SOD Café is one of the unusual cafes that actually first started selling bubble tea as a kiosk, offering a non-caffeinated tea range created in collaboration with Food Innovation Resource Centre Singapore.
Those in Hougang should be familiar with its first outlet located within Ci Yuan Community Centre.
It has opened a second café at Longhaus, a slightly-less discovered area along Upper Thomson.
The revamped menu includes best-sellers from the Hougang outlet, and new additions such as all-day brunch items.
When I visited, the cafe was still relatively quiet and empty and I noted charging ports located conveniently at almost every table – making it a more conducive place for café-goers to work or study.
The all-day brunch menu included Waffles with Scrambled Eggs & Candied Bacon ($12.90), French Toast with Salted Caramel Bananas ($12.90), Eggs Benny on Brioche Bun ($13.90), SOD Sourdough Big Breakfast ($15.90), Sourdough with Mashed Avocados & Eggs ($14.90).
There was also a mains menu with Wagyu Beef Burger ($16.90), Fish & Chips ($15.90), Mushroom Cream Pan-Seared Snapper ($15.90), Smoked Duck Spaghetti ($12.90).
Before that, you should start with the interesting Bak Kwa Fries ($8.90), which made me feel momentarily it was CNY all over again.
Coming in thick long chunks reminiscent of actual fries, the taste was caramelised-sweet bak kwa (without the usual smokiness) yet with a soft and moist texture; with kick from chilli padi if you order the spicy version.
The best-selling main is the Chicken Supreme ($11.90), and I must say for pretty value-for-money for what you are getting.
Made up of well-marinated chicken thigh, it is coupled with signature tomato sauce, prawns, topping with cheese and torched lightly. At the bottom is a bed of potato slices.
The pasta plates here come in a “build-your-own” concept (starting from $9.90), in which you can choose your base of Aglio Olio, cream, tomato, pesto or tom yam, then topped with grilled chicken ($5), seafood ($6), snapper ($6), smoked duck ($2) or mushrooms ($1).
If you find their version of Aglio Olio ‘homely’ in taste, that is because the café incorporated both Western and Chinese cooking styles, using fresh chicken bones to make the chicken broth used to cook the pastas.
While SOD Café’s brunch may lack of the certain aesthetic flair presented in some of the hipster cafes, what you get is comforting flavours at a more reasonable price-point.
For example, while the ham in the Croissant with Scrambled Eggs & Candied Bacon brunch dish ($11.90) tasted rather ‘generic’ and to the saltier side, the eggs were prepared creamy and with substantial portion.
As the café started with bubble tea selling, it remains a focus here.
The best-seller is the Tan Milk Tea ($4.70), a Charcoal Oolong Milk Tea made using Dong Ding Oolong which was fragrant with additional roasted fragrance.
Interestingly, the Signature Milk Tea ($4.70) is made from premium rooibos tea leaves which is not quite like the usual, and all their milk teas offering are actually caffeine free.
SOD Café – Thomson
183 Upper Thomson Road, Longhaus, #01-05, Singapore 574429
Opening Hours: 10:30am – 9pm (Mon, Wed – Sun), Closed Tues
SOD Café – Hougang
51 Hougang Ave 9, #01-03 Ci Yuan Community Centre, Singapore 538776
Opening Hours: 11:30am – 9:30pm (Mon – Sun)
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