Refuel Cafe – The Hidden Gem @ Bedok Reservoir

The storefront of Refuel Cafe

Refuel Cafe is my personal favourite brunch cafe! They are located just at our doorstep, and we would drop by once a week for their delicious food. When we first spotted this cafe sometime towards the end of 2014 – our first thought was ‘not another brunch cafe‘. However, we were hooked from our first visit. The strength of Refuel Cafe is not in any ridiculously delicious marquee food item or over-the-top latte art or super hipster feel, but rather its affordability coupled with consistently solid and delicious food all-around.

With most of their dishes having generous serving sizes and priced in the region of S$10, you don’t feel ripped off like many other brunch cafes around the island. And they have solid quality food all-around – so far almost every single dish that we have tried is solid and delicious, barring the minor quirks here and there.

The best of all is that you can take a nice lovely walk along the picturesque Bedok Reservoir, which looks really gorgeous especially in the evening.

Service and Ordering

When we first visited we really experienced some quirky service. We suppose that the owners weren’t really too experienced in directing service so we were a bit confused ourselves. Basically we didn’t really know what to do after we entered. Initially it seemed entirely self-service except for the delivery of the food, but once in awhile you would get the staff showing you to the available tables. After maturing over the last year and a half, we’re glad to say that their service has improved to an acceptable level of a typical cafe and we have no complaints.

Iced water and utensils are self-service. The menus are available at the counter and you have to make your order at the counter, with upfront payment.

Refuel Cafe – 1/2 Tank

This is their 1/2 Tank all-day brunch option priced at S$12.50. It comes with scrambled eggs, chicken sausage, salad, tomatoes, mashed potato and toast. Their more prominent Full Tank item goes for S$16.50 and has more items such as mushrooms, bacon, salmon and asparagus.

We really loved their scrambled eggs and mashed potatoes. The scrambled eggs are top quality with a superb texture and fragrant taste. The chef has definitely got the milk and butter proportions down just right here. Their mashed potatoes are super creamy and smooth, with a very nice taste – we found them really addictive to eat. The toast and sausages were pretty decent too. No matter what brunch item you choose here, we would definitely recommend at least getting their scrambled eggs and mashed potatoes. We rate those 4.2/5.

Waffle with Scrambled Eggs and Bacon

Well we thought that we’ve seen it all. This is the first waffle-scrambled eggs-bacon combination that we have encountered! You get their fantastic scrambled eggs mixed with super crispy waffles and maple syrup – OMG! This is a unique taste combination that is a seriously one-of-a-kind must try.

We would recommend their sausage or smoked salmon waffle variations instead though, as we weren’t too impressed with their bacon. They also have this super tempting Porky Egg Waffle that comes with honey BBQ pulled pork! If we exclude the bacon from consideration we rate this marvelous novel item 4/5. Their waffle variations are priced between S$12.50 and S$13.90.

Baked Honey BBQ Ribs

These are served with potatoes and salad, but as usual we made some customisations to the order. The most amazing thing about this dish is the price – S$14.90. You will never get this quality of ribs at this price anywhere else in Singapore. The ribs are super tender and the honey glazing is absolutely delicious. We could eat this all day if our bodies could handle unlimited calories.

The slight downside here is the occasional inconsistency – once in awhile you will get a slab of ribs that is slightly over-baked, and while still decent to eat, it is a bit tougher. We rate these 4/5.

Baked Salmon

As some of our readers may have noticed by now, salmon is one of Sheryn’s favourite foods. And she was thoroughly impressed with the baked salmon at Refuel Cafe. The salmon here is always cooked to the correct tenderness, and the secret spicy creamy sauce is the super delicious highlight of the dish. That sauce has a tangy sour-savoury taste (traces of tom yam) and is seriously addictive. It goes perfectly well with the salmon and the included mashed potatoes.

Sheryn gives this baked salmon an awesome 4.4/5. It is priced at S$13.90. By default, the baked salmon fillet is served with spicy creamy sauce, asparagus and mashed potatoes.

Creamy Shrimps & Mussels

Refuel Cafe calls this their favourite pasta. It has shrimps and mussels with lemongrass infused tomyam cream sauce and is slightly spicy. For the generous ingredients that you get here, it is super well worth the S$13.90 price tag and this is a must try if you are a seafood fan.

We found the seafood fresh and fragrant with al dente spaghetti and a smattering of garlic and onions. The cream sauce in this pasta is suspiciously similar (albeit spicier) to the cream sauce that came with their baked salmon, but we found it super delicious nonetheless. It looks like they created this awesome Thai sauce and they are just using variations of it on as many dishes as they can. We can’t blame them, since it tastes great and we rate it 4.2/5.

Final Thoughts

This is another of those reviews that we are a bit reluctant to write. We always look forward to a random dinner at Refuel Cafe, where we can enjoy their affordable and delicious food. Sharing is caring but we do hope that the queues don’t get too long!

Don’t forget to take a nice long walk along Bedok Reservoir after your meal, preferably just as the sun is setting. You will be able to enjoy an amazing view and snap some memorable photos as well.