Carvers & Co. joins many new cafes and restaurants in the Katong/ East Coast road area. It is run by chef and fitness trainer, Sarah Lin. She was inspired by the cooking techniques and tradition through her farm stay in Southern Italy which was later fuelled by her own passion for cooking for friends through "supper clubs" and other events.

As we entered the restaurant, we realised that the space was actually quite small and cozy. It has a seating capacity of about 40 people. Furniture were arranged in a way that encouraged communal dining in groups. The interior was decorated with paintings, some shelves and the colours of the place made the place feel friendly and welcoming.

Carvers' & Co. serve a range of drinks. The highlight would be their coffee. The coffee here are brewed with beans roasted by Common Man Coffee Roasters. You may also speak to the barista and staff to request for pour-overs featuring single origin coffee beans from reputable roaster around the world. These coffee are specially hand-picked by Carvers & Co. and vary from time to time.


We tried their Flat White which was aromatic and not too acidic. They offer other drinks such as craft beers, organic colas and wine for those who prefer something else.


Truffled Egg-in-the-Hole Toast with Bacon Jam is usually served with Candied Bacon as well. Brioche bread is used in this dish where the centre of it has a hole where the pour in a fresh egg. The truffle taste was consistent and we felt sufficient. On the side, bacon jam is served atop a crouton. It was our first time tasting bacon jam and we really liked how the salty bacon was emulsified into a jam that had a balance of both sweet and salty flavours.


Carvers & Co. also prides itself with their signature hearty roast meats that can be enjoyed individually or ordered whole and shared. Their choice of roasts varies weekly. You can order their Carvers' Plate which consists of Gammon Ham and carvings of Roast of the Day served with caramelized onions and potato hash. Half a roast is usually at $80 for 4-6 people while a whole roast is at $150 for 8 to 10 people.
One of their signature roast is Porketta with Crackling and Apple Chutney. The porketta is seasoned with herbs such as garlic and rosemary. The crackling of the Porketta was the highlight as it so light, crispy and tasty. The meat is well-seasoned but I thought it could do with more moisture.


We felt the Wagyu Steak was the highlight for the night for us. It really is a generous portion! I enjoyed the garlic and caramelized sides as they give a good balance to the red meat. TIt was done evenly and the meat was really tender. We would recommend this dish for all steak lovers! The price is also pretty reasonable for the quality and portion!
Overall, a great place for gatherings with family and friends!





For full review and more photos, please visit http://thumbsforfood.blogspot.sg/2014/06/carvers-co-thumbsforfood.html

Percolate has a small seating capacity, probably enough for only 20? The walls of the cafe are painted in Black and White with wood-textured furniture. I like the vibe of the cafe - simple, small and cozy. As it is still a relatively new cafe, we were quite happy that the cafe was not crowded. It is definitely difficult to find an empty cafe these days where you can simply just sit, read a book and chill the afternoon away.We decided to try out two of their desserts that were offered. Besides desserts, Percolate also serves up simple sandwiches for those who are looking for something savoury.Chocolate Espresso Tart was one of our choices. My friend really like this tart. The tart is not very sweet which was good. I like the crust of the tart whereby its quantity was quite balanced with the Chocolate Espresso filling in it.The coffee was good and strong. We all agreed that the coffee was affordable and value-for-money. The coffee comes in either black or white; hot or cold. The white coffee comes in two sizes (3oz or 5oz). Hot coffee are priced below $4 and teas are priced at $5.I saw two other patrons ordered Iced Chocolate and was so tempted just by the look of the drink. Look at it below! The iced chocolate has chocolate infused in the milk. It was appropriately sweet with the right amount of chocolate. I like that it can be refreshing and chocolatey at the same time.Overall, I enjoyed my time at Percolate. We also appreciated that the staff were very friendly. One of them even waved goodbye to us when we left the place. I would definitely be back at Percolate for its coffee and warm ambience! Would love to try their bundt cakes the other time round.

For more photos and full review please visit http://thumbsforfood.blogspot.sg/2014/04/percolate-thumbsforfood.html

For more photos and review, please visit http://thumbsforfood.blogspot.sg/2012/12/rocku-yakiniku-bugis.html

We chanced upon ROCKU one day when we were looking for a dinner place in the newly revamped, Bugis+ mall. The food ROCKU serves is Japanese Barbeque ala carte for dinner. It does also have weekends lunch buffet from 11.30am-4pm at $29.90++.The exterior and interior design of the shop is like an underground punk and rock brick-walled hideout. The bricks wallpaper really brought out that vibe. The restaurant plays loud music, projecting the Music Videos of various songs, especially Japanese-pop and Korean-pop. Once in a while, you'll hear popular English pop songs.

