eM by the River : If Only the Service was as Good as their Eggs Florentine

eM by the River
26th September 2010. Written by Xin Li.
eM by the River is a café + bar located at the river front of Gallery Hotel, a boutique hotel built in contemporary architecture. The last time was around the area, I had a pleasant breakfast at Kith Café nearby, and I was quite intrigued by eM by the River for its garden café like atmosphere facing the river, it seemed like a nice place to have breakfast and enjoy the river scenery.

About two weeks ago, we decided to have breakfast at this riverside café and besides some of our usual Moose peeps, we were joined by Glenn from HungryEpicurean, BellaV from Vanilla and Breakfast and Sean! Anime and manga fan, and my NS Company Quartermaster. The meal was significant because Glenn and Michael have ORDed! (I should change the portrait when I have time). On top of that, it was sort of a farewell get together for Liang Wei who is off to United Kingdom for his further studies (of scones and fish and chips too.)

The breakfast didn’t start off well. While I had made a reservation for ten for the interior seats, we decided to change it to the outside when we found out that it was like one coffee table with ten seats which is uncomfortable for eating. After requesting for a switch, there were not enough tables and the service staff were not very helpful so we had to get a table for ourselves.

One glance through the menu, I found the items to be slightly pricey, similar to Spruce. The items that provide better value would be the American Breakfast (18.00++ SGD) as it came along with coffee or tea and fruit juice.

I had my maiden Eggs Florentine (13.00++ SGD) which is two poached eggs on toasted English muffin with sautéed spinach and crème sauce. The crème sauce wasn’t very thick and the eggs were nicely poached with a soft runny center. The toast was just nice too and all of it comes together quite nicely. It was an enjoyable Eggs Florentine. Inconsistency pulled this dish down for Liang Wei though. His eggs were overcooked as the egg yolk has become rather firmed.

BellaV and Yew Ann had Eggs Benedict (13.00++ SGD). While I didn’t try the Eggs Benedict, feedback from BellaV and Yew Ann were positive.

Glenn had an Eggs Royale (14.00++ SGD). We shall wait for his feedback.

Vinleon had the Homemade Pancakes (10.00++ SGD). The pancakes were a stark contrast to the Eggs Benedict. It was too thick, floury and dry. The mixed berry compote lacked the oomph factor, I thought it could be better than just being sour. The whipped cream that came with it and the one that was requested looked different and had a different texture.

The coffee and tea were quite decent. The Earl Grey that we had was from TWG, which explained why the tea here was slightly expensive.

Sean and Michael had the American Breakfast. The 18.00++ SGD set came with Toasts (White bread kind), sausages, sautéed mushrooms, eggs (of your choice), bacon, baked beans and grilled tomato served with butter and fruit preserve plus coffee or tea and fruit juice. It was quite a spread. I am not sure about the quality but visually it came across as ordinary. Some of the meats here were supplied by Huber’s Butchery, the bacon and probably the sausages should be from there.

While the food and drinks were decent, the service was appalling. While I am not so particular about service, as long as the attitude was okay and we were being treated equally and there was a mutual respect, I am fine with it, so I am not so bothered by the fact that they didn’t help us with the tables. However, I am disturbed by how they slammed the cutlery on our table, forgot our request for water which we requested in the beginning as we took our orders and it only arrived after much prompting at the end as well as the poor attitude we received from them. On top of that, orders were slow and sometimes when we request for help they would ignore us.

The café was patronized by many expatriates, Caucasians made up the largest group here and I can’t help but notice the disparity in service attitude and treatment when we observe other groups in particularly the Caucasians receiving a much more better treatment like how they could be served first, tables prepared if when there weren’t enough, orders taken first and food served almost immediately while ours had not arrived and we were a much earlier group). There are many terms to describe this but I shall leave it to you.

Last but not least, the garden is a nice place to dine and it was surprisingly cooling, pity those tiny bees and flies won’t stop pestering us while we eat. They reminded me of those aggressive birds in Tekong cookhouse.

eM by the River was a pleasant place to dine, the atmosphere was good, the location was good and it was a nice walk along the river after and before the meal. It is most unfortunate that the service was quite poor despite the decent food. Personally, I enjoyed my Eggs Florentine very much, but the first-hand encounter with the poor service would probably make me think twice for any future meals there.

eM by the River

Gallery Hotel
1 Nanson Rd, Singapore 238909
6836 9691

Operating Hours:
Mon-Thu 6pm-2am
Fri-Sat 6pm-3am
also open Sun