Cato is a modern asian restaurant along South Bridge Road in the Chinatown district that serves dishes incorporating many familiar asian flavors. For the bar, they carry over 60 small batched craft beers and spirits from all over the world and you’re definitely bound to find something to your liking! Into the night, you can find a DJ spinning your favorite music on the second storey.
Prawn Bisque with Home Made Cod Fish Ball & Coriander Leaf - SGD12
To start, we were served with a prawn bisque, which could be enjoyed in one shot or savoured with small sips. Upon my first sip, the umami flavor dispersed throughout my mouth and I thoroughly enjoyed this given how rich and flavorful it was. The cod fish ball, though small in size, was nicely seasoned with a crunch on the outside.
Snacks to Share:
Garlic Fries - SGD8 / Cato Wings in Homemade Chilli Glaze - SGD15 / Crispy Squid in Thai Style Glaze - SGD12
These dishes are a no-brainer. Fries, wings and fried squid are well liked by many and would make a good snack over drinks. Fries here at Cato are served with a garlic seasoning, albeit a little on the salty side. The wings are coated with a chilli sauce which I found to be more sweet than spicy, hence suitable even for those who don’t take spice. The squid featured a thin layer of light batter that is fried until it is crispy and airy, leaving it without any trace of greasiness - thumbs up!
Acai Cured Salmon - SGD18
This dish is a healthier choice offered by Cato with the use of the superfood, Acai. Raw salmon is cured with acai as part of the preparation, which did not make any difference in taste. The black jelly on the side is acai jelly, which were harvested from the Amazon. Other components on this plate are the star fruit ceviche, salad and calamansi creme fraiche. Without any attention grabbing component, I found this dish to be nothing more than average.
Chicken Noodles Salad - SGD16
Never judge a book by its cover! This chicken noodles salad may seem like any other salad out there, but the noodles are tossed with blended ghost chilli. Known as the world’s hottest chilli, this is not for the faint hearted. This salad has 4 chillis next to it on the restaurant menu so diners are warned! As I’m a fan of spicy food, I was able to take the spice though it had a slight numbing effect on my tongue after a while. The chicken topping on the salad was roasted with tea and rice and served with big and juicy tomatoes.
Steamed Baked Pork Cheek - SGD28
Strips of pork cheeks wrapped within a foil and baked till tender. Unwrapping the “parcel”, we were greeted with weaves of fragrance from the pork cheeks and seasonal vegetables. The cheeks were beautifully cooked and tender. The creamy port wine mustard sauce was surprisingly not too heavy and the combination worked quite well for me!
Auntie Jasmine’s Fish Curry - SGD25
First mouthful of this curry and I was already sold! It reminded me very much of an Indian curry that you can find at prata stores, so it might feel a bit abstract having it in a bar restaurant! This is actually a family secret recipe from the owner’s mother. New zealand ling fish is used in this dish, which I thought was slightly too tough and bland for my liking. Nevertheless, the fantastic sauce here makes up for it. Also on the plate are the star fruit ceviche, eggplant and little balls of olive.
Desserts:
Papaya Nougat Glace - SGD14 / Valrhona Warm Pistachio Chocolate Cake - SGD14
A homemade nougat using fresh chunks of papaya and yogurt sitting in a plate of papaya and sweet wine reduction! It was slightly icy which makes a cooling dessert and the pomegranate bits added some sour tones. For something more classic, choose the chocolate lava cake. It is a definite hit and the combination of rich gooey chocolate with a scoop of ice cream rarely fails.
Located just right next to the Central Business District, I foresee Cato being a hot spot for office goers to unwind with a drink. Cato enables customers to dine in a modern setting yet being able to relate to dishes highlighting familiar asian flavors, from which I recommend the thai glazed crispy squid and fish curry.

Great place to hang out with friends over some bar snacks and drinks!

http://feleats.blogspot.sg/2015/11/cato.html

Shop interiorSeating area

Ever found Orchard Road to be too busy and wanted a quiet corner to people watch on a weekend afternoon? If so, then Criollo Cocoa Cafe is the perfect choice for you. Located at Level 2 of Orchard Gateway, its direct link to Somerset MRT station means that you do not even need to brave that blazing sun! You can expect to find comfort food favorites here such as big breakfast, burgers, pasta and desserts all day long.

My initial impression of the place would definitely be their fanciful name! Mr. Lam, one of the owners, very kindly shared with us that the name was taken after one of the three main varieties of cacao beans. His partners and him took a liking to criollo and decided to name their new business venture after it!

