Kimberly Anne TanReview: Two Men Bagel House
We Singaporeans love pastries, don’t we? A few years ago, the queues outside Dunkin’ Donuts and Krispy Kreme rivaled those usually seen at concerts. Last year, macarons exploded in popularity all over the nation, gaining the adoration of schoolgirls, office workers and stay-at-home mommies.
2 months ago, Jerome & Jereborne Lam set up the Two Men Bagel House in the hopes of enticing locals to fall bread over heels with the New York staple. The duo, who met in the break-dancing scene a few years back, have since traded in their groovy moves for bread and bagels.
Unfortunately, the Bagel House’s rodeo burger – a meat-lover’s expected choice with its promise of roasted beef complemented with honey mustard and melted Swiss cheese – served up an inadequate combination of tough meat and dry onion bagels.
The lack of freshness is a recurrent theme in the bagels served. For instance, T.A.B (the sole vegetarian option on the menu) was a pairing of moisture-less rye bagels with seasoned tomatoes, guacamole and basil. Be prepared to go through a stack of napkins while eating the bagel-burgers as the house sauce runneth over and bun crumbled into pieces.
The saving grace is their all-day breakfast, which comes with 3 options. We had the hearty ‘Piglet’, a combination of savory hash browns, sizzling hot bacon and a deliciously-gooey egg without making us feel like we were going to have a heart attack.
Besides their mains, Two Men Bagel House also offers “schmears”, which are basically bagels coupled with both local and Western spreads such as kaya and clove honey. These toppings and spreads, while simple, served as a pleasant surprise – all the combinations worked well together to form simple but yummy treats.
At the Bagel House, the humble PB&J sandwich has been commendably remodeled into chunky peanut butter with jelly berries, or rather homemade mixed berries. In addition, the well-known coffee shop combination of pandan kaya and butter tastes pretty palatable even when spread on a tiny sliced-up bagel.
Credit has to be given to the titular 2 men, who’ve clearly made the immense effort to ensure their menu options are genuinely homemade and healthy. Drinks consist of refreshing cucumber juice, iced tea and coffee blends. As promised in the deli’s tagline, the bagels are hand-rolled twice daily by Jerome, who taught himself the skill by trying out various recipes at home.
The deli’s urban design makes you feel like you’re actually sitting in a New York deli, without putting on airs and alienating local customers by appearing too foreign or unfamiliar. Even disposing your cutlery and plates into a huge New York-style garbage bin is used, which makes for a fun experience.
Overall, the relatively costly menu options and the walk from the Tanjong Pagar MRT station are lofty prices and walking miles to pay when the deli does not deliver on the signature item it seeks to introduce to Singaporeans – its homemade bagels.
Granted, it’s still early days for the Two Men Bagel House. Perhaps they just need a bit more time to find their wheat, um, feet.
Rating: 2.5/5
Information:
Address: No. 16 Enggor Street Icon Village Altez #01-12, S079717
Contact Details: (+65) 6509 4125
Opening Hours: 8am – 8pm (Weekdays) 9am – 6pm (Weekends)