Lazy Sunday with the Furry Kid

Ever since Rosie came into the family, we started planning some of our weekends with this furry child of mine. And there’s some many pet-friendly cafes and restaurants these days for our four-legged child.

Located in the Dempsey cluster, which comprised of the old CMPB barracks, these lusciously green outdoor enclaves are home to many boutique cafes and restaurants. And many of them are pretty pet-friendly, as long as they are seated outdoors. So if you are coming with your hairy ones, do ask and book in advance.

Baker & Cook

Kiwi baker Dean Brettschneider was visiting a friend in Singapore when he decided the local neighbourhood could do with a bakery. Seven years later, his business empire has grown to include 16 bakeries, nine pizza restaurants and seen him publish 15 cook books and hosted several TV shows.

Dean co-owns and is the founder of the successful artisan bakeries Baker & Cook, Plank Sourdough Pizza, Mo & Jo Sourdough Burgers and Brettschneider’s Baking & Cooking School in Singapore and beyond.

First opened in 2012, Baker & Cook was Singapore’s first true artisan bakery & foodstore that was so common in Australia. It was almost taken for granted Down-under to have wonderful artisan bread and sourdough freshly produced. But because Singaporeans were not so used to such rustic and hard crusted bread, we could only get the usual Sunshine and Gardenia in the local supermarkets.

Ever since I had my first lamington in Perth 30 years ago, this is a must-have dessert for me. The lamington, which may or may not have been named for Lord or Lady Lamington of Queensland at the turn of the 20th century, is a national treasure in Australia. Essentially, a lamington is a cube of sponge cake covered in chocolate and coated with unsweetened coconut. 

Over the years, I have tried lamingtons in all kind of flavours; my least favourite is original chocolate lamington though. The strawberry lamington they were serving was pretty good; the vanilla sponge cake was dry enough to allow the strawberry flavoured milk chocolate to cling to it. Equally outstanding was the rose pistachio donut with custard filling. Sugar overdose for a Sunday afternoon.

Here’s a great brekkie item no matter the time of the day – chorizo hash. The potato hash was well spiked with spices (harissa?), but I hoped it would be crispier on the outside. Topped with a sunny-side up and rockets mesclun thrown haphazardly, it could do with a bit more chorizo bits.

Foot-long Plank Sourdough Pizzas

tomato sauce, mozzarella, burrata, parma ham, marinated tomatoes and rocket (top) | tomato sauce, wild mushrooms, shrimps, capers, rocket, smoked salmon, sour cream and dill (bottom)

Located next to the Bake & Cook is the sister restaurant, Plank Sourdough Pizza. And this was the highlight of our brunch.

Plank Sourdough Pizza is different. They do not have thick crust, oily, cheese-laden pizzas with preservatives, improvers and frozen ingredients. Everything on the pizza is fresh.

The burrata was absolutely creamy and delicious and it went so well with the parma ham and sun-dried tomato. Not sure if the burrata was made in-house, but the simple construction of this plank pizza was one of the best in Singapore because of the sourdough base.

And the smoked salmon and shrimp pizza was as outstanding as the burrata ham pizza. Fresh sour cream with fresh dill, you can taste the garden on this pizza.

After the human commentary, how was it for Rosie? Rosie did not approve the food here, which was primarily for human consumption. There’s no separate menu for the furry kids, just normal kids. All they have was a water bowl.

Baker & Cook @ Core Collective Dempsey
30C Loewen Road Singapore 248839
Tel : +65 6251 1098

Visited Dec 2022

#pet_friendly #bakerandcooksg @bakerandcooksg @brettschneiders @planksourdoughpizza