ROUSE on Dunlop

By Dejiki on May 1, 2014 in Food, Photos, The Café Tour

Meet ROUSE – a new café at 36 Dunlop Street, just moments away from the major construction going on at Jalan Besar. Yes, I’m jumping on the café-hopping bandwagon.

The surrounding shops and businesses at Dunlop Street aren’t exactly relevant (some bike shop and whatnot), which makes ROUSE rather obscure. Be on the lookout for some stacked crates (outdoor seating), along with:

A menu fixed onto a pole, ever-so-slantly, with some screws and wooden ruler.

A cactus (?!) beside the door. Of course in a few moments there’ll be a line outside and that’s all you need to find the café.

I was surprised at the seating capacity of this café. It’s pretty large (probably for 30+?) There are even booths behind the counter.

Bar seating’s on the left. With huge mirrors.

More stacked crates and mismatched chairs, to pump up that HipsterScore™.

ROUSE is a Halal cafe, which is great news – I can bring more friends here!

The menu isn’t filled with your typical sandwiches and waffles. While the starters, sides and mains are faintly delineated; everything looks as if they’re meant to be shared.

The food came on little pans lined with paper.

Open-faced Roast Beef Sandwich ($16.90) My favourite of the lot. Neatly portioned out to share, and the beef’s cooked just right. Topped with caramelized onions for a light sweetness.

Quinoa Quake ($16.90) Poached egg atop a Quinoa patty, with smoked salmon and lemon dill yoghurt. The eggs were too runny, but the fried patty was surprisingly good.

Shroom Shroom ($11.90) Ricotta and egg-filled mushrooms. Rather small serving for the price. I’d say it’s alright, but I’ll try something else next time.

The serving size is definitely not enough (for a guy) if you’re thinking of just ordering a main. But if you’re planning on having dessert (or *gulp* hoping to 3 other cafés later), then the portions should be just right.

So we came to a café and didn’t order coffee. Oops.

ROUSE also stocks some cakes from fathiscakes. $8.50 for a big slice of that Red Velvet.

And now it’s time to wander around and look at the interior decor.

Some old radios and hi-fi set guarding the self-serve water counter.

Fruit crates, and other rustic-looking things.

Some random knickknacks to chope tables.

Lights for our table. Nice.

A performance art of lightbulbs hanging off frayed ropes.

We visited during weekday lunch, so there wasn’t a crowd – only a few tables filled. The staff were really nice and attentive. It was actually surely an enjoyable, to be able to soak in that rustic and industrial (perhaps a bit cheeky) ambiance. Everyone was just comfortable. (It’ll be a different picture when the café’s full)

I’ll definitely come back again. For that Beef Wrapped Asparagus.

ROUSE

36 Dunlop Street
Singapore 209364

Closed on Tuesdays
For more information refer to their Facebook Page.

About The Café Tour

This is (yet another) serendipitous series. For many reasons, there will be several new series this year. Things are settling down at our local attractions, and I have finally completed my degree at NUS. The Tokyo Disney Resort Grand Photo Tour will be complete, soon! I’ll still be posting park updates from RWS, Universal Studios Singapore and Gardens by the Bay.

The Café scene is booming in Singapore, with a startling new number of coffeehouses popping up everywhere. Niche, some say “hipster”, cafés are the new local attractions. After all, it’s not always about the food and rich smell of coffee – but the experience of being in a uniquely themed place. Not that all different from theme park attractions.

Dejiki.com is not turning into some café guide. It definitely sounds fun, but I’ll leave it to the real foodies, like my good friend Foodiepink. I will post photos of the places I’ve been, in my signature style (whatever that means). So if you know any cafés that you feel I should visit, let me know or just comment away!