Surrey Hills (Woodleigh)

A joy to pet owners, enjoy bringing your fur kid to this Australian Cafe, Surrey Hills Grocer outlet in Woodleigh Mall. The cafe boasts a charming train theme serving up a hearty menu as well as a pet-friendly menu.

Like the rest of the existing branches, the interior space is bursting with lush plants. While in Woodleigh Mall's outlet, they designed a seating area after a train cabin with window views. The Toy Train will also make its rounds around the cafe on the rail tracks. 

Interior of Surrey Hills Grocer (Woodleigh)

Beverages were served first as usual while waiting for our food to be served.

Picocolo Latte - $6

Beautiful presentation to the eyes with Queen Elizabeth Rose comprising 2 Lychee, rose tea and soda. Refreshing indeed.

Queen Elizabeth Rose - $9

Another beautiful creation with crushed pistachio nuts surround the glass rim served with Iced Latte.

Ice Pistachio Latte - $9.50

Baby Gem Lettuce which never fails to let out a refreshing crunch while we bite on was served with anchovy and garlic dressing, crispy kale, crispy bacon, garlic baguette chips, 6-minute eggs and yummy chicken Katsu.

Chicken Katsu Caesar Salad - $28

The Deep Fried Pork Belly was served with caramel apple sauce, lava eggs, mustard and hollandaise sauce on sourdough as well as house salad. What a total indulgence.

Pork Belly Benny - $28

Ending our brunch on sweet notes with Chocolate Stack. Pancake Parlour pancakes (2pcs) stacked and adorn by vanilla creme Chantilly, almond crumble and Grand Cru dark Chocolate ice cream. This is also served with dark chocolate sauce. Yummy.

Chocolate Stack - $26

Besides having this Chocolate Stack as their Signature Plates Dessert, they have a good selection of Pancake too, served with Smoked Salmon, Fried chicken, Bacon & Egg Etc. 

Dark Chocolate

Surrey Hills (Woodleigh)
Location: 11 Bidadari Park Dr, #01-52/53, Singapore 367803
Nearest Station: Woodleigh (NE11)
Website

The Lokal

You may be mistaken by the German word "Lokal" thinking that it serves more on German Cuisine but in fact the Lokal is an Australia Style Cafe than offers more than just German flavours. Taking the business name, it kind of already suggest that its more on the Local, more like internationally influenced style. They are located at a corner of the intersection of Bukit Pasoh and Neil Road where you can find Goethe Institue nearby. It's quite easy to get here as they are within minutes walk from Outram MRT Station.

The Lokal 

It's causal and welcoming atmosphere had kind of remind me of a cafe in Edinburgh Bus Interchange. Interior was rustic with a hipster interior that keep up with the cafe trends in Singapore.

Interior

We requested the coffee based dessert to be served first. This looks really cool with a scoop of vanilla ice cream topped with shot of espresso.

Affogato - $6.50

While waiting for the food, I had a glass of chai latte. Chai fragrance was average and all was down in my stomach even before the food was served.

Chai - $6.50

Starters was good with 3 ways Cauliflower served on a traditional Chinese metal plate. Cauliflower comes in 3 different forms and beautifully presented. With puree as its base, stacked by leafy greens and cabbages with tumeric infused cauliflowers, fried cauliflowers, as well as Ricotta & almond makes it special. Recommended.

Cauliflower 3 ways - $13

Another starter we had was great and perhaps suitable for those who want a lighter meal instead. Roasted beet roots was juicy and mix with quinoa, green beans, blue cheese & honey walnuts. I'm not really a fan of blue cheese, fortunately, the taste of the blue cheese was not that strong as I would have thought.

Roasted Beetroot Salad - $13

Torn between the Braised beef cheek and Cape Grim Sirloin Tagliata, I end up with the latter as per recommended by the server for its popularity. Served on a wooden board with scrumptious beef cubes cover by watercress with Asiago cheese and cheery tomatoes pairing.

Cape Grim Sirloin Tagliata - $28

The beef were cut into cubes form cooked to the default perfection by the cafe. Simply love its charred exterior and the juicy tender mild bloody meat.

Beef Cubes, WoW!

Ending the session of the night with sticky date pudding as dessert on a good note. The warm pudding was velvety coupled with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream and yummy caramel sauce. The best part of the dessert was that with the sticky date and sauce, the entire dessert was not too cloying and one won't feel the excess richness and sweetness in them.

