The world in just a (few) bite(s).

An easily missed little restaurant which is seated in between The Cathay and Plaza Singapura is how I would describe Charly T’s as a very first impression. The very common reply would be “oh, that little restaurant, I’ve walk passed before but have yet to try it.” 

Yes, that’s the one. Charly T’s interior design gives passer by a false impression that it’s a “atas” little place which sells food at high pricing and small serving. The truth is just a glass door away and you will be surprise by the food they serve and the pricing. 

The restaurant serves food from different countries and not typical ” Laksa from Penang or Sushi from Japan” kinda fusion but food such as spanish omelet , ice cream sandwiches from LA and German’s coleslaw. 

This is a very good place to be if you are looking for a new experience with food. 

Spanish Omelet on their breakfast menu. Pretty much the same food you can find in your typical English breakfast, egg, sausages, bread and potatoes. Instead of the typical way of cooking, you can see from the picture that the egg is a wide omelet and the sausages are dices and lay on top of the omelet. The sausages are actually done with salsa sauce. 

They have a total of 8 “additions” or more commonly known as sides. Each sides cost $4 but comes together with their Rotisserie chicken and wraps depending on your order. My personnel favorite is actually the butter garlic rice. You can actually smell the aroma upon it being served. It might look a little less appealing due to the lack of colors but the taste is actually very rich. And the other to mention is actually the authentic German coleslaw. I’ve no idea how authentic it is but all that matters is how good it tasted to me. It’s much more sour than our local coleslaw and it is not at all creamy. It is very appetizing but it might be a little too much for the non-adventurous foodie.  

On top of the interesting food Charly T’s serves, they have up to 9 different types of unique sauces for you to go with your food. They have 3 different level of chili sauce and their own version of “satay” sauces. 

On top of what I have mention here, they also serve a wide range of drinks,wraps, food on sticks and even dessert. Their waffles is a must try ! 

The best part about Charly T’s (besides their awesome food) was actually their opening hours. It operates till 1am on weekend on top of that they will actually customize certain food off the menu to your liking. For example, vegetarian friends can actually get them to remove certain meat item off the food and they will actually charge you according without the charges of the meat item. That’s service if you ask me ! 

Thanks Pris and Openrice.com.sg for the invite !! 

Final Verdict : 

Food:

4.5/5

Some of their food is a little off local flavor. Try with caution ! 

Price :

5/5 : Rather reasonable for a place in town ! 

Location : 

5/5 : Easy to find and the ambience is pretty good too ! 

Will I visit again ? 

YESSSS!! 

Where is it ? 

CHARLY T´S

20 Handy Road
Level 1 NOMU (beside The Cathay)
Singapore 229236

Good Food For A Good Cause

This quaint and cosy restaurant is situated at the left exterior lobby of 8Q SAM (the latest wing of Singapore Art Museum). I went there on a Friday evening with my girlfriends and making a reservation is a must for this popular joint. The restaurant was fully-booked that night! There is no service charge at FFT, only GST.

Food For Thought | 8Q SAM | 8 Queen Street | Tel: 6338 9887 | Email: omnomnom@foodforthought.com.sg | Twitter: @FFThought |

The entire restaurant is white, with a warm ambience and sleek interior decor (wooden and plastic furniture). Look at these pretty bottle light fixture. Very arty farty. I like!

When we were seated, I couldn’t resist snapping a photo of this cute reservation tag that came in the form of a tissue packet. The word ‘chope’ is the Singlish term for ‘reserve’.

The menu was cute too. Pages on a clipboard. I removed them from the clipboard to browse page by page but I was careful not to mess the sequence.

There were paper table mats that had FFT’s 5 missions printed on them.

We shared a salad and ordered our own individual dishes. My girlfriends ordered pasta while I had risotto. The sage leaves on my risotto were so fragrant and crisp that I even ate them up. The pumpkin flesh was soft and easy to chew. The risotto literally melted in my mouth. Overall, the quality of the food at FFT was good. However, I felt that the portions of our pasta & risotto were a little small.

Grilled Calamari & Bacon Salad SGD10

Garlic Prawns with Coriander Linguine SGD16

Sage Roasted Pumpkin Risotto SGD15

Daebak Korean Lunch

Makan Place: Daebak Korean

Address: Wilkie Edge, 8 Wilkie Road (opp Peace Centre) [View Map]

Nearest MRT: In between Dhoby Ghaut and Little India MRT Station

Daebak Korean is situated at the corner of Wilkie Edge. It was crowded during lunch time when @Smithankyou, @Seraphina22 and I decided to head there for lunch.

The place is run by a Korean couple - Wife in the kitchen and husband serving the customers.

The dishes are all offered at a very affordable price range!

Hite beer is really Clean, Crisp and Fresh!

