Grapevine Cafe Bar & Restaurant

As requested by a famous local food blogger, am posting this mini review after my second visit. Since I'll be helping out at a friend's wedding on this coming Saturday, I decided to take my family out on the eve of Hari Raya to celebrate my Dad's birthday in advance.


Grapevine has two branches, the first in Upper Serangoon which I hear from a colleague is always packed, and the newer one in East Coast Road (reviewed here) - near the defunct famous Red Bakery, opposite Katong Village/Mall (Look for the orange-colour sign). On both weekday visits, the place was empty except for our group, so either they need to do more marketing, or they're choosing to wait for word of mouth to spread. It's the kind of dilemma you face when you discover someplace nice and want to keep it to yourself, but worried at the same time that they'll close if you do.

The decor, like the menu, is western and straightforward. The first level is for dining, and the bar is on the second level with projection screen TV and a pool table. Fosters' on tap, there's no wine list; but a small selection of wines (mainly Oz) is available. We ordered a nice shiraz to go with the meal. BYO is possible, but with a corkage of $15 per bottle.

Pardon my French if there's lack of adjectives to describe the food. For starters we had homemade mushroom soup, garden salad and shared a combo platter (finger food consisting of fries, nuggets and mini spring rolls) for Appetisers. Fresh, crisp and crunchy respectively (told you).

As one of the chef's recommendations, and the main reason to visit, I guess I can describe the steak with a little more detail. My parents and I ordered the juicy, succulent, thick (to my standard) char-grilled rib-eye or sirloin on a bed of smmooth mashed potato and red wine sauce. Mmm Mmmm. The chef tends to err on the rare side, so order at least medium rare. Please call in advance for special cuts/requests as the meat arrives everyday in the afternoon. My sis ordered their baked rice, which took too long to arrive and is ordinary.

For dessert, we shared their brownie and blueberry sundae. The brownie was warm, soft and chocolatey with two small scoops of vanilla ice-cream with stripes of chocolate sauce, and is recommended. The blueberry sundae was alright, with a fair number of berries in the sauce to go with the vanilla ice-cream.

Expectations on service should be tempered, it's obliging but not always forthcoming. If you're in the Katong area, looking for a nice place to bring your date, family or friends for a nice meal, drinks and conversation, don't be discouraged by the empty interior. Grapevine's definitely better than the food and atmosphere you pay for at Swenson's and similar... Just dont tell too many of your friends.

Grapevine Cafe Bar & Restaurant, 95 East Coast Rd, Singapore 428793
T:6345 5159 (Ken)