Dory ($10); Americano & Flat White ($3 each)!
Tuesday cafe combo — dory main $10 + Americano + flat white $3 each. The casual cafe lunch + drinks pair.
Tuesday cafe lunch with BB — dory ($10) + Americano + flat white at $3 each. The casual cafe lunch + drinks pair.
We ordered:
- Dory (main) — $10
- Americano — $3
- Flat white — $3
Total: $16 for the spread.
The dory main was the substantial component. Battered or grilled dory fillet (the standard Singapore casual restaurant fish), with the proper Western-style preparation — usually fries or potato wedges on the side, plus a vegetable side or salad.
Dory is the budget Singapore white fish standard. Different from premium white fish (sea bass, halibut, cod), dory is the farmed Asian catfish (basa) marketed under the dory name. The flavour is mild and the texture is flaky, which works well for the battered or grilled preparation in casual restaurant formats.
At $10 for the dory main this is fair budget-to-mid casual cafe pricing. The grilled or battered preparation paired with sides and a sauce delivers a complete lunch at the casual restaurant tier.
The Americano was the simple coffee order. Double espresso pulled clean, topped with hot water. At $3 this is budget-tier specialty cafe pricing — most cafes charge $4-5 for the Americano.
The flat white was the textbook Australian-style pour. Double ristretto shot in a 6oz cup, microfoam silky enough to draw on without going dry, less milk than a latte but more than a cortado. At $3 this is similarly budget-tier pricing.
The $3 drinks pricing suggests this was a cafe-meets-casual-restaurant format rather than a premium specialty cafe. The lower drink pricing keeps the overall lunch bill accessible for the regular weekday rotation.
The combination of two drinks plus a substantial main covers the casual lunch + cafe stop format in one visit. Different from doing the lunch and the cafe stop separately, the combined format saves time and the combined bill is slightly cheaper than the separated visits.
Tuesday weekday lunches at cafes are part of the rotation. Home cooking baseline + hawker stops + occasional cafe lunches for the variety break. The split works for the energy budget.
Phase 2 cafe scene in Singapore has expanded across the years. The casual cafe-with-Western-food format competes with the hawker centres and the chain restaurants for the weekday lunch slot.
Overall: 4.4 / 5. 😋👍🏼 Solid cafe lunch + drinks combo — would re-order.
