Casual cafe chic at Cloudfields in Tan Boon Liat

NEW RESTAURANT Cloudfields Level 2, Tan Boon Liat Building 313 Outram Road Singapore 169073 WhatsApp: 9816-7002 Open daily: 10 am to 10 pm

IN LIFE, one must have dreams – whether you’re a person or a restaurant.

You imagine waking up to lush paddy fields or sweeping mountain views. Restaurants dream of shophouses, cool neighbourhoods or cutting-edge designer digs. Or at the very least, not somewhere beside a kopitiam in an ageing industrial estate.

But – circumstances.

Whatever they were, they led Cloudfields to its perch above a coffee shop at Tan Boon Liat Building: a crumbling flatted factory turned retail warehouse, where toilet paper in the public loos has been extinct since 1985.

Thankfully, Cloudfields doesn’t try to blend in. It turns its surroundings to its advantage, creating a dreamy refuge for weary furniture shoppers – with a fully equipped bathroom.

Being the best-looking kid on this block could explain why this place is buzzing. The contrast couldn’t be greater as you gingerly climb the stairs, past the kopitiam with a lonely chicken rice stall still in its post-lunch stupor. Battered concrete gives way to a breezy alfresco dining area complete with warm woods and hanging greenery.

Inside, the air-conditioned dining room is easy-going chic: metal scaffolding hanging above the bar for an industrial touch, softened by wood panelling and lots of easy-care plastic plants.

It’s a cafe by nature but a restaurant at heart, serving casual fare with surprising polish. But it’s heavy, with portions designed for the bodybuilder we will never be. Eat first. Feel guilty later.

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Cloudfields is open all day, but you’d think they’re in a great hurry, serving everything we order at the same time – as if we’re training for our next mukbang session. All that’s missing is a stopwatch to see how fast they can turn our table.

Fighting indigestion and air-conditioning, we’re racing to eat before our food gets cold, but it’s a losing battle. It’s a shame, because there’s real potential here.

They have us at salt and pepper – or cacio e pepe fries (S$18), which are like poutine sent for SkillsFuture upgrading. Double-cooked fries are crisp and fluffy at the same time, smothered in a blanket of potato foam and melted cheese, with more grated on top.

By the time we turn to the rendang pasta (S$29), it’s cooled slightly, but there’s still pleasure in wading through sturdy ribbon noodles swathed in rich short rib rendang sauce.

They proudly proclaim that the rempah is made by a bona fide makcik – we want to know who, so we can get some too. Never mind that it will take several working days for the calories to dissipate.

Cloudfields feeds you as if it has a quota to fill, packing as many food groups and health risks as possible into its corn fritters (S$25).

This manual labour-compliant brunch plate piles mashed avocado, chopped tomatoes, hamachi salsa and sunny-side eggs onto a crunchy, deep-fried base. It’s a big, glorious mess that you just dig into with gusto – table manners be damned.

Other notable characters in this food orgy include a line-caught barramundi (S$34): heavy-handed, but it wouldn’t look out of place in more upscale surroundings. It’s a gleeful East-West mismatch of crisp-skin topped with egg floss, paired with dashi beurre blanc and finished with Japanese XO fried rice. Yet, it’s oddly cohesive.

A hefty portion of beef tartare is spiked with yuzu kosho, while the accompanying potato pave is overkill where simple toast would suffice. But we won’t say no to extra crunch.

Dessert is kept simple, maybe because they’ve seen too many diners lapse into a food coma before they’ve had their coffee. Yoghurt (S$12) is served with three different toppings; ours has burnt orange bits and a drizzle of Greek honey.

If you miraculously still have room, a dense hojicha Basque cheesecake (S$16) will finish you off, not the other way around.

Cloudfields feels like a halfway house for ex-Michelin chefs who’ve given up their tweezers for fuss-free food. Names like Takeshi Araki ex-Esora and Jason Tan of Euphoria fame have been linked to it, giving it more street cred.

It may not have the best location or great kitchen discipline, but it has confidence in its direction – and the reality it’s created easily beats any airy-fairy pipe dream.

Rating: 6.5