the lokal, neil road.

the lokal's been open for quite a while now, but i haven't actually eaten there (due to a bad experience with their service previously). so this time, back again, and did finally manage to eat there.



i reached earlier and waited for a while for my friend. went through the menu while waiting, and settled on the roast pumpkin salad ($18), adding on smoked mackerel ($6). my friend tried another of their salads- the kale salad ($18), adding on chicken ($6).



the salad was a really hearty portion (as it should be, given its price). it was delicious as well- generous cubes of roast pumpkin, perked up by pickled beetroot, green beans, dried cranberries, quinoa and roast pumpkin seeds, tossed in whey dressing. my only complaint is that there was way too little of the in-house smoked mackerel. i tried J's kale salad, and it was good as well! the food, surprisingly, kept us full all the way till dinnertime.



i was initially intending to use a chope voucher to pay for the meal, but upon asking, we were told that the chope voucher was only valid for dinner. i really should've read the fine print- it was written there on the website, but i'd missed it. i was slightly miffed about not being able to use the voucher, because it meant that i'd have to make a return, and i'm really not good about using vouchers before their expiry date. they were really nice about it, though! after we finished our meal, they served us their signature sticky date pudding on the house. they really didn't have to, since it was purely my fault. nice service recovery, nevertheless.

prices are really not cheap, given that there was still gst and service charge. the food was good, though! i'll have to come back sometime to try their dinner.




the lokal
136 neil road
http://www.thelokalsingapore.com

pacamara boutique coffee roasters, upper thomson.

i've been wanting to try pacamara for the longest time, but it's so out of the way! finally had the chance to try it on a weekend when my friend was driving. we went on a sunday, and of course, we had to wait for a table. the queue system is a pretty efficient one. they had an ipad at the door, where you could key in your phone number, and they'd contact you once they got a table. this means that you could just go off and do your thing while waiting, though we chose to hang around. thankfully we didn't have to wait very long. it was probably just a fifteen minute wait, tops.

they mostly have communal tables, so there being the four of us, we shared a table for eight with another group. no service charge- ordering was done at the counter. i was there for the duck confit hash ($19.50), which meant... no decision making required. spied another table having one of their salads, and it looked pretty good! that made us decide to share a winter salad ($15). my friend was initially set on the pulled pork burger ($17.50), but on seeing another table have the beef burger ($19.90), decided to change his order to that instead.



while placing our orders, we were told that the food was going to take a while since the kitchen had lots of orders, but it turned out to be just a brief wait. (or maybe because we were talking and were distracted.) the winter salad came first- a glorious medley of baby spinach leaves, butternut squash and parsnip cubes, crispy roasted kale, dried cranberries, shaved fennel and avocado. it was an excellent starter- really fresh and delicious, tossed with just enough yuzu vinaigrette. i'd happily order another of their salads to share.



our mains came when we were about halfway through the salad. i'd asked for the hollandaise to be served on the side, which was a good choice because it turned out that the hash didn't actually need the sauce. it wasn't a hash in the traditional sense; i think they'd just called it a hash because it was a dish comprising meat and potatoes. it was more of a eggs ben + hash fusion. not that i'm complaining, because the combination worked. crispy rostï, shredded duck confit, greens and beans for that pop of freshness, topped with perfectly poached eggs- what's not to love? the only part i didn't get was the slightly stale brioche toast- not sure how that worked with the hash, given that the rostï provided enough carbs for me. the dish was generous enough without the toast, anyway. still, i loved the dish, and would order it again in a heartbeat. i cleaned everything up.



my friends loved their food, too, and we were excited about making a return trip really soon. the only complaint that they had was regarding the drinks. my friend got a tea for $7 and was expecting it to come at least in a teapot so that it was refillable... but it came in a small single serve glass jug. no complaints about the mains though! pricing is nett, which makes it even better. this has to be one of best cafés i've tried this year. i want to go back soon!


pacamara boutique coffee roasters
185 upper thomson road
http://pacamara.sg/#home

salted & hung, purvis street.

chope was having a promo, offering $25 for the 3 course set lunch instead of the usual $35, so of course i had to go. it was, sadly, already the last day of the promotion when i went. the place wasn't packed when i went, but there were a fair number of people (mostly caucasians).



i didn't want dessert, so i asked if i could have two starters instead, and they agreed readily. i took a while to decide which of the three starters i wanted, but eventually went with the mackerel and beetroot.