Sticky Date Pudding - $10

As a whole, service was friendly with a good atmosphere around. Even though they have limited items on the menu, fred not as they have daily specials, so do check out what's on their black board.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

The Lokal
Location: 136 Neil Road Singapore 088865

Outback Steakhouse

Food industry in Singapore is getting more competitive nowadays as compared to before and having said that Outback Steakhouse is still one of the popular place among my clicks for steak. Besides having them at a more affordable pricing. let's check out our recent experience from Outback Steakhouse.

Environemnt

While waiting for the orders, starters were provided. Bread was heated up and came with some margarine for us to pair with.

Bread with compliments

The two plump cakes were highly raved by my pal. These cakes were packed of crabmeat, topped with basil and fresh tomatoes, also served with their special homemade remoulade sauce. Yummy!

Crab Cakes - $15.90

Outback Signature steaks are not to be missed over here. They are special and carved from USDA Choice Beef. We had the Outback Special, one of their signatures which was accentuated with the seasoned spices and seared to the perfect doneness we asked for. It comes with 6, 8, 10 oz starting at $28.90 with the difference of $2 for each weight. For each signature steak, you can choose two sides of your choice.

6oz Outback Special - $28.90

Done with their secret 17 kinds of seasoning blend, chargrilled over the open flame, this 10oz of USDA ribeye was mouth watering delicious! Juicy and savoury.

Ribeye - $39.90

Another excellent choice will be their Baby Back ribs.Succulent and juicy, fork tender with flesh falling off the bone easily with little effort. The rack was simply delicious and filled with smokey flavours. The level of grilling skills was good enough to to obtained such standard with the BBQ sauce. Ribs come in the choice of half and full rack, served with thick cut fries.

Baby Back Ribs (Half Rack) - $21.90

There was a one for one promotion going on with their fruit chillers and these chillers were made of fresh citrus juices and come in the choice of mango, raspberry or strawberry, finely blended with ice.

Fruit Chillers - $4.90

Surprisingly, service was much more than I have expected. Servers were prompt and attentive to our waving. On top of that, they will also go around asking customers if the food is ok and understand how much they can improve on. With service standards differs from the cafe and other eateries, I would think twice coming back again!

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Outback Steakhouse
Location: Millenia Walk, 9 Raffles Boulevard #01-114 Singapore 039596
Website

Salt Grill & Sky Bar

One of the hot spot to romance your date.

Salt Grill & Sky Bar by Luke Mangan (One of Australia Leading Chefs) located at 55th and 56th floors of ION Orchard, serving contemporary Australian cuisine in a spacious environment with magnificent view of the bustling Orchard Road.

Accessing to the restaurant was make easier with the helpful staff, just proceed to the concierge desk at level 4 and they will direct you to a exclusive elevator that will take you up to level 55 directly in a short moment.

Salt Grill & Sky Bar

Sitting by the side windows with an overall breath taking view was really an indulgence. I didn't expect that the windows seats was all taken up on a Monday night. However, if you want to secure a seat by the windows and surprise your loves one, just fork out another $95++ for their WOW Package.

Dining Environment

The tall ceiling and its glass panels looking out into the wide dark sky added sensational mood to the elegant dining environment. On top of that, service was polite and friendly with attentive waitresses / waiters who attended to our request without further ado.

Counter

With the panoramic view and the impeccable service from the staff, our mood was eventually tuned to the right frequency, throwing away what we had for that moment. Ambiance was definitely a perfect spot if you want to impress your date.

Bar Area

Upon ushered to our seats, we were greeted by a plate of warm bread with extra virgin olive oil and a plate of mix spices.

Complimentary Bread

Special thanks to the chef for preparing 2 spoonfuls of surprise for us, so sweet of them.

Compliments from the chef

A signature dish across Luke Mangan's restaurant. The 'glass' Sydney crab omelette was impressive with the smooth yellow omelette cradling fresh succulent crab bits.  And Miso mustard broth was poured into the plate upon serving. Simply love this dish with enoki mushroom & herb salad as its garnishing. Yummy!

Appetizer - $33

Tasting of pork is another interesting dish that comes with 4 items on plate. I was advised to dine from the left to right with the first item starring confit belly where its top layer was crispy while the subsequent layer was soft and chewy, not too oily.

Next was its caramelized apple which reminds me of apple pie. A not too sweet version with an apple crunch.

Following the 3rd item from the left, the braised cheek did whet my appetite for more, it seems like the small piece of it was just never enough. Braised and infused to its meat yet retaining itsnatural sweetness and juiciness. Meat was soft and I wish I could have more on the plate.