@Seraphina22 ordered the Stone Pot Bi Bim Bap(Mixed Rice) which is a very popular Korean dish. Bi Bim Bap is served as a bowl of warm rice topped with vegetables, raw egg, beef and this red sauce that I think it might be chili pepper paste.

I ordered the BBQ Chicken Rice and my goodness, it’s so delicious that I was craving for it during dinner. The chicken were sliced thinly and the sauce went well with it!

@Smithankyou ordered the BBQ Beef Rice which he loved it! He initially wanted to order the BBQ Beef Hotplate but changed his mind and glad that he did! @Smithankyou, like me, was craving for the food!

If you happen to work around Selegie area, do drop by Daebak Korean for lunch or dinner! It’s affordable and the food is great!!

And before I conclude this post, I shall leave you with a photo of @Smithankyou!

The Ouch! :

• Stone Pot Bi Bim Bap - $5.90
• BBQ Chicken Rice - $4.50
• BBQ Beef Rice - $4.90
• Hite Beer - $6.50
  

A Familiar Brand With A Brand New Experience

Burger King - A Fast Food Chain which I am pretty sure everybody can find something for themselves. A whopper, a mushroom swiss or even the local flavour Rendang Burger. But have you heard of the Angry Whopper ? Triple Whopper ? Or even the Rodeo XXXL Burger ? Never ? What about the above burgers served with Ice Cold Beer ?

Introducing - Whopper Bar ! Where Dreams Come True ! ( I added the tagline myself )

A very classy and “atas” looking packaging for the fries !

My Coca Cola ! - Didn’t get the beer as I felt it’s a little over priced for A Standard Can of Beer (Heniken), I have to top up additional $3 !

The Main Course of the Night - Angry Whopper. I ordered this baby simply because of the name. The bar do sell conventional whopper, mushroom swiss and gang but I thought I could get those at Tampines and since I’m at the bar for the very 1st time, I should give these exclusive a go !

The burger is much bigger in general and the vegetables and everything just feels fresh, it gives me a “unhealthy”-subway feel. If you ask me to choose between this and Carl’s Jr, I’ll probably choose this although Carl’s Jr has the upper hand with their Beef Cheese Fries.

And then you ask me why “Angry”.  Angry is a feeling I can’t describe and you have to feel it for yourself. Or maybe the next picture will explains why “Angry”

It’s RED HOT CHILI !!! And there’s like a layer of them.

AHHHHHHHH *faint*

Damage :

• Angry Whopper Value Meal With Large Coke and Large Fries - $8.95

Smith Says : Everyone should at least give it a try.(Applies to Whopper Bar Exclusive Burger )

Where it is: BK Whopper Bar - Block 3B River Valley Road #01-06; Clarke Quay.

Nearest MRT: Clarke Quay Station

Tel: 6337 1443

Food Review: Omakase dinner at Nagomi

submitted by @alkanphel

| Nagomi Restaurant | 5 Koek Road #02-22 Cuppage Plaza | Tel: 67324300 | Mon to Sat | 6pm to 12am |

Great omakase dinner at Nagomi, which is a small and hidden Japanese eatery at Cuppage Plaza. The chef Nada Satoru used to have a normal menu but he changed it into an omakase menu based on the fresh and seasonal ingredients from Japan.

The place is dimly lit and you have to remove your shoes when you enter. There aren’t many seats, just a counter table of about 8 seats and about 4 tables. The ambience is definitely cozy and it feels very traditional.

Appetizer: Mategai and daikon

The appetizer was bamboo clams and grated radish. If the chef didn’t tell me it was bamboo clams I would have thought it was cuttlefish.

1st course: Tofu salad

Basically sliced tofu with a bunch of veggies and some avocado and tomatoes. Nothing really special actually but the sauce was very nice and really made the whole dish come together. The tofu was also quite firm too.

2nd course: Sashimi moriawase

From left to right: uni, hotate, kanpachi, maguro, shima-aji, kinmedai

Fresh and delectable sashimi, this was the first time I had kinmedai which is also known as alfonsino. The uni was especially nice and it had that salty taste that reminds you of the sea breeze.

3rd course: Takabe shioyaki

This is a fish that is now in season in Japan. It was salt-grilled as a whole fish and the flesh was just so sweet, tender and fresh. Almost like it was just caught moments ago!

4th course: Braised kurobuta belly

This is the black pork belly, braised until the fats were so soft as to melt in your mouth. Very tasty but a bit too rich to eat so much of it. Reminded me of buta no kakuni.

5th course: Wagyu teppenyaki

This was the highlight of the dinner for me. Succulent slices of tender wagyu beef (imported from USA) that were grilled just nice. The chef instructed me to sprinkle the accompanying lime salt over the beef slices and the combination was amazing.

