The Assembly Ground @ The Cathay

“A gathering of common folks for the love of good food, coffee and beer.”

The Assembly Store.

Inside Assembly Ground.

Counter area.
The windows at the back are linked to The Assembly Store, not sure why they covered it up. Too awkward or under maintenance?

Stencil wall art.
I actually had to do a double take as this looked extremely similar to the one at The 7th Cylinder. They are different though.

Apparently modes of transportation are the new manners of decor. I didn’t get the memo.

Lovely desserts at the counter.
(Interestingly enough, most of these are from Maple & Market. Perhaps even ALL.)

Menu of Assembly Ground.

Green Tea Latte ($5.50)
My friend actually raved about their green tea latte & recommended me to try it. Sadly, perhaps I got a dud that day but it did not impress me.
You all should know that I’ve had my fair share of green tea lattes, for some strange reason, nearly half of them turn out to be too thick; like it’s overloaded with matcha powder. This was the case here, you can even tell it’s too thick just by looking at the top of the latte. Overly foamy & bubbly to the point where the latte art gets affected. I do give props for the latte art though.

Ice Chocolate ($6.50)
Their iced milk drinks all come with a scoop of ice-cream. My friend had this & thought it was pretty good. I didn’t try it but I liked how unique it looked.

Truffle Fries ($10)
Parmesan, Truffle Oil, Tartar Sauce
Again, I’m not sure if I got a dud that day but I found their truffle fries to be abysmal. There was not a hint of truffle flavour anywhere.
I couldn’t finish it & packed it up, letting some friends try it after and they agreed; no truffle flavour to be found.

Fried Calamari ($13)
Herbs & Spices, Lemon Aioli
This was something else that my friend recommended me to try; he thought it was awesome. He was right here, this was pure deliciousness. Loved the batter of the squid. The lemon aioli could have been slightly stronger, but either that, it was a nice dip.
(Did not like the price though. Ah, starters, how you agonize me to no end.)

The Assembly Brunch ($19.50)
Scrambled Eggs, Bacon Wiener Sausage, Sauteed Mushrooms, Potato Gratin, Cherry Tomatoes, Toast
This seems to be the go-to dish to order at Assembly Ground, I’ve seen people constantly order it.
My friend had this was thought it was quite nice. Apart from the potato gratin, it’s all pretty standard for brunch, nothing fancy or special here.
(I’m amazed at society’s acceptance of high-priced brunches. Myself included, unfortunately.)

Carbonara ($18)
I can’t remember if someone recommended this to me or if I saw it on a review somewhere & thought it looked good.
Looks are deceiving sadly, as I thought the Carbonara here to be mediocre at best. Think there was too much cheese & overall, everything was too thick which made it slightly overwhelming.

Gula Melaka Cake ($7.90)
I found that their desserts fared MUCH better than their mains… until I visited Maple & Market a while later and came to realized that the cakes at Assembly Ground were from there. (Shocker.) I had the EXACT same cake at Maple & Market and didn’t even realize it until I got home & compared the photos I took. I’m not sure if ALL the desserts here at from Maple. It’s a pro for those people who have never tried Maple’s cakes before or visited their flagship store but a con for foodies like me who frown upon supplied desserts.
The cake was fantastic nonetheless. It tasted divine. I love all things Gula Melaka (Palm Sugar).

Salted Caramel Popcorn Cake (Think it was also $7.90)
This was also really good. Perfect ratio of cream to cake. Great taste of salted caramel.

Apple Caramello ($Think it was either $8-9.50)
I was greedy, as usual, nothing new, hence I added this to our order since it was just brought out from the kitchen. Of course, both my friend & I were too full by then and so I had to pack this up. I had it the next day & it was awesomeeeee. Really delicious, really moist which came as a surprise to me as I tend to be weary of loaf cakes like this as they look overly dry.

It’s The Assembly Ground, not the playground.