Every once in while, I come across a hidden gem that reminds me of my former home — New York City. Grub is a small shack-like restaurant in the middle of Bishan Park, in the heartland of Singapore. It had just opened so my husband and I decided to head there for brunch.

The place was a little hard to find at first, but once we got there, the place was filled with Singaporeans with no expats in sight (a great sign!). There was a short wait for a table, but nothing unbearable compared to the one to two hour waits I’ve endured for Manhattan brunch spots.

We ordered the breakfast set, cheeseburger with fried egg, and belgian waffle. For drinks, we had the iced lemon tea and iced honey lime juice. It took a while to get our food, but I let that slide considering the crowd.

Once our food arrived, we found everything surprisingly delicious. A surprise — given the many misses we’ve had in Singapore despite friends’ recommendations.

The best part? The burger and the overall ambience brought back fond memories of having burgers and frozen custards at Shake Shack in Bryant Park.

We enjoyed our meal, but were slapped back into the reality of Singapore, when the servers took forever to give us the bill so we could leave. I guess you can’t win on every front.