the lokal, neil road, 3.0.

i can never resist a good deal- saw that chope was offering a diners' choice tasting menu for certain restaurants and was excited. the lokal's tasting menu enticed me enough to purchase a voucher. the catch, though, was that it had to be used by 30th November. and so back to the lokal i went- the third time in a few weeks.

i'd made a reservation just in case, even though i was there pretty late for lunch. upon entering, i told the waitress that i'd made one, but she looked at me weirdly and said something like, we've stopped taking reservations. ???? okay... no matter, since there were still seats anyway.

once seated, i told her that i wanted to redeem the diners' choice tasting menu... and received another confused look in return. she quickly scurried off to find someone else for help, and shortly after, a guy came over. i re-explained the situation. thankfully the guy was aware of the tasting menu, and he went off to scrounge up a hardcopy of it. i probably should've told him that i had the digital copy in my phone, but i didn't know he would spend a while looking for it (he only came back with it five minutes later).

after all that drama, i finally managed to order my food. there was a choice of two mains- a special pimp platter or a roast pumpkin salad. i got the platter since i'd already tried the salad on my previous visit. there was also dessert included (either sticky date pudding or chocolate stout brownie). i'd had the sticky date pudding complimentary previously and found it way too sweet. besides which, i don't really have a sweet tooth anymore, so i asked if they could just give me a coffee in replacement. i was flatly rejected, so i decided to just forgo dessert.



the platter came after a short wait, presented on a wooden plank. frankly, i'd expected the portion to be slightly bigger (even though yes, i know it's a tasting menu), but i ended up being quite full, strangely enough. the platter came with smoked salmon and mackerel, scrambled eggs, bacon, ricotta and kaya toast. apparently everything was in-house made, even the ricotta! it definitely made a difference- everything was fresh and delicious. the hot smoked salmon was perfectly cooked- tender, delicious, and with just a hint of smoke.



the star, however, was, surprisingly enough, the kaya. it barely resembled the commercially made, saccharine sweet green ones, in the best possible way- packed full of coconut flavour, and super, super smooth. paired with the thick, fluffy white toast, it was so delicious it made my day. i literally wiped the little dish clean with the toast.

service boo-boos aside, the food (though on the overpriced end) was good. i'd come back just for the kaya toast. yum.


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