Located at the first level of an industrial building near SingPost Centre, Nuevo is an unassuming cafe set up by KitchenHub, a commercial kitchen equipment specialist, in April 2016 right next to their showroom in Eunos Avenue 3 with the intention to create and celebrate casual hearty food to share with the masses.
We were there at a rather off-peak time of 4pm (to 6pm) and the cafe was still pretty packed! They very humbly attributed the crowd to the church located in the same building, but I later found out that it's really the quality of their food that counts.
For a casual cafe establishment, Nuevo boasts a pretty impressive menu at extremely affordable pricing, and with a variety of food selections that differs slightly for weekdays and weekend.
Their kitchen is located away from the cafe seating, right at the other end across the showroom.
And over here, you can find the legendary acclaimed Josper Oven Grill.
An oven and charcoal grill combined into one, Josper Grill simplifies the usual two step process of grilling our meat before finishing them off in the oven into one. This supposedly not only shorten the time taken for thick cuts of meat to be cooked, but also create wonderfully cooked meat that's tender and succulent on the inside.
And here's the main highlight of the day, FOOD! Oh, glorious food! Nuevo Cafe has prepared a selection of their newly launched menu and signature dishes from both the weekday and weekend menu for the day.
A rather impressive spread, eh? But thank goodness Nuevo has very thoughtfully portioned out the dishes into food-tasting friendly serving sizes so that none of our stomachs burst that day.
But before that let's touch on their signature drink, the Iced Earl Grey Tea.
Sweetened with honey instead of table sugar, the ice cubes that they've used for the drink are actually frozen cubes of the earl grey tea itself, hence you will never have the disappointing moment of realising that your tea has turned into plain water when all the ice cubes has melted after being left on the table for too long.
One brownie point for the effort!
And here's some of the dishes we've tried for the day that made a lasting impression on me.
Potato Mochi
Mashed potato with mochi, camembert cheese & topped with teriyaki glaze
I friggin' love this appetizer, OMG. These are so good! Nuevo has simply taken 3 of my favourite food, potato, mochi and cheese and mashed them together into this delicious golden nugget that's deep fried till crispy on the outside but soft, gooey-chewy on the inside and bursting with oozing Camembert cheese.
As a serious carb-monster, I could actually see myself ordering two servings of this and having them as my main, I'm not joking.
Mentaiko Carbonara
Linguine in mentaiko cream sauce with bacon, tobikko, parmesan and onsen egg
This is like an upgraded carbonara, packed full of flavour not only from mentaiko, but the addition of bacon, parmesan and tobikko also added a lot more savoury flavour to the pasta. Might be on the too-salty side if you always prefer a milder flavour. I mean, when you see bacon, tobikko and parmesan together, you should know the savoury factor is going to pack a punch.
Kakuni Pork Rice Bowl
Japanese braised pork belly on pearl rice and served with pickled radish, pistachio furikake and onsen egg
I'm hardly a fan of pork, much less to say pork belly (hate the fats!) unless it's roasted and with crackling skin but this kakuni pork is so good! It didn't even taste like pork, to be honest. The meat was so tender and juicy, it was almost like the fats and lean meat layers has been cooked to melt into each other. The braising sauce also gave the pork so much flavour, you could really call this addictive.
There's absolutely nothing to dislike about the pearl rice, which obviously tasted premium (yes, after working p/t in both Edo sushi & Genki sushi during my university years, I've learnt that not all Japanese pearl rice are made the same...), but I did have some tiny issue with the pistachio furikake, which had some really tough-crunchy bits here and there that hurt my sensitive teeth.
But it's not you, it's me. I just need to take better care of my poor, weak teeth.
Yakiniku Wagyu Rice Bowl
If you're still not sold for the kakuni pork and prefer beef, Nuevo also has a yakiniku wagyu rice bowl to satisfy your tastebuds. Look at how pink and juicy the wagyu slices are, they're literally glistening.
Baked Salmon
Salmon fillet with miso butter sauce, served with mashed sweet potato and mesclun salad
Though tasty, I personally felt that the baked salmon was a tad dry but it could be due to the chef cutting the fish into smaller portions before cooking the fish, instead of cooking the fish as per usual serving size before cutting it up into smaller portions.
But what's truly intriguing for this dish was the mashed (purple) sweet potato! Although I personally do love sweet potatoes, but the purple ones are always my least favourite as they always have this distinctive earthy soil taste. But Nuevo has not only managed to get rid of that unpleasant earthy taste, but made it taste exactly like a normal mashed potato, the usual rich and creamy texture and all. What magic is this?!
Burnt Chicken
Chicken thigh in honey glaze, with shoestring fries and coleslaw
Taste wise, it is pretty standard, a savoury marinate with hint of sweetness from the honey glaze. But despite being "burnt", the insides of the meat remains extremely tender and succulent while the charred bits on the outside added a lot more depth to the flavour.
Oh man, thank you, Josper Grill.
And now, to their weekend brunch menu!
Croque Madame
Brioche with honey ham, parmesan, mozzarella, cheddar and mentaiko bechamel sauce, topped with fried eggs and served with mesclun salad, grilled tomato, duchess potato and pistachio furikake
I know, it seems huge, but I'm sure my greedy self can easily polish the plate clean (on my cheatday, of course!) because who doesn't like some thick, fluffy & buttery brioche toast with ham and a mixture of THREE yummy cheeses? And those duchess potatoes are so damn good (for a potato-lover like yours truly). It's probably piped mash potato that's deep fried, so the outsides were crisp while the insides were light and fluffy. <3
Nuevo Breakfast
Brioche toast with cheese sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs and Japanese mushrooms, served with mesclun salad, grilled tomato, duchess potato and pistachio furikake
A huge, hearty platter of all things yummy, this is definitely the go-to choice for the starving. You can't go wrong with brioche, juicy cheese sausage, bacon and creamy scrambled eggs together on a plate. Having it looking so instagram-worthy just adds more brownie points to it.
For fellow coffee addicts out there, you'll be glad to know that Nuevo does a pretty decent Flat White too! But those funky looking bubbles on the surface was due to me leaving it standing on the table for a little too long. Heh!
Nuevo Cafe SG is located at 115 Eunos Ave 3, #01-01
for more information, visit their website HERE
Till then,
Mia Foo
