Club July (Choa Chu Kang)

Level4

606

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Club July (formerly known as "Pet Lovers Cafe") has several outlets, we visited the one at 5 Stagmont Ring, Singapore 688241 - interesting as it is situated, I quote the Beau, "at the end of the railway tracks".
As the name suggests, this place is also the perfect haven for pet owners, as you could bring your beloved dogs, cats etc here while you dine.
Ambience-wise, do not expect much. This is very much an alfresco dining concept that resembles a dolled-up coffeeshop, with a spacious outdoor area (for the pets to roam around?) and music from the radio station all night long. We chose to sit indoors, where the furnitute looked slightly better, and we noted that there is actually a Karaoke room further in. Service was slow, but we were brought to a table eventually.
We had the Salted Egg Prawns were being served first. Actually, given the location and standard of mediocre service, we both had to admit that this dish surpassed our expected standard. The gigantic prawns were rather succulent, and the shells were all fried to a golden-brown crispiness. The flesh was tender and sweet. The best part was the salted egg paste of course - it clung onto the crispy shell, giving it a very scrumptious sandy, buttery texture and taste, turning the sea-sweet delicacy into a saltish tongue-teaser.
The Tomyam Bee Hoon (dry) was served next. The texture of the beehoon was springy, and the entire dish was moist (with stock / tomyam?) but not soggy. There weren't much ingredients save for some shrimps, squids, eggs and vegetables, but the taste was good and highly redolent of tomyam's spicy-sour flavor. We thought the food pretty much compensated the lousy service we were accorded.
Finally, the Pineapple Fried Rice - not spectacular at all, especially after we had tried two other items of far more superior quality. It was sweet with raisin taste, but there was not a trace of pineapple to be found anywhere in the fried rice - not cubes of pineapples nor flavor at all.
For more detailed information and photos, do visit:
http://thearcticstar.blogspot.sg/2014/03/dinner-at-club-july-restaurant.html

(The above review is the personal opinion of a user which does not represent OpenRice's point of view.)

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DETAILED RATING

Taste

Decor

Service

Hygiene

Value

Date of Visit

2014-03-29

Dining Method

Dine In

Spending Per Head

$22

Recommended Dishes

clamourr

Level4

669

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Located off Woodlands Road, Club July was also formally known as Club With Paws. It's actually a pet place, a dog training centre. Recently went through a facelift, they now have a KTV lounge and a pool table, also serving food, drinks and alcohol.

Two weekends back, my boyfriend and I decided to give this place a shot. Its ambience is alright, say a 3.5/10. A place for dog lovers as dog owners can bring them along and eat together. It’s an ulu café though as we had to take a walk at a park/back lane to get there.

We ordered a few items to share. Namely a mango and a strawberry smoothie, bbq sambal stingray, fish n chips and a mee goreng.

The mango and strawberry smoothies were good except I thought they were more like flavored ice blended drinks you'd get at bubble tea shops, what's more there were mini pearls added on top. Rather sweet too.

The sambal stingray was an $8 portion. We were delighted at first sight as it was served a large piece for its price and the stingray meat was bbqed to its taste. Onions and sambal chilli were generous too. However it occurred to and disappointed us when we realized later it was just the top layer that was meat, beneath it was simply all bones, and unlike most seafood bbq stalls, the bones would easily come off when you tangle it but at Club July, the thin bones stuck with the stingray meat like chewing gum on a shoe sole. After a while we simply got sick trying to separate them and pushed the dish aside. I have to add, the bones were also not soft and chewable nor swallowable because they were practically hard like fish bones.

Fish n Chips($6) was a substandard dish. Awfully fried and drained in oil as if oil was its topping. Thin-cut fries were ordinary and I can't give my feedback about the coleslaw as my boyfriend and I don't eat coleslaw in general. Anyway the best part about the Fish n Chips was actually the baked beans... which came popped from a can, frankly speaking.

The mee goreng was okay though. Generous serving for its $5 pricing, neither too oily nor spicy (though I love spicy food but my eating partner doesn't), also had its fair share of ingredients fried with. Topped with lettuce.

Apart from its ulu location, this place unfortunately doesn't employ clever staffs either. It is fine with me that the staffs do not speak English but I guess it wouldn't be fine with anyone for f&b staffs to not have a good command of any commonly spoken language in Singapore. They didn't have any clue what chilli sauce, ash tray or even plain water were.

Doubt I'll be back...