They tasted great with the marbled fats just melting away in my mouth with that grilled taste and because the wagyu slices were not pre-marinated much, so the lime salt added the right amount of saltiness to it.

6th course: Porridge

This is a simple yet exceptionally tasty porridge. It was simmered at low heat and actually more like soup rice than a real porridge. It came with peppered chicken and egg inside and seaweed was sprinkled on top. Great way to fill up the stomach at the end!

Dessert: Yuzu ice-cream

To round off the omakase, we get the usual yuzu ice-cream as dessert. It is fast becoming one of my favourite ice-creams to have now. The taste is so uniquely citrus and refreshing.

Blissful Cafe - Bak Kut Teh w Memories.

Seated quietly slightly off one of Singapore’s favorite shopping area is where Blissful Cafe is.

Although it is not exactly very accessible by foot nor by buses or MRT, crowd never seems to be a problem for them. Office workers around the area sure give this place a good rating as you can tell from the crowd during the lunch time and no doubt that was how I first came to know about this cafe.

As the title suggested, this bak kut teh gives me more than just food but it serves as a memory between me and my ex-colleagues. Enough of the Emotional introduction. Let’s talk FOOD !

Greeted by a traditional looking sign which says “Ji Gong Po” - Roaster Pot !

One thing I like about Bliss Cafe’s Menu is that there is odd to be something for everyone. From Bak Kut Teh which only consist of pork ribs to a good mix of different pork organs to one which comes purely with pork belly to a pig trotter treat and many more.

On our table - Mix Organ Bak Kut Teh

It consist of pig intestine, pork belly, pork ribs, pig stomach and fried pig skin. A wide range of bliss in a small claypot and it only cost you $5.And honorable mention of this dish would be the soup. A strong taste of herb can be tasted at a very 1st slip which will make you ask for more. And of course this is address by the owner as the soup is actually “drink-all-you-can”

And one of the specialty about blissful cafe’s Bak Kut Teh is actually what I call the - Bak Kut Teh Mai Teh ! Yes, you did not read me wrongly, it’s a DRY Bak Kut Teh which is a rare sight !

Things you can find in this dry pot of bliss - Pork Belly, Pig Stomach, Pig Intestine, Pork Ribs, Ladies Finger and dry cutter fish all coated with the spicy and sweet dark sauce.

*Warning - this dish is actually pretty spicy, so please be warned for non-spicy glutton out there.

Something which I couldn’t say NO to when it comes to Bak Kut Teh - You Tiao !

What can be more blissful than a good bowl of blissful Bak Kut Teh on a cold rainy day?

Damage :

• Herbal Bak Kut Teh - $5 ( Small)
• Bak Kut Teh Mai Teh ( Dry Bak Kut Teh) - $7 (Small)
• Rice - $0.50
• You Tian - $1

Smith Says : ( Probably the best Bak Kut Teh for me)

If you would like to find out more,the link below is an article by another food blogger known as Ho Chiak.

Ho Chiak

Where it is: Blissful Cafe, 29 – 31 Sultan Gate (Near the popular Haji Lane, Arab Street area )

Nearest MRT: In Between Lavender and Bugis Station

Tel: 6298 8538

Happy Halloween @ Brewerkz

“tweet tweet tweet tweet” ( Incoming SMS) - ” Ello SGFoodieClub Team ! Brewerkz inviting us to beer preview tmr 1230pm sharp! u guys interested? ~debz~”

A surprise SMS caught up with the team on a beautiful Friday evening. That was the calling for SGFoodieClub 1st Official event for the team and what’s the best part ? It’s not just food, it’s beer we are talking about. ( FYI - Dog’s man’s best friend is like so yesterday. Beer’s man’s best friend if you are asking me about it. )

So there we were at Brewerkz with the host @BrewerkzSG aka Homer. Each of the team ordered some food and beer and let me have the honor to start off with what was on my table.

It did not take too long before I made my order - Meat Lover Pizza

Me, being the Pizza Man MUST order pizza off the menu when there is pizza on it. ( P.S: I am the Pizza MAN, the one who eats the pizza not deliever the pizza. The one who delivers the pizza is who we call the PIZZA BOY, not man. Keep that in mind please.)

The base - White Pizza - Garlic, Oregano and Olive Oil base. - GOOD !

The toppings - Pepperoni, sausages, ham, bell peppers. - GOOD !

What else can go wrong with a pizza like this ?

There are people out there giving comments to pizza’s crust for being too thick or too thin but for this baby here, it’s just nice, not too thick like as if you are eating a burger or neither does it gives you the “it’s-as-thin-as-a-taco” feeling.

And what makes me go gaga over this pizza is the meat.Generous amount of meat spreads across the whole pizza and you can actually taste and feel each and every kind of meat which is on the pizza. Too often a times no one knows what they are chewing off the pizza thanks to the cheese which cover up all the taste.

