Rise & Grind Coffee Co.

Chai tea latte here is awful — it’s just powder in milk and u can still feel the powder grains in the drink. I had wondered why the menu listed that it was made with seven spice chai powder. Thought it was special but turns out it’s a veiled hint. They shd remove this from the menu. Don’t order!

Second visit here — previously popped by for a quick lunch.
Yet another café restaurant in the hipster mold — sultry acoustic versions of top 40s music accompany the DIY style furnishing and Edison lightbulbs, eggs benedict and, yes, the inevitable truffle oil drenched fries.
Despite my disdain for such trappings, it is somewhat conveniently located at Bukit Timah Plaza, which I frequent for weekly grocery shopping, and is very sadly the only place for halfway decent pasta and coffee in the immediate vicinity.
So, as mentioned. Tried the carbonara pasta in my earlier visit. As expected, cream makes an unwanted appearance — when will people learn to make their damn carbonara without bloody cream. Despite the culinary faux pas, the creamy bacon pasta (I refuse to call it carbonara) is well constructed, and topped off with a runny half-​cooked egg, which in this part of the world is a very tasty treat. Have yet to try the other dishes and I expect I will work my way through the menu as I pop over the rest of the year for my future grocery runs.
Coffee tasted a touch burnt and overextracted. Definitely no 3^rd wave here, despite the single origin bean declaration at the counter. Nonetheless, decent and always a better option than satanbucks.
Had a slice of peanut butter banana cake — not overly sweet, but peanut butter flavour was somewhat absent. Still a pleasant tea time treat.
Some craft beers on the menu, mainly Lost Coast stuff. Crowd pleasers for sure.
I’ll pop by again, buy only because there are so few options worth considering at Bukit Timah Plaza.

I tried this place out for brunch on a Sunday morning. It is located outside the main building of Bukit Timah Plaza.
They have a brunch menu (available till 5pm) and a mains menu (available from 3pm).
I had the Lemuel Benedict (their rendition of the obligatory eggs benedicte) ($ 12) and an Iced Long Black ($ 5). The prices are nett and there is no GST or service charge so you are spared the nasty shock that comes with the bill which you might get at some other cafes.
I found the food portions quite small — they were also not very generous with the hollandaise sauce. The toasted bread was also a bit hard and dry.
For a café that only recently opened its doors, I found the staff’s enthusiasm somewhat wanting and even a bit unfriendly. This affected the atmosphere in the café and I felt a constant brooding mood weighing on me as I finished up the not very impressive food.
I may give this place another shot in future to see if these are just teething issues. All in all — quite a promising café in a good location but improvements are needed.