the food came quickly. the mackerel arrived first, all delicately plated in a heavy looking stone bowl. the mackerel itself was delicious and well cooked, with a crispy skin. didn't feel that the snow pea salad added anything to the dish, aside from aesthetics, though. couldn't discern the bacon dashi as well, but it was still yummy in its own right.



the beetroot starter came after i was done with the mackerel. it wasn't exactly what i'd envisioned. since the menu'd mentioned burrata, i was picturing a generous lump of it. salted & hung's version was a more delicate one. i liked the combination of flavours- creaminess from the cheese, sweetness and freshness from the beetroot and truffle honey, combined with pops of bitterness from the pine nuts. i cleaned it up in no time.



i was still hungry after i was done with two starters, so i was already thinking that i'd be having to get something else to eat. it turned out that i didn't have to worry- the main was a hearty portion of beef cheek on polenta.



the beef cheek had been braised until it was super tender, and there were quite a number of generous chunks. i've always had a soft spot for polenta, so that hit the spot as well. there were ribbons of pickled daikon on top of the beef, which added a freshness.



i was served a complimentary warm oatmeal cookie with salted caramel on top when i was done with my meal. that was a nice touch! the cookie was delicious- chewy and not too sweet. i especially liked the hit of salt in the caramel.

the food wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but all the items i had were executed well. probably wouldn't go out of the way to return, but i wouldn't mind going back to try their sangas. service was attentive as well. all in all, it was a pretty good lunch.


salted & hung
12 purvis street
http://www.saltedandhung.com.sg

SPRMRKT, mccallum street.

i have to admit that SPRMRKT was never exactly on my to-try list... until chope came up with the chope x visa promotion, offering $10 off each meal above $30 for the month of october. SPRMRKT happened to be on the list of cafés offering that promotion, so i decided to just make a booking to try it out, since it was one of the few places that were a) accessible and b) i hadn't tried.



they have daily specials, which is cool, and an all-day breakfast menu that stays throughout the week. it was a monday when i went- i was expecting pork ribs for the daily special, according to the chope website. when i got there, however, i realised it'd been changed to a chicken, mushrooms and spinach roulade ($19)- even better! (side note: the chope website for menus seem to be slightly outdated most of the time, so it's probably better to check with the restaurants themselves. i found sprmrkt's website updated with their current menu.)



so it was an easy choice for me. i got the chicken roulade and decided to add on $8 to make it a set lunch, which included a small soup of the day and a large hot coffee of my choice. ordering was done at the counter. pricing was nett, but they still brought my food over when it was ready. water was freely available in jugs in a corner. i liked how they offered two types of water- a regular one, and another with mint and lemon (of course i picked the one with mint and lemon). it's a nice touch, really.



i ordered a flat white, and it came first. when they said large, they really MEANT large. i was surprised by its size, and it only goes for $5 if you order it a la carte. i got it with soy milk at no extra charge.



the soup came slightly after. the soup of the day was beef, barley and tomato. i was expecting just a token amount of beef, but they were generous with it- there were at least five good sized chunks. the soup itself was tangy, delicious and appetite-whetting.



i had to wait for quite a while before the chicken roulade arrived- i was done with my soup by then. i had time to spare that day, so i didn't mind, but i can imagine getting antsy waiting if i was in a hurry. the chicken roulade was worth the wait, though!



the roulade was succulent and tender- delicious paired with the gravy that they'd ladled generously on top. the accompanying (super large) potato croquette was really good as well. it had an utterly crisp and light exterior, with fluffy mashed potato within. the balsamic glazed greens provided a freshness and sweetness to the dish, completing the dish. i found the dish well balanced, and of course, extremely well portioned. i was stuffed and satisfied by the end of the meal.

food was surprisingly good! i went with no expectations but left feeling really pleased. good meals make my day! SPRMRKT is definitely on my to-go-back-to list now.




SPRMRKT
2 mccallum street
http://www.sprmrkt.com.sg

gastrosmiths, i12.

come to think of it, my last visit to gastrosmiths was at their old location at beach road, more than a year ago. they've since moved to i12, and prices have also since become friendlier- pricing is nett, and menu prices are lower than what they were previously.

set lunch was available at $15 nett, but none of the mains caught our attention, so neither of us got the set lunch, opting instead to order off the a la carte menu. i was indecisive as usual *cough* and spent a while deciding between the alaskan black cod mee sua ($24) and the pork chops on warm sauerkraut ($18)... but eventually decided on the gastrosmiths chicken roast ($18). J was sniggering at my utter inability to make up my mind about what to eat. *ashamed* i blame it on the fact that there were so many tempting items on the menu!

our food came quickly. J's fisherman's mee sua ($18) came slightly before mine, and i got to try a bit of it. it was just as good as i remembered it to be, and J liked it too. they had a clam version available on their set lunch menu for $15, but J wanted the prawns that came with the fisherman's mee sua.

