Highly Raved: Common Man Coffee Roasters

In a bid not to go to a cafe that disappoint, I've gathered a lot of cafe suggestions from different sources and decided that Common Man Coffee Roasters rest on the top of the list when it comes to cafehoppers' choice. Following close behind, The Plain, Nylon Coffee Roasters and Symmetry. One at a time, so CMC (that's what the baristas and service staff call their cafe) will go first! I was thrilled to go to CMC with all the hype built around it and also because it is my first cafehopping trip since two months ago when I visited Wimbly Lu.

Set slightly further down from Robertson Quay on Martin Road, this cafe can be considered quite inaccessible for the lazy and an awesome opportunity for those who love a walk down Singapore River. It was a rainy day, like many other days of the week, so it felt especially warm and cozy inside, almost like the Leaky Cauldron from Harry Potter. Behind their counter, they hung a humorous quote: Free coffee and doughnuts for the unemployed. I think I fall under that category too...kinda.

Nothing better to kick start every cafe experience with a thick, piping hot mocha. When it comes to coffee, the team at Common Man Coffee is very serious about it! When asked about where they source their coffee beans, the service staff rambled on endlessly and enthusiastically about them, I got quite lost in it. Well, it definitely impressed us in the looks department with this stunning latte art when it was set on the table. Recently, I got hooked onto watching latte art videos on Youtube and realized how much wrist strength, patience and memory work to create all the different latte art patterns. This, my friend, is one of the more complicated ones that require a lot of pausing, pouring, and timed precision. Kudos! I feel happy being in CMC already. A sip of the mocha - it's got this unmistakable deep satisfying bitterness that veers away from many mochas that pander to the chocolate loving tastebuds, tips towards more acidic undertones and finishes off smoothly.

This marvelous case of an accident that happened on my plate is called the Common Man Pancakes. On the menu, it reads: fluffy pancakes, caramelized bananas and walnuts, salted caramel sauce, nutty crumble and berry coulis. Can I be lazy and say that this is awesome?!! No? I agree, because that won't be doing it any justice at all. I would begin by saying that it tastes inversely good as it looks. What I appreciate about this dish was the berry coulis that was very fresh, a good blend of sweetness and sourness that goes so well with pancakes. It's so indulging to mix salted caramel sauce, the crumble, caramelized bananas on top of this luxurious toppings, and I wish for this to be my breakfast in bed everyday and I'll never get sick of it. I'm serious.

The much neatly plated Common Man Full Breakfast which includes two free-range organic eggs (scrambled as pictured, but you can choose the style you want it to be), back bacon, sausage, grilled tomatoes, chorizo hash browns, portobello mushrooms and house-made chorizo baked beans with artisanal sourdough toast. It was pretty good too, though predictably so after I tried the pancakes! I would suggest that you go for the full breakfast if you're the picture-conscious sort, but the pancakes for a yummilicious time at CMC. I loved the pancakes a lot. You can probably tell.

My churros-seeking adventures have been picking up speed as I lunged for the Common Man churros as gracefully as I could. Sugar dusted and served with luscious chocolate sauce, these churros actually reminded me of the foregone ones at Spanish Doughnuts. It's pretty similar, but less tough and more soft. With very faint cinnamon tastes as compared to Churrosity's, these churros excel at a perfectly timed frying duration for the delicious crisp you are looking for. I might in fact, come back for this if I'm in the area.

Common Man Coffee Roasters exceeded my expectations in many ways even though I was already carrying pretty high hopes on the way there! I've heard so many good reviews about it and have finally seen it for myself. I wished you could be here to enjoy this too, so if you haven't... you know what to do.