We ordered a Beef Combo Set ($45.90) which consists of 5 different parts of the beef from the more fatty areas to the leaner meats. I really don't know how to differentiate the different parts of beef the meat were from. But, one thing to be sure, the beef was fresh and well-marinated. The set even came with chicken, some vegetables, rice and even mushrooms.The combo sets come with 2 rice and 2 miso soups. Since there were 3 of us, we ordered an extra bowl of egg fried rice ($1.50). Since you can choose egg fried rice instead of the normal plain rice, it is recommended to try it! It really is different from the normal fried rice you can find else where because it uses japanese rice. Portion of rice was however small. For those people with bigger appetities, you would probably want to get another bowl. We also ordered a serving of salmon ($8.90). The portion was rather small for the price, but, the salmon was really fresh and good.Overall, the food was good and fresh. We felt that it was one of the more affordable barbeque ala carte restaurants you can find that serves quality meat. We would definitely be back.

Also, it has many beer promotions in-house. Happy hour is from 12pm-7.30pm and prices starts from as low as $6 for half pint and towers are at $55 during happy hour. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Ladies enjoy two free alcohol beverage with purchase of food in-house, If you are dressed in ROCKU's colors, you get another 2 free drinks (for ladies only).

I think many Teochew food lovers would have heard of Ah Orh since it has been around since long time ago. I was introduced to this place by my uncle who found the dishes at Ah Orh authentic and good. There is one Ah Orh in Bukit Merah and one in Sin Ming. We went to the one in Sin Ming.
One of the famous dishes in Ah Orh is the Teochew cold crabs. The crabs ar boiled and placed in the fridge for some time before they are served. The highlight is the "gao" of the crab. I read that the "gao" is actually not the roe of the egg but this crab is actually double shelled and it is formed when the crab is shedding one layer of shell. Hmmmmmm... Interesting. I totally loved it. I think the best way of eating seafood is in it's natural flavour like that!
My personal favourite is the Oysters Omelette. Firstly, I love oysters. The oysters here is unlike the others I've eaten at other Tzi Char stalls. The oysters are so fresh that even my cousins who don't usually eat oysters loved it. The egg- was fluffy on the inside and crisp on the outside. The fire control must have been awesome! I like how the oysters were placed atop the egg rather than fried with it because it would have been a waste to cook such good oysters.
We actually also ordered Steamed Pomfret (I think it cost about $70-80) as seen below. It is the best steamed pomfret I've eaten thus far. The fish is so fresh without even a small hint of fishy taste. The gravy or rather soup was totally impressive. I could slurp the whole bowl down literally. It complemented the fish so well. Totally brought steamed fish to a different level. I guess the freshness of the fish attributed to a large part of the success of the dish.
Overall, I think Ah Orh really serves up really fresh seafood and authentic Teochew dishes. If you are a die-hard Teochew dish fan, do try Ah Orh out and let me know whether it met your expectations!

For more photos and full review, please visit http://thumbsforfood.blogspot.sg/2014/08/ah-orh-seafood-restaurant-x-hup-seng.html

For full review and more photos, please visit http://thumbsforfood.blogspot.sg/2014/07/sin-lee-foods-thumbsforfood.html
Sin Lee Foods opened its doors in the Bukit Ho Swee neighbourhood. The cafe's exterior was eye-catching with its traditional old-school signboard coupled with modern black framed entrance. It really stood out in contrast with its surroundings.
We tried the Flat White which was very aromatic and smooth. The latte art looked kind of abstract though. The prices of the drinks were quite standard cafe prices ranging from about $5.50 onwards. They have iced versions for those who prefer something cold.
Boneless Fried Chicken with Cheddar Waffle was our choice for the afternoon. As it was for our tea break, we decided to share the main course. The chicken was really juicy and tender. The batter was not too thick and went well with the chicken. We loved the texture of the waffle, which we hypothesised was due to the addition of cheddar.
We felt the price was a little steep though, priced at $21.90. I personally preferred the waffles on its own rather than eating it with the melted butter maple syrup.
As we were there on a weekday afternoon, there weren't many patrons. However, we would expect there to be a crowd on weekends. They have alfresco outdoor seating area that could accommodate more people. I guess on these days when the weather is so sweltering hot, I would prefer to sit indoors.
Overall, we feel that the price of food in Sin Lee is quite steep. The food quality is good but, we are still undecided whether it is worth the price.