Bridge Cafe at Seah St caters to people who want finer things at a lower cost, so all dishes are priced at $30 and below; this concept kinda reminds me of Saveur, a street away. To achieve reasonable pricing, Bridge has to source and import ingredients themselves, cutting out the middle(wo)men, getting truffles straight from Italy and lobsters from overseas.

One thing I like about the cafe is that the bread, such as the croissant, is baked in-house. However, as I was going through the meal, I realized that Bridge does traditional brunch food very well, but when it tries to innovate, the creation often leaves room for improvement.

For instance, their eggs benedict ($20, above) comes with bacon, not normally found in the dish. The ham and extremely salty bacon threw off the balance of the dish. I couldn’t taste the egg, couldn’t taste the champagne hollandaise; I only tasted salt.

And it was the same for the lobster croissant ($36, above), a play on the traditional lobster roll. Lobster is a delicate and sweet ingredient, but Bridge overcrowded the buttery, crispy croissant with rich and creamy scrambled eggs, bitter spinach, and that superlatively salty bacon (again). All these strong flavors overwhelmed and drowned the lobster. It was still a pleasing and delicious dish, but the lobster had taken on a supporting role when it ought to be the star.

But Bridge’s sense of adventure paid off with the French toast ($18). The ingredients were complementary and overlapping: honey, cinnamon sugar, and an aromatic and surprising truffle honey ice cream. The scent of truffle lingered long in my mouth and the toast still crispy after doused in honey and ice cream. Excellent.

Besides the french toast, the other dish that I loved was beef stew ($26). The red wine had thoroughly seeped into the fibers of beef cheeks, making it intensely sweet and tender. I’d prefer if they had served one carbohydrate instead of two. I’d suggest adding a side salad, ditching the s0-so mashed, and keeping the baguette because it was super crispy and could be used to mop up the sauce.

In the game Bridge plays, the heart is the trump suit: heart in attempting to refresh classic brunch items; and heart in presenting quality food to customers at a low price.

Bridge Cafe 

31 Seah Street, Singapore 188387
T: +65 6333 4453
Weekend brunch: Sat 11am-3pm, Sun 11am-4pm
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Food: 5.75/10
Value: 6/10
Ambience/Decor: 6/10
Service: NA (tasting)
Rating: 2.958/5 stars 

Written by A. Nathanael Ho.

This is an invited tasting.