Cedele Wheelock. Second Time Round.

Cedele cedele, how much do I love thee?

Well... Enough to make a second trip in two days.

Today, I brought my family here for Sunday Brunch, hoping to make converts out of them. All except Jie was present as she had to do some preparatory work before heading to the office at 2pm.. Yes on a Sunday.. Arh, the downside of leading the corporate pack and what Zhu would term as "earning loads of moolah". Think Country Road, Zhu! Don’t give up!



We ordered the Triple Blue Kiwi with melted premium New Zealand blue cheese with kiwi banana chutney, mayonnaise and greens. The last time blue cheese made an appearance on my plate was at PS Cafe with its blue cheese and caramelised onion flan.

I have a tricky relationship with the blue cheese. I love the intense first bite as it throws me out of my mozzarella comfort zone. But at the same time, there isn't an afterthought as my mind turns woozy- a sign that I've had enough. I couldn't possible imagine taking two more bites, much less finish the entire sandwich on my own. A plausible outcome could be temporary paralysis of my brain.

The kiwi banana chutney addition was engaging and scored my vote for 'Best Supporting Role'- thereby becoming the first chutney ever to win this award. Haha.. Overall, I would highly recommend this sandwich if you are game enough for blue cheese.



The Beef Pastrami Horopito foccacia reminded me of cow's tongue sandwich at Selfridges- minus the jaw-exercise. The sandwich contained beef pastrami with horopito mustard sauce, harvati cheese, mayonnaise and greens. Though I don't think I would have noticed any difference if normal mustard, instead of fancy-pants "horopito mustard" was but I liked its sharp contrast against the smoky pastrami.

What in the world is 'harvati cheese'?


Beef Onion Burger

This was a little anti-climaxal as I was just raving about to mum yesterday and today's burger looked like it woke up on the wrong side of the pan. Though the distinctive chunk of meat was still there, the pile-up was a little sloppy. Sigh, would it be too much to ask for a little consistency?



To fully savour the bread collection at Cedele, soup was a must-order. I threw myself into le pain paradis, guarded by ciabattas, sourdoughs and wholemeals, who moonlighted as angels. I honestly felt bad for being able to stomach so much bread. My favourite of the lot was the wholemeal walnut. It was full of walnut fragrance (how duh this must sound) and was equally marvelous with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, horopito mustard, strawberry jam AND peppered butter. We not only have a winner but a multi-tasker too!

Cedele's soups have never disappointed and the roasted onion & tomato soup was no exception. Unmistakably rich in flavour, the soup was bread-soppingly good. Seriously, walk right over to your kitchen cupboard this very instance and dump the cans of campbell away!
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Are you back from the kitchen?

At the entrance of the restaurant, shelves-full of buns, breads, muffins and pastries perform their art of seduction, as I (against better judgement) fell willingly into their trap.


Chelsea Bun and Hot Cross Bun.

How utterly british these buns sound! All I need is a 'spot of tea' and Professor Higgins by my side to complete the picture.. Haha. Incidentally, 'Hot Cross Buns' was actually the first piano piece I mastered. I still remember how its sung, "Hot cross buns, hot cross buns. One a penny, Two a penny. Hot Cross Buns"

Alas, it wasn't a stretch of music skills as it only involved 3 notes and my music career ended when I dropped out of grade 2.. Bummer.

If I weren't an agonist bordering on atheism, I would proclaim Cedele to be God's Gift to bread nuts who can't bake a loaf to save their life. Cedele has made a follower out of me by serving up wholesome hearty food. Even with their resounding commitment towards fresh and natural ingredients, you don't feel like a gerbil on a sunflower seed diet.

One major gripe, why do they insist on using those tacky cheapo-looking plastic cups for water?

This article is featured in Wine Dine & Unwind