Eversince I joined this FB group: Halal Cafe & Restaurants in Singapore, I've been very much enticed to try at least one of the recommended restaurants/eateries/cafes.
One of the oft-mentioned place is Cookwerx by Chef Taj, located at East Village (also known as the mini Halal food hub). Have you ANY idea, just how many Halal restaurants, cafes, shops there are at East Village?!
First and foremost, I have to warn you that this is more of an eatery and not a full-fledged restaurant. Seats are minimal and can accomodate less than 30pax at most. But still within air-conditioned setting. You make your order at the counter, choose your drinks and wait for your food to be served.
You can clearly see the chef at work, grilling/ frying away.
The setting
Menu board
Fave soda
With all that meat coming, something tangy will be nice.
Cajun fries - $3.80
Spiced fries, with crispy, herby crumbs. Makes for a great munch while waiting for food to arrive. There are other sides available like fellow spuds: Jacket potato and garlic mash, both $3.80 ea.
Coleslaw is $3.
Seasonal salad
Mixed salad greens, avocado, cherry tomato & 'daily premium topping' with balsamic vinaigrette.
That day, the premium topping are grilled salmon flakes! Whoa! Premium, alright.
Avocado
The server then came by to serve us the avocado on a separate platter. I think they unintentionally left it out.
Now, this hearty salad looks more complete. One heck of a salad, this is. It's pretty much a meal on its own. And seeing that the 'premium topping' seems to vary daily, I guess, it will be a nice surprise?
Or you can always enquire before ordering. ;-)
Oven-baked Boneless Chicken Leg - $9.90
With homemade sauce and jacket potato. My colleague's order.
Simply put, chicken chop with darn good mushroom sauce. The jacket potato reminds me a lot like the one served at Eatzi Restaurant.
Baked Salmon Fillet - $14.90
With seasonal vegetables and garlic mash potato.
The 'seasonal vegetables' here was some yummy ratatouille ( a traditional French dish, consisting of mixed cuts of veggies). And the sauce was some tangy cream sauce which paired well with the (nicely seared) salmon.
Beef Short Ribs - $29.90
Lo and behold, my order. The whole time before getting there, I was determined to get the Tender Roast Spare Ribs of Lamb with pineapple sauce ($19.90). I used to love the ones served at Charcos so I wanna see how the one here compares.
However, when I enquire at the counter, I was told that they were not quite ready at that lunch hour. I was recommended the Beef Short Ribs, instead.
It was feeling like a, "I-want-to-eat-lamb' kind of day and I was contemplating another 'Today's Special' instead: the Lamb Shank with Pasta ($26.90).
Then again, the Beef Short Ribs was a chef's recommendation. Chefs should know their stuff better shouldn't they? So I put my trust and ordered just that.
2nd view
So when the plate was served to me, I was like, "Are you kidding me?!
That was a huge chunk of meat! Am I eating this alone?!
The hunk of meat was served with side salad & pineapple slice, ratatouille, french fries and a splash of their homemade BBQ sauce.
I'm a big fan of bbq sauce and this one here is just sooooo delish! Meat was really, really tender. Fall-off-the bone kind. At some parts, I just flake away the meat with my fork.
And I love their ratatouille too. I'm a big veggie fan so having both cooked and raw veggies on my plate can just make me squeal with joy. I would prefer the jacket potato over the fries, here, but then again, that's just my preference.
I enjoyed this so much, my plate was clean in the end.
Burp
Yeap. Almost licked it clean. Thankfully my pride held me back.
Le Bone
The chef spotted me posing like this. And this pic end up on their FB page too. Pfft.
I really enjoy dining there. Service is fast and friendly. And food is REALLY good. Carnivores should enjoy themselves… Non-fans of grilled meat, well you can always try their spring chicken. Was told that is good, too.
Plus, you can easily hunt down for Halal desserts within East Village, post meal. There are A LOT of option for that, there. No joke.
Cookwerx by Chef Taj
430 Upper Changi Rd
#01-60, East Village (Simpang Bedok),
Singapore 487048
Tel: 6702 1360
Their FB HERE.
