The team behind Neon Pigeon has taken over the space of Soi60, and presents Summerlong at Robertson Quay. The “city beach” cafe and bar offers Eastern Mediterranean cuisine by Chef Justin Hammond. The food, I find, is quite different from the usual Mediterranean food I’ve tried: here, it’s lighter, easier on the palate, healthier, complementing the easy, breezy, casual vibe of the restaurant.

On weekdays, they recommend the hummus ($7), seafood platter ($75 for two), Persian fried chicken ($25), Meditterraneaon smoked pork ribs ($35), forest mushroom tagine ($21).

For weekend brunch, when we were there, they serve interesting, quality brunch food different from elsewhere. It’s refreshing to see a restaurant take pride in the brunch food, and not merely cut-and-paste from usual brunch selections.

For example, you can add Lebanese minced lamb (+$3) to their hummus ($7). There are falafel scotch egg with avocado ($19), Cypriot lamb burger ($20), Harissa fried chicken ($25) and Harra French fries ($9). For seafood, there is white wine clams ($22) and steamed mussels with pork sausage, baked pumpkin ($21).

Almond yogurt & granola, buckwheat, poached pear, nuts ($15)

The Counter is opened during weekend brunches. It’s like a cai fan stall and you pick two or three items for $15++ and $19++ respectively. This practice is actually rather common at restaurants in the West, and I’m glad it’s brought to Singapore.

One qualm we do have is the pricing is rather high, considering the portion is little. But the food is pleasing, clean, and light. We sample the yam salad, beetroot risoni, a creamed mushroom spring roll, Tahiti cookies in dukkah. All were good.
That day, we were served rather conventional brunch food. You can taste the superior ingredients of the smoked salmon on rye bread ($20). I love the liberal use of dill, which has a funky taste that I like although many may not take to it. However, the smoked salmon is too salty and the rye bread is soggy when it needs to be firm.

They sou-vide the egg, which becomes a viscid consistency, and I thought it is unnecessary. The point is to have a good poached egg of golden flowing yolk so that you can use the toast to wipe it up. But here, it is difficult for the toast to soak up the yolk.

The blueberry pancake ($18) is loaded with blueberries, almost too much, but then again, there can never have too much of a good thing. It’s covered in a lemon butterscotch syrup whose sourness is rather shocking. A good pancake needs to be fluffy, but here, the pancakes could be more dense.

The strength of Summerlong comes from their Mediterranean cuisine. We enjoyed food from their counter very much. We could also taste that their ingredients are superior. From their ingredients alone, we’ll probably return to try other less common dishes.

A teething problem to note, however, is that the service staff is very new and inexperienced. You can tell many of them are students, and they are part-timers. They may not able to handle difficult situations yet, so cut them some slack. When you do get their attention, they are nice and swift.

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Summerlong
60 Robertson Quay #01-04 Singapore 238252
tel: +65 6235 1225
T-F 5pm-12am, Weekends 11.30am-3pm, 6pm-12am
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Food: 7/10
Service: 6/10
Price: 6/10
Decor/ambience: 8/10

You may be interested in…
–Artemis Grill, CapitaGreen Raffles Place: Organic, Sustainable Mediterranean Cuisine With a Killer Rooftop View
–Coriander Leaf Grill, Ann Siang: A Contemporary Grill With Asian Influences, Everyone Has a Different Favorite
–LeVeL 33, MBFC: Asian-inspired Comfort Food on Saturdays Only
–Venue by Sebastian, Downtown Gallery: After a Hiatus of 3 Years, Former Ember Chef Re-Emerges

Written by A. Nathanael Ho.