Canteen — the in-house cafe housed under Trapeze Rec. Club — now has a new lease of life where by day, you can eat, drink and make merry like an Angeleno. By night, however, is where it becomes Canteen After Dark with its curated list of biodynamic wines and seasonal cocktails.
What makes it a new social arena then? Well, come for the booze list and stick around for the elevated crudites. Here, cafe lead Glenn Tan takes us through the revamp.
Hello hello, how’s it going?
Hey Bryan, it’s going great! Things have been in full swing since the launch of our revised brunch menu and the launch of Canteen After Dark—it’s been a very ecstatic period of time!
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What I usually like to ask someone if I’m meeting them for the first time would be to ask them to introduce their brand, product, or concept in an elevator pitch manner so if you could humour me?
The revamped menu takes a hearty, innovative and nourishing approach that seeks to be versatile for any time of day. We were inspired by the intersection between comfort food and nourishing, nutritious meals.
Why did you see the need for the menu revamp? What’s different and what was retained?
Canteen was first availed to the public nine months ago and since then, we’ve been able to get a better understanding of our community and the emerging tastes and preferences of cafe-goers.
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Most of what was on the old menu stayed with only a few omissions. Our old menu featured the likes of Spicy Dan Dan Yoghurt Bowls and Peanut Butter & Jelly/Banana toasts which still are featured on the new menu. The approach towards the revamp was to create a menu that was versatile enough to fit into the different meals of a day.
The new menu also contains more hot food items such as the grilled cheese sammy which is incredibly satiating!
The name Canteen After Dark is pretty New York-ish in my opinion, very irreverent. What was your #1 concern when curating the drinks menu?
Why, thank you! For the drinks menu, the team and I collaborated with drinks consultant, Matthew Lamb, to put together a lean but diverse list of classic red and white wines which are natural alongside cocktails that use ecoSPIRITS.
ecoSPIRITS are an innovative closed-loop distribution technology that nearly eliminates packaging waste in the premium spirits supply chain. I would name-drop our Kombucha cocktail here and say something about it being very in line with our wellness theme but also playful at the same time. Our cocktails are also light, refreshing and with no added sugar.
Are the bar snacks equally as wholesome as the brunch and lunch meals at Canteen? As for the crudites, how have they been elevated from more than just raw vegetables?
Well, crudites are in essence raw vegetables but we choose to elevate them with our own house-made tzatziki and roasted red pepper dip! Besides the crudites, our Chief of Staff, Jamie, also shared her own recipe for chilli lime cashews that feature on the menu. I would think our snacks are equally as wholesome as our brunch and lunch meals at Canteen.
At TRC, we like to strike a playful balance in all that we do—finding that balance in the curation of the menu was equally as important for us!
Can you perhaps introduce a natural wine that everybody can enjoy? I know that they can be quite polarising.
I’d recommend the BiNaume La Plante d’à côté 2019 — it’s incredibly juicy and jammy! Our favorite on the list is our Premium red wine, Claire Naudin La Plante d’à Côté Pinot Noir, from Burgundy France. Claire Naudin’s making some absolutely amazing examples of Pinot Noir with such energy and life in her wines.
Her La Plante d’à Côté is a wine that defies labels and challenges hierarchy, whilst being an absolutely stunning example of what responsible farming and the resulting pure fruits can produce. It’s incredibly aromatic, with vibrant red fruits leaping from the glass, but so much more than just simply a fruit-forward slurper with layers of wildflowers and pink peppercorns sitting atop a vibrant minerality.
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What’s your favourite cocktail then? And why?
I would say the Spiked Kombucha w/ Mint would be my favourite! I’m a big Gin lover so when our drinks consultant developed the Spiked Kombucha and incorporated gin into it, it was love at first sip.
Light, refreshing, and perfect at any time of day. Who knew you could get your probiotic fix and a buzz all at once!
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