With the bacon wrapped loin as the last item, it perfect the dish to the so called named "Tasting of Pork".

Tasting of pork - $70

All items were complimented by sweet red wine sauce and spring cabbages as its base.

Right to left

While off the grill, we had Sirloin weighing 250g on the plate, medium-well doneness. The chef did do a great job to have it done at our request. What a tantalizing treat I had with the steak added with moroccan spice, sauteed spinach, eggplant puree and red wine sauce. Awesome! On a side note, the Sirloin comes from Rangers valley, New South Wales and is 300 days grain fed.

Sirloin - $74

We had chosen the dessert with Chocolate delice, salted caramel, honey comb, praline ice cream.

I did a last minute birthday request and the quick witted lady took me to one side as I revealed that I need to have some birthday wordings on the dessert. She was very professional in handling the request and it took me last than a minute without my partner noticing.

Birthday greetings were written on the plate with romantic candle pierce through the creamy ice cream.

Dessert - $22

It started with a warm welcome and ended well with a good bye from the team.

Entrance / Exit

Dining experience was great however one challenging task throughout was that I find it difficult to capture the items under a low light condition thus pictures taken were not too favourable but still, having dine in Salt Grill & Sky Bar was enjoyable. I will be back for their set lunch.




Rating: 4 / 5

Salt Grill & Sky Bar
Location: ION Orchard, 2 Orchard Turn Level 55 & 56 Singapore 238801
Website

MAD JACK

Mad Jack Cafes serve an Aussie styled fare and fusion food giving customers a promisable meal with quality adopting its stringent food philisophy - No MSG, No Preservatives, No Tenderlizer and their money-back guaranteed policy.

Mad Jack Clementi

MAD JACK in clementi had been opened a few months back and was rather new in the vicinity as they had shifted from Adams Road. Ambience was simple with about few groups tables spread out in the cafe. Service was prompt, the lady hurried out of the shop to wanting to explain the menu when she saw a group of us hanging out at her corridors. During our visit, there was only a table of 4 enjoying their lunch, dined-in. 

Cover of its menu had illustrated the food origins with its national symbols like boomerang , kangaroo and koala bear.

Menu of Mad Jack

Mad Jack had their crazy lunch deal at an attractive pricing with soup of the day and a drink to complete a meal.

Cream of Mushroom (Soup of the day) with Drink

Remember this is what MAD JACK had told us, "You dont have to be MAD to dine here, but it helps." Cranky but i like it. So let's grub!

Plate

MAD Cow Burger was served with big cuts fries. Clear cut with just 2 items, fries and burger.

#151 MAD Cow & Chips Set - $9.90

Burger looked appetizing with its sesame buns and beef patty sandwiched. The beef patty was make up of minced beef meat and tasted rather mushy its centre. Not forgetting its bun, its underneath was toasted with butter, leaving light yellow stains. With Mayonise, tomato and shredded cabbages added complimenting the burger, it had summed a typical looking burger.

MAD Cow Burger

Spaghetti on the other hand was overcooked and was rather soft. The Bolognaise sauce was standard, a good mixture of sauce with minced meat as well as mushrooms, nothing to rave about.

#152 Spaghetti Bolognaise Set - $10.90

2 Pieces of thin grilled dory covered with great amount of butter sauce with mashed potatoes and fruits salad as sides. Decent but not to die for.

#155 Grilled Fish in Cream Sauce Set - $12.90

Oreo cheese cake was abit of the dry side on its cheese layer, a far cry from our ideal taste of Oreo cake. In the end, we left more than half of the cake untouch even though we were sharing this in a group of 5.

#235 Oreo Cheese Cake - $5

TiraMADsu was a letdown. No doubt that the layers of cakes sandwich between the cream were spongy, the richness of a standard Tiramisu and their mascarpone cheese was lacking.

#231 TiraMADsu (Slice) - $4.90

If you are health conscious diner, MAD JACK may just fit your choice if you are craving for some western cuisine. Moreover, MAD JACK  is halal-certified and provides delivery service to certain areas in Singapore. Vegetarians, do not disappoint, MAD JACK had reserved a page on their menu for you.

Rating: 3 / 5

Mad Jack
Location:  Blk 352 Clementi Avenue 2 #01-129  Singapore 120352
Tel: 64624300 / 6846 8231
Open: 11.00am – 10:00pm daily

Website
Menu