that the franchise, which seems to have more and more outlets popping up islandwide, consisted of cafes placing heavy emphasis on the drinks, with food added in the menu as an afterthought. Having tasted the food at the Wisma Atria branch, however, my viewpoint is decidedly different.

As I was heading off to supper after that, I didn’t want to overload my stomach and so chose to go with a sandwich instead of a full course. The Veal Thing (quite a cute name) was great. Consisting of two large veal sausages and a thick slice of tomato bundled between two herb-sprinkled toasts, the sandwich was meaty, juicy, tasty and, even after slicing some of the sausages for my friends, I still had plenty to get full on. The meal was a little heavier than I expected, but I didn’t regret it, thanks to the sumptuous sausages and just-nicely-toasted bread.

My friends ordered an assortment of dishes, ranging from chicken & turkey bacon lasagne, to a pan-seared chicken breast set, to a couple of pasta choices. While some were pretty perfunctory, none of them tasted bad at all and, considering their prices were all below $20, were a pretty good bang for the buck.

Of note amongst my friends’ choices was the shrooms n’ cheese sandwich. The combination of decently-sized portobello mushrooms and cheese drenching a thick chicken patty was so delicious that many of us asked for second helpings after trying it out. Despite its small size, the burger was still sufficiently filling even after having been shared out.

The service staff, while friendly and cheerful, weren’t very knowledgeable about the menu. My friend’s query about what a certain sauce on her dish was had to be repeated to different personnel and at the end of it we were none the wiser for it.

Still, I loved the food and there’s no doubt I’d be returning there or heading to other outlets to try out some of their other dishes (the beef d’luxe sandwich looks really exciting!). And to think I didn’t even have to try out their coffee in the end!

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The Coffee Connoisseur (Wisma Atria)
435 Orchard Rd #02-18 Wisma Atria
Phone : 6733 6597

Business Hours:

Daily: 10 am to 10 pm