[Review] The Communal Place at Joo Chiat introduces new Miso-centric dishes

Established in 2018, The Communal Place is a bistro cafe in the Joo Chiat and Katong heritage enclave, with the mantra to always remain ‘a location for the community first, then Food, Drink and Gossip’. Think of it as a real-life, Singaporean version of the fictional Central Perk Cafe in the hit sitcom, Friends.

We like the friendly ambient when we step into the cafe. The staff were all very warm and welcoming. The decor and seating arrangement is also designed for guests to hang around and interact in a cosy setting.

Everyone gets greeted with a small shot of welcome drink when you step in. Immediately, the atmosphere feels so much more welcoming than the typical cafe because of this small gesture.

The Communal Place has recently launched a new series of miso-centric dishes and we sampled some of the miso dishes, together with a few of their guests’ favourites:

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Why miso?

First off, The Communal Place offers Japanese-western fusion dishes and it make sense to incorporate miso, a quintessential ingredient in many traditional Japanese food. In addition, miso is generally deemed as healthy, being a good source of vitamins and folic acid.

If you want to savour the miso flavour in the newly introduced dishes, go for the salmon as it pairs well and leaves a more visible note of the miso sauce. For the best value, go for the foie gras dish. However, note that you won’t be able to taste the miso flavour much for the latter dish as both foie gras and the cream sauce are very strong in flavours. The miso pancake is an interesting mix of sweet and savoury and is great as a breakfast item.

For the favourites, we enjoyed the Bouillabaisse, a seafood soup similar in flavour to the more commonly found Lobster Bisque. The oysters are at a great value, but the flavour may varies, depending on the season.

Overall, we like the ambient very much and found the food to be above average for a bistro cafe where you would usually expect to find just some basic fish and chip or avocado toast dishes. The plating is beautiful, elevating the comfort food served in a cafe.

The Communal Place

Address: 465 Joo Chiat Road Singapore 427677

Open Daily, 11am to 10pm