Courtesy of Openrice, I had the opportunity to try out some of their dishes!Big Breakfast - SGD12

It is definitely happiness on the plate for those who love having brunch! Think scrambled eggs, chicken sausage, sauteed mushrooms, bacon, hash brown and toast! And no i’m not done yet - there’s even fruits with sweet yogurt! I thought this was really value for money. Special mention goes to their toast as it was toasted with butter till crispy and finished off with sugar. Such a simple touch but it made the dish very homely!Portobello Burger - SGD12.90

One for the vegetarians out there, this burger has a portobello mushroom “patty”. Stuffed with lots of onions and capsicum then sealed with toasted cheese, this makes a very juicy and flavorful component of the burger! The onions and capsicum were a great addition, as it added more layers of flavor. I wished that the filling:bun ratio would be more equal though. The fries had crispy edges filled with soft potatoes on the inside, quite addictive i must say!Seafood Laksa Pasta - SGD16.90

The dish that I was most looking forward to! Yay to having laksa even in a cafe! I love how they incorporate local flavors into their food for the Singaporean taste buds. Laksa sauce and abundance of seafood - what’s not to like? Criollo Cocoa does not scrimp on their ingredients at all. You get 2 huge mussels, 2 huge prawns and squid rings in your pasta. The sauce was rich in coconut taste, with an appropriate amount of heat which means that almost everyone can have it!Mixed Grilled Platter - SGD18.90

This sounded so good at first, but when the dish arrived… we were underwhelmed. 4 yakitori sticks, 2 sausages, some greens and a bucket of fries doesn’t match up to what one might expect from a platter. The beef yakitori was on the tough side, while the chicken yakitori was under seasoned. The whole dish just felt like they were forcefully placed together.Chocolate Waffle – SGD9.90

Finally a dish that is representative of the chocolate-named cafe; their chocolate waffles! Cocoa flavored waffles topped with chocolate ice cream, marshmallow, dark chocolate sauce, strawberries and maple syrup drizzled all over. Made for that sweet tooth in us! I thought that the waffles could be slightly fluffier and crispier, only then would it be perfect for me! The highlight here would definitely be their in-house ice cream, where new batches of ice cream would be made every 10 days. During our visit, they had chocolate, vanilla, lychee, coconut and mango. It was a unanimous vote that the best flavour was the coconut. The Malt Cake - SGD6.90Earl Grey Tea Cake - SGD5.90

Due to some of our major cravings for more sweets that was activated by their display of cakes, the kind folks at Criollo Cocoa also let us sample 2 of their cakes - The Malt Cake and The Earl Grey Tea Cake. Cakes here are supplied by the central kitchen of Pies & Coffee. The portions are very generous and are good for sharing amongst your girlfriends!

Criollo Cocoa Cafe is offering a 20% discount till 30 June 2015. In the coming months (July - Sep), they will also be rolling out new items, new discounts and more! Prices here are also nett, so be sure to head on down to enjoy the promotions!

The baja cobb's salad is for those who wants a hearty salad. It's full of greens but yet the cajun spiced chicken was a sinfully good addition to the otherwise too healthy salad. Lightly tossed in red wine vinaigrette, it is lightly acidic in taste but was well balanced out with the abundance of olives, corns and greens.
The superfood salad is for the full time vegetables lover. Loaded with lots of greens, the serving portions here at Seasons don't seem to scrimp any bit so the salad can just be your main course anytime! The downside is that the vegetables tasted a bit too raw so it can be a little hard to finish the whole serving on your own.
Cajun blacken fish taco is made with haddock, avocado mayonnaise, pickled onions, crispy shallots and cotija cheese sitting beautifully on a tortilla chip. The taco was an explosion of flavors in the mouth with the sweetness of the fish which was elevated by the other toppings with the crunchiness of the chip. It's a classic Mexican dish that is not so common in Singapore so I would recommend you to try this here!
My favorite dish of the night would be the pan seared foie gras! It is served on a thick toast with chocolate ganache, accompanied by bacon jam, caramelized bananas, tomatoes & granola crumbs. Doesn't that sound interesting already? Surely, the foie gras itself wasn't that outstanding but I enjoyed the dish as the combination of the flavors was very unique. Who would have thought that chocolate, bacon jam & foie gras would go so well together?
How can you miss out on fried chicken in an American restaurant? The skin was crispy but I thought it was overly battered! Chicken size was a little small so it became a little dry. What was delightful is the homemade ketchup served with it. It is tangy and went very well with the fried food. Homemade items just makes the entire dish stand out more, even if it's just a sauce as it portrays the chef's effort in the dish.
Season's bistro rendition of meatloaf is ground pork meat mixed with cornmeal and seasonings, on a bed of spinach and mashed potato with gravy. While the taste wasn't that much to my liking (acquired taste I guess!), I thought the mash was very smooth and creamy! The addition of some maple bacon on top was nice too, as the bacon was sweet and crispy!
The hit amongst the group was definitely the Seasons Cheese Burger! Just look at the homemade beef patty - so thick and juicy!!! Toppings include the classic burger selections like caramelized onions, cheese, bacon and mushrooms. The patty really make or break the burger and I'm so happy to find out that Seasons scored with theirs! It's not fully cooked so there will be plenty of meat juice as you sink your teeth into the burger!

We were also pleasantly surprised when we were served with their Valentine's Day special - Lamb rack. It comes with some sautéed mushrooms, asparagus (always a good side!) and meat sauce. The cook on the lamb was decently executed, as it was tender and did not have the gamey smell to it. 

Last but not least, we also tried the southend pasta which was made of tagliatelle, chorizo sausages and homemade tomato sauce. This dish was disappointing as the pasta was clearly overcooked, and the sauce was too light for a tomato based dish.

We ended our meal with a maple pumpkin cheescake and pecan pie with vanilla ice cream. While the maple pumpkin cheesecake was slightly too dense on the palate, the berries cream at the side did help to lighten it. Pecan pie was made from whole pecans and served with a scoop of ice cream - great for the sweet tooth and it was nice to end the meal on a sweet note!