 

my roast chicken came complete with crispy skin, which made it a super delicious (but sinful) dish. they'd used chicken thigh, which was succulent and tender. the accompanying steamed potatoes sautéed mushrooms were good as well, especially when eaten with the chicken. the menu stated that there was dijon mustard, but i couldn't discern it. there were, however, capers, which added a salty, acidic pop to the dish. my only complaint was that portions could've definitely been more generous (i'm a growing girl).



lunch was a quiet and delicious affair, and service was attentive as well, even though they don't charge for service. it's a place i'll definitely return to- the pork chops sound really good, actually.


gastrosmiths
i12
#03-06
https://www.facebook.com/gastrosmiths/

hokkaido izakaya, wisma atria.

finally had the chance to check out japan food town at wisma atria. so many japanese food clusters have opened up as of late! the concept seems pretty similar to suntec's eat at seven, but with a couple more choices. in fact, there were so many choices that we (okay, i) was undecided about which to choose. in the end we decided on hokkaido izakaya, which was also one of the more filled restaurants (some of them looked suspiciously empty).

it being an izakaya, i was assuming that they'd be open until quite late, but when we were about to step in, the waitress told us that they had no more tables (!) even though we saw that there were bar seats available. S then asked if we could have the bar seats, and she said yes, but again attempted to dissuade us by saying that last order was 9pm (it was probably about 8.45 then) and that it'd be warm for us sitting there since it was in front of the grill. makes me wonder if she wanted us to leave just so they could close up early...

anyway, the thing that caught my eye off the menu was wagyu roast beef don ($19) off the set menu, but S distracted me with the maze niku soba ($15), which sounded exciting because goma sauce!!! i was torn between the two, but eventually got the don anyway because, as my friends said, that was the thing that caught my attention first anyway. (mental note: that's a good strategy for deciding on what to order.) we also decided to share a butter tamagoyaki ($10) off the a la carte menu.



our food came after a brief wait. glad i decided on the wagyu beef don- it was actually pretty decent for the price. happily enough, it also came with hot miso soup and appetisers- pickles and jellyfish. interestingly enough, it came with two sauces- a horseradish one (i think) drizzled on the beef, and a sweet, sticky one below on the rice. also liked the dab of grated horseradish on the side of the bowl- it added a kick to the entire bowl. the rice was also pretty good, though there was too much of it and i ended up not finishing it. it's the kind i like- each grain separate, giving it texture.



J saw that there were complimentary appetisers on the neighbouring table, but there were none on ours, so she decided to ask if we could have some. glad that she did, too, because the free eggs turned out to be really awesome! we were all expecting something like keisuke's hardboiled eggs, but they weren't. S cracked an egg (really hard) and was shocked to see splatters of egg white- they were runny, oozy and glorious. i had my egg with the don- so good with the rice! most restaurants would charge upwards of a dollar for an onsen egg, so it was a nice touch. i was so tempted to have two, especially with the rice, but decided against it, because we still had...



... the tamagoyaki, which came when we were all almost done with our food. sitting at the bar meant that we could watch them prepare our food, and we were all watching the chef making the omelette and hoping it was ours. it was worth the wait, though! it came piping hot, and the waitress buttered it just before she served it to us (so that's what they mean by butter tamagoyaki). to be honest i don't think it actually needed the final slather of butter- it was good enough without it. oddly enough it came with extra butter on the side, and some cheese curd like thing, but i didn't need it. it was a totally egg-overloaded meal, but who cares. eggs are awesome.
we were all so full after the meal! the beef don looked small, but it was actually quite a good size. J and S both got soba, which came in three sizes as stated on the menu (100g, 200g and 300g) all at the same price. however, when ordering, they weren't asked which size they wanted- we only found out it was 100g after seeing it on the meal. it was a good size, though!

the food was simple, but pretty good. plus: prices were decent. i can see myself coming back. service was a little too harried, though.


hokkaido izakaya
wisma atria
http://www.japanfoodtown.sg/stores/hokkaido-izakaya/