Of Tea and Potatoes - Poteato

The original intention was to go to Abe's Diner, but for some reason, the place was not open for lunch (same like the other time when we tried to go Open Door Policy and ended up at Paul's instead). Actually we went to Open Door Policy a long time before but I hadn't blogged about that... oopz

We wasted a lot of time looking for the place because it was so nondescript that it looked like part of the shop next door.  In the end it was only after we asked for help via phone call, that's when we found the actual address and realized that it was closed. 

"So where do we go now?" asked Bär. 

"How about Poteato?" B1 and I saw it that day while strolling after dinner at Big Mama's. We also saw four Playboy bunnies scrambling out of a Limo (I didn't even know that there are limos in Singapore), but that's another story.

Oopz... we ended up walking up all the way from one end of Tiong Bahru enclave to the other. We were grilled half way through then just to test our resolve, the skies opened and it started to rain as well. Fun. Not.

Photos of the old Provision shop

So we wandered into Poteato, which space used to be a provision shop. They even took photos of the old place before the renovation. I kind of like the industrial+retro elements in the cafe, simple yet modern. However I thought that the middle brick wall was rather unnecessary. Btw you should check out its WC. The sink is a metal bucket. Hahaha.

Great wall of tea...

We looked through the menu. Since its name is Poteato, needless to say, its focus is on potatoes and tea (had a wall of teas!). I ordered lychee tea and Bär, passionfruit tea. I must say if it had not been for the fruit lurking at the bottom of the glass mugs we would not have been able to differentiate between them! But the tea was quite cool and refreshing, thank god, after the shitty long walk we had.

Can you tell which one is Lychee tea?

So a few minutes after that the waiter wanders around carrying small teacups. We totally ignored him because we got our beverages right? Nope, after 5 minutes, he finally figured that it was us who ordered soup.

Bär's was potato and leek soup and mine was clam chowder. Bär's must have been pretty bland because he kept adding salt and pepper to it. I realized that it was delicately flavored. Mine was not bad, quite yummy. I thought it was a tad salty. Soups are not really worth it, because of the portions vs price.

We didn't order any appetizers because they were mostly fries. As it was, both of us were seeking death because we had bad coughs that week, and we still ordered fish and chips. Seriously who comes here and orders sandwiches or pasta? A bit wtf right?

My fellow redditors thought that this fish and chips were really great

I uploaded another pic of the fish and chips on reddit. The Leute thought that it was pretty nice and crispy looking, though someone else commented that to be really British fish and chips, the chips should be thicker. Dude, it is not British... how can it be when the fries are made of Russet and Sweet Potatoes? Anyway it got 100+ upvotes which is pretty amazing. I am such a slut for upvotes (today I had posted a photo on wedding banquet appetizer dish and got 750+ upvotes, and counting!!!!!).

I like the fish to batter proportion

The fish and chips were pretty good, really flaky and it didn't have the nasty mud smell commonly associated with dory. Bär also thinks the fish and chips were very good. Too bad our coughs rendered us unable to finish the chips.

Service was a bit off because the waiter was a bit of a blunderbuss (though friendly) and I ended up pouring our own water and getting serviettes. I told Bär this place will be banned if they got the cheek to charge us 10% service charge. Nonetheless the place is a nice hangout and the prices are not too bad, other than the soups. The funny part happened when the lady owner mistook Bär for someone living nearby. So atas leh, Bär. *haha*