Essential Brew Tea Cafe & Restaurant

Chomp Venue:
Essential Brew Tea Cafe & Restaurant
269 Holland Avenue
Holland Village

Opening hours:
Sundays - Thursdays, Tuesdays: 11am-11pm
Fridays - Saturdays, PH (public holiday) Eve: 11am-2am
Wed: 11am-12.30am

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The first time I stepped into Essential Brew was right after my end of semester exams last year, with a few friends, as we all had $5 discount coupons (issued during some school event). The cuisine here are all inspired by some tea or other.

Anyway, after attending a birthday party at a mansion in Belmont drive, my friends and I headed down to Holland V for dinner. We weren't feeling too loaded with spare cash so we chose Essential Brew. I remembered the comfortable 2nd floor, with the Japanese style platforms, short tables and soft cushions as seats, but there was a notice which said the 2nd floor would only be opened after 6pm :(. The last time I came, the time was way past 8pm, so I didn't know.

We stood around for quite some time at the front of the restaurant. There wasn't any staff around to attend to us. The first floor is divided into 2 sections, the usual tables and the Japanese style platform seats. When we finally got some attention, we settled for the normal tables.


The platform seats on 1st floor.


My drink on the left: Summer Peach (Iced peach with Earl Grey tea) at $4.75. The Earl Grey taste was quite prominent even with the sweet peach taste:). P's drink: Cranberry lustre (Cranberry + Oolong) at $.4.75. Bitter oolong plus sweet taste of cranberries. I preferred mine=p.


Berries of the Forest (a mix of wild berries) at $3.95, served with honey. This was hot tea which could be refilled. The tea leaves were in this circular sieve like thing in the cup, I presume it was not served with normal teabags so as to prevent the tea leaves residue from getting into the drink itself. The tea was quite sour and tangy, but it was very refreshing especially after eating the vvvsweet dessert.



Cilantro Fillet at $13.95. Being swaku I didn't know what cilantro was, but seeing that the introduction promised me that the cilantro spice would be spicy, I ordered it. When I saw the green moss on the fish, I had a horrible sense of deja vu. I remember ordering Fish&Co's Coriander dory before, and there was also this green moss on the dory fish, and I hated the coriander smell/taste/colour.

Cilantro is actually the Spanish name of the leaves which are typically called coriander leaves in Britain. But I thought this version of cilantro fillet tasted so much better! All the mossiness looked highly suspicious/dubious, but it was tasted vvgood. The grilled fillet was nicer too(:. The fillet was thick, and fish melted in my mouth.

The rice at the side was Jasmine tea flavour. I thought it had improved! Less sweet, but probably cos it tasted more salty too, so the salt masked the sweetness. The salad had a lot of dark greens and purple lettuce and had a herb/tea dressing.



Cajun dory at $13.95. Took a bite of it. I've always liked cajun seasoning:), especially spicier ones. This was not bad.



Salsa dory at $13.95. The salsa taste wasn't really evident=X. And P mentioned her salad had a strong chinese herbs taste. Maybe her salad had fewer greens, so the dressing wasn't evenly spread out.


Crispy lemongrass chicken at $13.95. I ate this on my previous trip and it rocked. The big portion of chicken had a thin batter so there was lots of meat:). Cut the meat, dip it into the lemongrass dip, and send it to your mouth. Mmmmm~


Plateau Serenade -Ice cream bombe with chocolate fudge brownie and macadamia supreme ice cream with a surprise at the centre- at $15.95 (there is 15% off if ordered with a main course). We shared a dessert after the filling main courses, and this was some expensive goodness. The dessert was served with sour (IMO. My friends thought otherwise~) strawberries and crisp cornflakes. The surprise in the middle was chocolate fudge (It was cold though. I thought it would be hot=p)^^. Share it with a few more friends if the price sets you back. It costs 2 bucks more the main course. However, you may end up fighting for the last spoonful of ice cream + brownie + fudge or the last strawberry or the last pieces of cornflakes(;.

We spent about $23 each, and they only charge service charge here! No gst surchages:). You get a voucher worthed $5 for every $50 bill, so we got 2 vouchers. Which means I'll be back someday before the coupon expires:).