Address: 405 Havelock Rd, #01-03 Furama RiverFront, Singapore 169633
Opening Hours: Wednesday – Friday 8:00am – 11:00pm, Weekends 9:00am – 11:00pm
Instagram: wildcard.sg
Very few cafes in Singapore perk my interest as of late. One of the many new, new ones — most of them not making any sense — is Wildcard, a cafe by day bar by night concept, at Furama Riverfront Hotel in Havelock Road. Of course, in any restaurant, there is that 1 dish that’s going to make people come to you.
At $12, you get a blob of brioche donut generously stuffed with braised oxtail meat. It’s sprinkled with — wait for it — crunchy bits of bone marrow and a glaze of tangy barbecue sauce on top. It sounds a mouthful and it is incredibly filling when you take a bite. I find it one of the most interesting foods in Singapore as of late, though it tasted eerily like those pork steamed buns in dimsum restaurants, albeit fried. I’m not crazy over it so while it is good, it doesn’t merit a return visit for me.
The white ($6) is your standard coffee. The standout coffee you must order is the Iced Cereal Milk Latte ($7.50), the same creation by the folks behind Maxi Coffee Bar in Maxwell. Again I don’t drink iced drinks unless it’s an Einspanner in Vienna. (B for Bagels not counted. That was a miss.)
And while the vibes are retro and unwind, great for any time of the day, I think the trek to Furama Riverfront is what kills it. I do wish it’s in a more accessible area like Upper Thomson Road. Lucky Wildcard, if it weren’t for the opening of Havelock MRT, it’s even worse. Nice timing.