I can like eat this baby all day !

Damage : $21.99 (Large)

Smith Says :

And The Reason why we were all @ Brewerkz

Introducing - Big Head Pumpkin Ale

Made with roasted pumpkin and spices, Pumpkin Head Ale exudes a subtle sweetness from the pumpkin and a delightful malty flavor that is accentuated by the fragrance of cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. ( That’s what the press release says)

What I say? - This is one of the beer which is suitable for anytime of the day ( less if you are driving). This beer is very “refreshing”, it’s not a typical carbonated beer where you feel bloated after a few mugs and the after taste of cinnamon makes it so easy to drink and it goes really well with my heavy “meat lover pizza”. Best serve with steak and turkey.If you are a fan of dessert wine, this beer could be your thing.

Damage :

Smith Says :

Overall, Brewerkz has always been one of the top choice for hanging out for the tweeps. By the river, good food, good beer, good place to be.

Where it is: Brewerkz Riverside Point - 30 Merchant Road, #01-05/06 Riverside Point, Singapore 058282.

Tel: 6438 7438

Food review: Omakase dinner at the Standing Sushi Bar

submitted by @alkanphel

I went for an omakase dinner at the Standing Sushi Bar this time round!

1st course: Vermicelli with spicy sesame oil dressing

I thought this was chuuka kurage (jellyfish) at first since this dressing is usually used with jellyfish for an appetizer.

2nd course: Sashimi moriawase

Lovely plate of fresh sashimi. There’s mekajiki, sake, maguro, hamachi and hotate. with a dollop of uni. And a bowl of aji (I think) topped with grated radish and bonito flakes. Very nice indeed!

3rd course: Fish meat patty topped with grilled cheese

This is like a burger patty but made with salmon and tuna meat ground together and then steamed. This makes it really juicy and tender. Then it is topped with grilled cheese – the combination is damn nice!

4th course: Yakitori stuffed with fish paste

Damn delicious! Succulent grilled chicken chunks stuffed with tasty fish paste. Great to throw the whole thing in your mouth and chomp on it :D

5th course: Hamachi kama shioyaki

Tender white flesh that almost melts in your mouth. This is the collar of the hamachi and it is grilled with salt.

6th course: Buta no kakuni

This is a dish that took chef Roy a lot of time and preparation to make. It is basically an old traditional recipe for braised pork belly. It comes in a huge chunk of meat and fat but yet the fat is solid enough and tastes amazing.

It is done by first simmering the pork belly cubes until the bad oils come out, then simmering it again in porridge so that the rice grains absorb more oils out and infused their rice taste into the fats, and finally the pork cubes are braised yet again in the special home-made sauce. This whole process took about 14 hours.

7th course: Grilled kurama ebi with mentai mayo

Mmm grilled tiger prawn tastes fresh and firm with the nice mentai mayo to top it off.

8th course: Sushi

Aburi hotate and salmon belly is like the best sushi to put into my mouth. It simply melts and tastes so so good. But of course not forgetting the delectable anago sushi! This is only like the 5th time I’m having anago and it’s really nice. Miso soup was also served with the sushi.

9th course: Sponge cake and yuzu ice-cream

Imported from Japan, the sponge cake and ice-cream were.

Hainanese Delights @ Capitol Building

Seated in the busy street of Stamford Road is this little restaurant which serves Hainanese delights known as Hainanese Delights (how convenient, right?).

It always looks busy during the dinner hours when I walk pass the store and I always tell myself that I must give it a try if I have the chance.

And finally the opportunity came last Friday when I knocked off early.

The Menu

Ordered two of their dishes -

#1 - Hainanese Chicken Rice

What is Hainanese Delights without the iconic Hainanese Chicken Rice right? Sad to say, this is not the best chicken rice I have tasted and it’s not even up to my expectation in fact. The serving is just nice but the chicken is not as tender as it looks and the taste of the chicken rice just did not taste as good. It is not as good as it looks to me but neither does it taste bad (now that’s the consolation).

Damage: $3.50

Smith Says:

#2 - Hainanese Curry Rice

This picture sure does no justice to this dish as this dish sure beats the chicken rice hands down. This dish includes rice, fried pork chop, vegetable, egg and of course curry sauce. The pork chop is crispy on the outside and yet tender on the inside. It does not give you the feeling that you are purely chewing on some fried flour. The curry is actually not too spicy, which is suitable for hungry stomachs who are not that into spicy food.

Damage: $3.80

Smith Says:

Overall, this is the kind of place where I classify under the “Eat to live” category rather than “Live to eat” . I have to say it’s pretty value for money if we are talking about quantity. So will I visit this place again? Nah, maybe not.

Where it is: Hainanese Delights - 11 Stamford Rd #01-05 Capitol Building.