Food for lounging hang-outs Students
Food, for a good cause.
Run by a group of 5 friends, this little eatery is initiated by the very same who started School of Thought - the tuition centre passionate about the education and nurturing of our second generation. In line with their passion for society and the less privileged, their second initiative, no doubt, embraces their bold cause entirely and primes an entire dining experience for patrons to give back to society in little but meaningful ways.
The small kitchen is helmed by Head Chef David Heng and Sous Chef Peter Boyer. Working compatibly along side and colourful resumes behind them, they humbly aspire to create good but unpretentious food. Chef David graces every patron with his endearing (sometimes boyishly cheeky) smiles and his love for cooking and passion to serve comes across evidently from his light but sincere banter with the customers. "This has always been my dream" he sheepishly grins and confesses in dialogue between servings.
Open for less then a week, they haven't gotten all things worked out yet. Without ventilation, frying is out of the question for now. It's mainly sandwiches featuring slow roasting and baking for now, but we can expect changes in the menus.. I'll be waiting for my eggs and pancakes in the morning once the frying begins.
Since we were a big party of 8, David prepared a special chef's sampler platter for us. Innovatively served on a long heavy plank, 8 pristine white dishes cradling the cafe's current special creations were presented to us. Generous servings of home-made Focaccia bread were placed alongside so that we could get into the fun and personal of making and matching our sandwiches to our liking. Everything... and I really mean everything is home-made in this kitchen. From the chili-and-lime butter, the four types of olive oils (garlic, laksa, chili and rosemary) the pickled cucumbers on the side, to even the sun-drying of the tomatoes in the pesto chicken! Imagine the excitement of two chefs about their food, so genuine, it's translated to painstakingly ensuring everything served, go through their hands. That alone, will bring you back.
From the front to the back: Basil Pesto Chicken with home-made Sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms
Second: Grilled Spring Vegetables - Cucumbers, Zucchinis, Capsicums, Pea Shoots in a local zesty sauce
Third : Mama Heng's Spicy Pork - The Heng's Family secret recipe - *Strongly recommended
Fourth: Slow roasted pulled pork with sweet potatoes and home-made BBQ sauce - *Strongly recommended
The slow roasted pork was beautiful, soft and full of flavour. The bbq sauce enhanced the flavour and was perfectly balanced with the natural sweetness of the sweet potato. To add a nice healthy note, the meat was served with baked, not fried, pork crackling.
Mama Heng's spicy 3-layer pork also deserved two thumbs up and a mouthful!. The pork, braised for close to 6 hours, was tender and sweet. With a sprinkle of bird's eye chili to give it a good kick and healthy tau kwa slices to balance the oil from the good fatty layer. According to mom's instructions, "picked cucumbers must be eaten alongside the pork, that's what makes it special" - Chef David adds earnestly.
The grilled vegetables didn't do anything for me since I am a pure-bred carnivore. Though my dining companions commented that the sauce was interesting, refreshing and different. The basil pesto chicken was a little dry for my liking but the sun-dried local tomatoes were beautiful.
And that's what I like about the sandwiches here - they seem to scream "be true to our roots!" Dime a dozen are the petite shops that boast sandwiches with rather 'western fillings'. No doubt, the very concept of sandwiches is western, but the sandwiches churned from this kitchen carries a certian fusion with authentic Asian and local flavours. It was truly an enjoyable and comforting experience. A braised pork sandwich over pot-roast or turket breast anyday!
Apart from the main selection of sandwiches, we also sampled the soups. The roasted roots of vegetables was an intensive healthy shade of orange - thick and sweet. For the weight-conscious, the no cream, no dairy, no MSG Shitake Mushroom fennel would be most suitable. The house salad - TLC - was served in a homely wooden salad bowl, Asian favourites like corn, lemon grass and water cress, are tossed together with tomato wedges and a twist of Vietnamese mint. A queer combination of ingredients, but the result, a refreshing crunch of fresh vegetables with a local flavour.
For the sweets, a very interesting philosophy is adopted. Desserts are outsourced from various self-made cake-baking ladies across the island. When we were there, there was a wide selections of traditional classics and yummy creations. Old school familiar rice krispies snacks, and old-fashion carrot cake, baked by a certain Auntie Mabel. For the hip and trendy, there are modern cupcakes flavoured with the popular nutella, peanut butter and banana walnut. All hand-made and from different bakers.
This concept of outsourcing desserts is brilliant. Each dessert thus has ownership, character and appeal to different taste-buds. Of course, giving budding culinary talents around the island some advertisement and showcase works great too.
We chose our form of decadence and apparently the nutella cupcake was the most popular dessert of choice. Runner-up would have to be the warm marshmallow and chocolate brownie. The nutella cupcake was excellent. Served warm, the nutella frosting was creamy and rich, while the moist dark chocolate cake base was soft and light. The perfect pairing of chocolate and frosting. Blame it on limited stomach space, we didn't get to try everything displayed, but I am sure there will be other chances for that.
If that doesn't fix the sugar endings of your dinner, order their signature frozen lychee sage. Fresh lychee is blended with sage and a little mint, refreshing and the perfect ending for any hot day and busy work / school day.
Food for Thought
420 North Bridge Road
North Bridge Centre
#01-06
Singapore 188727
http://www.foodforthought.com.sg/
It was great! Dinner had a really healthy start that consists of a good serving of vegetables and yummy shitake mushroom soup. Though almost filling full, both my girlfriend and myself still manage to 'wolf' down the sandwich platter. In addition to these rich food, we had a couple of refreshing home made lemon tea that 'cools' our almost bursting stomachs. Definitely a '2 thumbs up' and a 'MUST' go for real good food.
ReplyDeleteNice site! I'd very much like to add you to my food blog sidebar!
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