Department of Caffeine, Brunch at Duxton

The Department of Caffeine came highly recommended and I came by one warm Sunday morning to try it with the girls. They take reservations so we were only kept waiting in the heat for a short while before the table was ready. I would strongly recommend that you make reservations before dropping by because the small cafe was bursting at the seams when we visited.

Department of Caffeine is situated along Duxton Road, down the road from Group Therapy. If you are taking the MRT, alight at Tanjong Pagar and exit where it takes you to Orchid Hotel. Walk along the side of Orchid Hotel and cross the road. You will see a dental clinic. Cross the street and turn into Duxton Road on your right. Walk all the way down and you would find yourself in front of Department of Caffeine.

The menu at Department of Caffeine was pretty extensive. They serve the usual food for brunch, mains, as well as waffles. Sze and I took the Poached Salmon with dill and mint sauce while Stef ordered the Sausages, Mushrooms and Egg.

These were the items which were "From the Counter". The mains come with either a regular or large salad. There were 3 options for the salad namely, Soba Noodles, Roasted Cauliflower, and Roasted Butternut Squash. Sze and I chose Roasted Cauliflower with our Poached Salmon.

The Poached Salmon with dill and mint sauce was quite good. The poached salmon was sweet and fresh, but slightly overcooked. The Roasted Cauliflower was crunchy but rather tasteless.

Stef's Sausage, Mushroom, and Egg was honestly quite disappointing. It was so bad that we decided it was not worth a picture. The sausage was overcooked and tasted quite odd. The mushrooms were quite ordinary. I would definitely advise against ordering that dish if you visit Department of Caffeine.

Would I return? For all the fanfare and strong recommendations, I find Department of Caffeine a slight disappointment. I suppose the strong recommendations caused my expectations to be pegged at a higher level and reality failed to meet my expectations. What a bummer.

15 Duxton Road

Mon - Fri 10:30 - 19:30

Sat - Sun 9:30 - 19:30

62233426