In High Spirits, We Brunch

When the city's 9-to-5ers shift into idleness, Singapore prepares to greet the weekend with these exciting brunch destinations.

- Julia Sam

Mention brunch, and a meal of eggs and breadstuffs immediately come to mind. Scrolling through your Instagram feed on a weekend, you would see the dish, in all of its iterations, as a symbol of a trendy Sunday brunch done right.

But what is it about the unofficial meal that has made it such a coveted experience? After all, the hunt for the quintessential brunch place has, admittedly, become clouded by every other cafe that can poach an egg or flip a pancake.

The origins of brunch are hazy. However, consensus points to the first appearance of the terminology in print to an 1895 Hunter's Weekly article. In "Brunch: A Plea", writer Guy Beringer defines the idea and principle of the word "brunch" which, as we have come to know, is a portmanteau combining breakfast and lunch. His plea for the combination meal was goal-specific: sleep in, rise late, gather your mates, and revive yourselves from the Night Before over a feast.

With brunch, Saturday nights seem to be prolonged, putting you in a good mood because, "Is any busy work-a-day man in a becomingly religious frame of mind after rising eight and nine o'clock on his only 'off' morning?"

The new dining experience gave birth to a meal that was "cheerful, sociable, and inciting," sans any hangover-induced misery and morning rush. Brunch was a more hospitable meal for Beringer, as compared to the solitude of an early breakfast.

"In these hurrying, worrying, and scurrying days the sweets of life are too often overlooked, and, with the sweets, the hors d'œuvre, soups, and entrees," he explains. "Brunch puts you in a good temper; it makes you satisfied with yourself and your fellow-beings. It sweeps away the worries and cobwebs of the week."