Hidden Finds: The Garden Slug

I love the eastern part of Singapore- it's chill, laid back, hippie and it has the highest concentration of good food. Tell me where else can you find streets packed with eateries, cafes, restaurants that are all filled? Colourful Geylang, traditional Katong and yuppie Siglap. Each one of these areas has its special personality. The boy and i kinda grew up eating at these places, attended schools here and still love hanging out in the East on our free days. True blue Easties are we. :)


Anyway, the boy and i have this problem of deciding what to have for our meals. It used to be a huge problem and often a cause of tension. I did a random poll with my gfs and turns out that this is apparently a typical relationship problem!


However, we have a bigger complication. He's an easy eater so he pretty much eats everything. I, on the other hand, is extremely picky and chooses food based on tummy cravings. I also like to pretend that i'm an easy eater. Problem with that is i usually end up not liking his suggestions even when i say i don't mind having anything. But of course, the boy would sense that and i usually end up having the make a decision (i hate picking because i am afraid that i'm afraid that it may suck or that i don't really feel like having it when we arrive at the restaurant). Girls and their indecisiveness i know. It got better over the years and S has become the worm in my tummy. He can somehow sense my cravings these days, sometimes even better than i do, which is awesome. 


Today was another indecisive Sunday BUT the boy said he'll just decide (after failed attempts to get me to choose) and he simply put me in the car. I knew the choice couldn't be wrong, after all we were headed towards the Katong area. I was quite surprised when he pulled into Telok Kurau, a residential area. 

We were greeted by the cute garden slug and sleepy cats chilling out on the benches and tables. Adorable much! 

The setting is very casual and relaxing. There was a old za2 huo4 dian4 (neighborhood grocery shop) just further down. It was almost like eating at a coffee shop at the old housing estates. The good weather calls for some alfresco dining, Also, i noticed that the seats inside do kinda smell of food but the diners don't seem to mind. 

The first thing that caught my eye was obviously "All Day Breakfasts". Breakfast is one of my favorite foods. I could do breakfast food anytime of the day, any day of the week. My future cafe is definitely gonna have ADB and tea (another of my favorite meals!). However, all the breakfast eating the past week has gotten to me so i ordered a pasta instead. I was secretly hoping that S would order from the breakfast menu so that i could steal some and he did! Worm in my tummy he is!

The fatty boy started lunch with a sundae of all things. Such a monster. Knickerbooker Glory Sunday ($12.50)- Vanilla gelato with Peach Melba, almond stracciatella, sea-salt dulce de leche & jaffa truffle bar. This is a very interesting eat. Every mouthful is a burst of flavors and the mixture was absolutely exhilarating and surprising. Some orange, then chocolate then REAL vanilla ice cream (with vanilla beans!) followed by the taste of sea salt caramel and then hitting the sweet notes with the Peach Melba again. This is a must try. 

Then came our mains. His Runny Salmon Scramble-Up ($12.50)- Creamy scrambled eggs topped with lots of smoked salmon, warm toast by side. This was heavenly. The eggs were runny as promised and had a rich creamy texture to it. Z would love this for sure! The salmon provided the slight saltiness that the dish required. Only downside is that the salmon didn't seem very fresh? Didn't have a very nice bite to it? Not chewy enough i guess.

My Juicy Shrimp & Roast Pumpkin ($14.90)- A rich pink sauce of tender baked pumpkin, shrimp and whole oven-roasted garlic cloves. The linguine was more on the cooked side but the plus point is that it makes it really easy to swallow (trust me that's a good thing). I was basically gobbling mouth after mouth of pasta. The sauce was light and not too sour, perfect base for a pasta marathon. I could go on eating this forever (ok i exaggerate.)

Look at the size of the dishes. It's twice the size of my stomach!

Of course, the only way the meal would progress is shown in the following sequence.

1. Me feeling all stuffed from eating my own food

2. S exchanging his dish with me

3. Me taking a few more polite nibbles and biding time while he finishes most of my dish

4. Me taking a couple of bites of my original dish

5. Me staring at my unfinished food with the most painful and pitiful look

6. S finally telling me to stop eating if i can't finish (to which i do a little song and dance. i kid you)

7. S polishing everything that's left (if he has space, which he usually does! Haha.) 

Obviously the pasta was too much even for 2 of us!

Happy us after a good Sunday lunch. The carb and sugar overload sent us home to our beds and we napped till the next meal. Piggies we are. 

In all, The Garden Slug provides high quality hearty meals. The service was also excellent, the servers extremely attentive to the guests and anticipated every need the diners may have. Serving plates were served without being asked because they knew we would be sharing. Quick, polite and warm service staff always helps in retaining and attracting new customers. This i feel TGS has done extremely well. I would certainly be back. :)

The Garden Slug

55 Lorong L Telok Kurau
#01-59/61 Bright Centre, Singapore
Tel: 6346 0504 
Mon–Tue: 6pm – 10pm
Wed–Thu: 10am – 10pm
Fri–Sun: 9am – 10pm