Caffe Cicheti
C'était le jour de Chuseok, ou Thanksgiving coréen. Même si je n'ai jamais vraiment célébré le festival chinois de la mi-automne, la famille maternelle du mari le fait, pour marquer l'arrivée de l'automne en Corée du Sud. C'est un jour de fête très important pour les Coréens, parce que de nombreuses familles sont dispersées dans le monde, et c'est le jour traditionnellement, que chacun retourne dans sa ville natale, se réunissent avec leur famille et pour célébrer les liens familiaux.
À cause de la situation de Covid-19, nous ne pouvions pas aller à Séoul, comme nous le faisons habituellement chaque année, pour rendre visite à la famille de Mon Bou. Et comme je n'ai pas daigné pour cuisiner des plats traditionnels Chuseok, (mais vraiment, si je sois honnête, j'étais trop paresseuse pour cuisiner 😁😅), nous sommes sortis pour un bon dîner de fête.
Et alors, nous sommes allés au Caffe Cicheti pour la cuisine italienne (nous ne suivons pas vraiment la tradition et donc nous ne nous sommes pas sentis obligés de manger des "jeon" et des "songpyeon", plats traditionnels de Chuseok), nous y avons dîné pour le brunch il y a quelques semaines (c'était très magnifique et nous avions voulu y retourner pour leurs offrandes de dîner).
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Caffe Cicheti is the newest concept under the Cicheti group of restaurants (namely the original Cicheti along Kandahar Street and sister restaurant Bar Cicheti at the Keong Siak conservation area). We've never been able to secure a reservation at the teenie tiny Bar Cicheti but Caffe Cicheti is a different story altogether because the gleam of South Beach's new-ness has faded, and attention-short Singaporeans have assumably moved on to throng the next mall du jour. Whereas the restaurants lining South Beach used to be bustling with selfie-taking influencer types, it's now far less madding, and much better suited for a chilled out brunch.
We haven't been out to brunch for some time now because you know, we're in the middle of a global pandemic and we try as best we can to avoid other humans and stay home (also, we'd rather skip lunch to catch up on our sleep deficit on the weekend). But Kang is an early riser, and one of our favourite persons, so when he cajoled us to check out the brunch at Caffe Cicheti, we obliged (with an abundance of bellyaching and carping of course hah, but we nonetheless dragged our blurry-eyed selves out because we love him so)
Boy oh boy was brunch some kind of homecoming: it turned out marvelous. We chowed down 6 entrees between the 3 of us, so you can imagine how fantastic the food was. In fact, brunch was so phenomenal, the Husband and I returned for dinner to celebrate the Korean mid-Autumn festival of Chuseok.
If only that the air-conditioning actually worked. I get that The Husband and I have never really acclimatized to Singapore's humid heat, but the air-conditioning at Caffe Cicheti was so weak, we all were perspiring throughout brunch and dinner. I mean, it was so stuffy and uncomfortable, I was a melty puddle of sweat by the time the first dish arrived. Suffice it to say, we did not linger after we finished our meals. (or maybe, just maybe, that was the restaurant's genius idea to get customers to quickly turn over the tables on their own accord? and if so, kudos🙇)
Every brunch dish turned out must-tries, and the Fritella ($25) a duo of corn and zucchini fritters, sided by a poached egg, a thick slab of maple-glazed bacon, arugula salad, tomatoes on the vine, guacamole, and spicy jalapeno jam, was excellent. Our party of 3 shared everything, and while we love each other like family, we fought over dividing the fritters equitably. 😅
A classic 'bao-ga-liao' option, the Cicheti Big Breakfast ($27.50) was a massive platter of poached eggs, an elevated rendition of baked beans - Italian nduja-spiced cannellini bean stew, sauteed white button mushrooms, crispy bacon strips, salsiccia sausage, cherry tomatoes, fried baby potatoes, and sourdough toasts.
The Truffle-Infused Omelette ($25) was an elegant confection laced with truffle salsa and gruyere. This was accompanied by parma ham, mesclun salad, sourdough, and grilled cherry tomatoes.
The Grilled Cheese ($19), layered with provolone, parmigiano, fior di latte, cheddar, and onion marmalade would make converts of even the lactose-intolerant. It's so incredible, I'm happy to suffer the consequences of IBS, I was plastered to the toilet seat for the rest of the day 😅. For maximum satisfaction, dip the sandwich into the smoked tomato veloute for a piquant contrast.
I'm not entirely sure why the Cacio e Pepe ($24) is only available for the weekend brunch menu, but I'm grateful that I got to try it at least. Some say it is too salty, but I demur: I thought the lashings of parmigiano and pecorino were balanced by the heat of crushed Sarawak black peppercorns. A perfectly soft poached egg topped off the glorious concoction.
For dinner, we had the Bavette ($27), wonderfully al dente fresh pasta ribbons slathered in an umami shellfish broth, studded with sweet lump crab, courgette, blistered tomatoes, and spiked with chilli for a little kick.
I've never been a gnocchi but the Gnocchi ($23) at Cicheti was so out-of-this-world, so first-rate, I would venture this is their best pasta. The potato dumplings were delightfully pillowy, they were as fluffy as the forest mushrooms were springy. Shaved parmigiano and a creamy mushroom veloute rounded up this outstanding course.
Caffe Cicheti also serves up the Brussels Sprouts ($10) I've ever had, bar none. The smoky nutty accents of the roasted sprouts were fragrant with pomegranate molasses and dotted with candid pecans. Order this in advance, we wanted to takeaway another portion of this for supper, but the cafe had sold this out earlier in the night.
The beautifully charred Asparago ($13.50) was served with a rich bagna cauda aioli, and finished with a generous sprinkle of toasted breadcrumbs.
Caffe Cicheti @ South Beach
26 Beach Road
#B1-21 South Beach Avenue
Tel: 6384 1878 / 8553 4119
Open weekdays 11.30am to 2.30pm for lunch; 6pm to 9.30pm for dinner;
Saturdays from 10.30am to 2.30pm for lunch; 6pm to 9.30pm for dinner;
Sundays from 10.30am to 4.30pm for brunch only
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