BELLY UP Reviews Singapore's Dog-Friendly Cafes: Atlas Coffeehouse & Their Newest Themed Cafe, Neptune.

Disclaimer: This is an independent review and we have had no commercial relations to Atlas Coffeehouse or its affiliates. Having tried thousands of cafes globally, we hope to bring you the most objective take on dog-friendly cafes and restaurants in Singapore through our adventures with our furry friends.

Growing a successful food & beverage business, especially a cafe chain, in Singapore is a phenomenal work of precision, seasonality, and quality. This is what Atlas Coffeehouse prides itself on.

Over the past five years, this charming dog-friendly coffee shop nestled in the heart of Bukit Timah has remained relevant in keeping its customers caffeinated and satisfied. Now, having grown from one to five cosmos concept stores in just half a decade, Atlas is still one of our favourite cafes to visit and enjoy a relaxing brunch or tea with our pups.

In this article, we are excited to review not just one, but two cafes; Atlas, the OG, and Neptune, the newest addition to their chain of cafes in the east.

Atlas Coffeehouse

The Space

Situated at the corner of Bukit Timah Road and Dukes Road, Atlas is opened by the folks behind Assembly Coffee. The interior is spacious with high ceilings and a modern industrial theme.

Once you enter, a subtle fragrance of coffee will entice your senses as you get comfortable and cosy with the space. The interior is filled with approximately 12 to 14 tables, seating 20 to 30 guests comfortably. The outdoor area has 7 small tables laid in parallel, assuming 2 to 3 people per table, they would accommodate 15 to 20 diners at any one time. The outdoor/alfresco dining area is pet-friendly and often filled with diners and their furry friends.

One of the perks of this location as compared to many other pet-friendly establishments, is that their outdoor seating area is located a distance away from the road, and therefore cleaner and better maintained. There was also ample shelter in place to provide cover from the elements.

The Menu

@golden_bagel with the Summer Chicken Stew ($19.3)

Atlas gets their coffee beans from 2º North Coffee Co., a regular (and winners) at local and regional brewing competitions. These are the same coffee bean providers to our other favourites, such as Maxi Coffee Bar.

We ordered the Magic Coffee ($5.4), as our founders wanted to savour the flavours of this award-winning coffee. Magic is unlike traditional espresso-based milk coffees, but prepared from a double ristretto filled with silky smooth milk. This velvety texture is a must-try if you are a sophisticated coffee lover.

For food, we had the Summer Chicken Stew ($19.3). A rich chicken broth perfectly balanced with sun-dried tomato cream to deliver a flavour that was beyond this universe (pun intended). A heartening bowl of soup is only complete with toasted slices of sourdough bread to dip your soup in; perfect on a rainy afternoon.

We also ordered the Butterscotch Banana Pancake ($19.8). The pancake arrived in what seemed like a cast iron skillet, keeping it warm whilst we enjoyed the sweet-savoury mixture of bananas, butterscotch sauce, cornflake crunchies, and vanilla ice cream. We would recommend our readers to share the pancakes amongst two to three people (doggos not included), as it was a slightly surfeiting experience.

The Experience

It was our second time at Atlas Coffeehouse with our dog on a weekday afternoon. We will highly recommend dog owners to head down during weekdays, or weekend mornings before 11AM, as it gets very crowded during noontime on Saturdays and Sundays.

The staff were very friendly and accommodating towards our dog, and provided him with a bowl of iced water once we arrived. One of them even came over to play with Bagel and gave him some pets and scratches. What a nice dog-friendly cafe with a wholesome experience!

Neptune

The Space

Neptune’s outdoor area. Notice the arches on the windows contrasted with a tiled design.

Situated, also at a corner, between East Coast Road and Lorong Stangee, the newest addition to their group of cafes features a Japanese-theme that has taken over the now defunct Firebake.

The designers decked the windows and doors with arches, contrasted with the rectangular tiles, tables and coffee bar. This concept is becoming increasingly popular in both commercial and residential spaces, providing a classical impact to modern architecture.

The interior seats 20 to 30 guests, whilst the exterior has 9 to 10 tables that can accommodate 25 to 30 guests in total. Most of the outdoor seating is along Lor Stangee, which is set a pavement away from the main road. However, we felt that the cars were still in close proximity to our tables with a frequent gust of fuel exhaust hitting our noses.

The Menu

Plain Buttermilk Waffle (top), Crab & Scallop (bottom left) and Magic coffee (bottom right) from Neptune

Items on Neptune’s menu did not differ a lot from Atlas’, with the same offering of Summer Chicken Stew and Bacon Kedgeree, and similar coffee brews. They also offer a variety of teas, juices, kombuchas, and wines.

It will be fair to think that we would conduct a similar taste test to their precision and quality of coffee here at Neptune, so we decided to get another shot at their Magic Coffee ($5.4). The same smooth, velvety texture embodied by a balanced flavourful cuppa was served, and it set a high expectation for what was to come.

We decided to try something unique to Neptune, and ordered the Crab and Scallop tagliatelle ($24.9). The pasta took approximately 25 minutes to be served, owing to the huge weekend crowd and seeming lack of manpower. The scallops and pasta were over-cooked; a huge disappointment considering pasta is a staple in most restaurants nowadays, and preparing them al-dente seems like a fair expectation (it’s not that hard, is it? (pun also intended)). We had two mouthfuls of our rubbery scallops and gummy pasta before giving up, and told the service staff that it was overcooked, to which they apologised for but did not propose to get it replaced.

We also ordered the Plain Buttermilk Waffles ($11.2) and added on a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The waffles were also overcooked, and what we were expecting to be a light and crispy delight was served hard and tough with a lot of crunch. It honestly tasted more like a biscuit than a waffle. For delectable crisp on the outside, soft on the inside waffles, we would recommend Sunday Folks, which is also pet-friendly.

Neptune’s Food Menu with Japanese-styled designs.

The Experience

When we arrived at the cafe, we were met with a crowd of approximately 10 to 15 people waiting to be seated. It was challenging to get a hold of the staff managing the queue, who had to pop in and out of the cafe to ensure that seats were cleared up fast enough to move the line along. However, once we got in the queue, which was expected to be a 45 minute wait, the staff promptly told us that outdoor seatings should free up faster, and we were ushered to a table within 15 minutes.

In addition, the staff offered our dog a bowl of iced water, which he quickly devoured in the hot afternoon weather.

@golden_bagel patiently waiting to be seated

Maybe we should have been more aware of the red flags of long lines and hype-driven crowds. We were never fond of queues at places but Atlas provided us with such an amazing experience that we decided to support its newest sister outlet in the east.

Coffee here is still amazing, but the food still needs some work.

The Details

Atlas Coffeehouse

6 Duke's Rd, Singapore 268886

Opening Hours: 8AM - 7PM Tuesdays to Sundays.

Parking: Duke’s Road (<20 Parking Lots)

Neptune

237 E Coast Rd, Singapore 428930

Opening Hours: 9AM - 10PM Tuesdays to Saturdays. 9AM - 7PM Sundays.

Parking: Stangee Place, Lor Stangee (>20 Parking Lots)

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xo
Nellie

BELLY UPApril 18, 2021