Dinner at Lola's Cafe

Lola's cafe, a hidden gem nestled in the heartland of Kovan area, has been making its way onto foodie's good books serving delicious food at pocket friendly prices. I've finally found an opportunity to check it out.

I arrived at the entrance of this cafe at around 5.30pm on a Friday evening, it was already 80% full. The friendly staffs quickly ushered me to an available table. This tiny eatery is decorated with mixture of nostalgic and modern furniture and accessories. Several tables here are made with retro sewing machines.

There is an iPad queuing system near the entrance. If the cafe is full, patrons can enter their contact details and get a call when a table is available, no need to physically queue up here.

Our tiny table and the food & drinks menu. Everything here are priced below 20 bucks and there is no GST and Service charges...cool!

Hubby and I ordered a drink and a main course each, and one side dish for sharing. My Mocha $5.50, comes with a lovely coffee art, the coffee was smooth and robust...pretty good!

Hubby's Long Black $3.50, no complains from him...

We had one of the cafe's most popular sides, Honey Paprika Crispy Wings $10. The spices and honey sauce was really delish, chicken meat was tender and juicy too.

My Chicken Burger $14, toasted sesame buns with marinated chicken leg served with spicy aioli sauce and potato fries. The chunky chicken leg was very tender and tasted good with the spicy aioli. I loved the crispy fries that comes with the burger!

Hubby's Coastal Seafood Spaghetti $14, served with prawns, mussels, squid in white wine tomato sauce. The seafood was fresh and the pasta well executed, and the sauce was pretty awesome too. At only 14 bucks, its a steal!

We had a wonderful meal at the Lola's cafe, food is of good quality and prices are very affordable. Best part is they have 5 serving staffs providing prompt and friendly service and it didn't cost us 10% extra to enjoy that! This is one place worthy of multiple visits.


Lola's Cafe
5 Simon Rd, S545893
Tel: 6284 0349

Hours:
Monday    Closed
Tuesday    10:00 am – 11:30 pm
Wednesday 10:00 am – 11:30 pm
Thursday     10:00 am – 11:30 pm
Friday    10:00 am – 12:00 am
Saturday     10:00 am – 12:00 am
Sunday    10:00 am – 11:30 pm

Dinner at Symmetry Cafe

I had lunch here just slightly over a week ago, and now I'm back again with a different party to try their dinner menu.

The cafe is almost full house at 6.50pm on a weekday, we were lucky to have a confirmed reservation. Walk in customers were all seated at the bar table.

The complimentary Amuse Bouche (welcome appetizer), just simply grapes on crushed ice.

This place serves a premium french style dinner menu at night, that is pricier than lunch or brunch during the day. Dishes are updated every now and then.

After some contemplation, we decided to order one main course each and two sides to share. For drinks, I ordered my fave Hot Chocolate w/ Marshmallows $6.50++ again. This time round, I requested for latte art on my chocolate drink and the barista obliged, the marshmallows were served on the side. Aww...so cute right?

My friend's cocktail Symmetric $22++, a concoction of fruity strawberry and passion fruit juices and vodka. Cool presentation! Taste not bad too.

Wakame Prawn Popcorn $17++, served with wasabi remoulade sauce. Although slightly different from the lunch menu ones, they are equally addictive to eat.

Asparagus & Bacon sticks $20++, served with perfectly poached egg and smokey hickory sauce. The snacks are basically asparagus and bacon strips wrapped in popiah skin and deep fried till crispy. Simple to prepare but full of wow factor! Whoever created this was quite a genius...highly recommended.

My Baby Barramundi $38++, a whole seabass fish deep fried till crispy and topped with lobster bisque sauce, seafood gazpacho and baby potatoes. While the fish meat was tender and the sauce was good, there's too little sauce to give enough flavor for the entire fish. I had to ask for chili sauce to dip the tasteless fish meat not covered by the sauce to make it palatable. Hmm...I wouldn't order this again.

My friend's Symmetry Hamburger $29++, served in sesame buns with beef cheek, chorizo, foie gras, caramelized onions and beetroot. It comes with truffle fries and mesclun salad. My friend was very happy with her tender beef cheek and creamy foie gras gourmet burger.

That sums up our pleasant dinner experience at Symmetry. We are already talking about a brunch outing to try out their popular weekend brunch menu, which is completely different from their lunch and dinner menus. I just have to eat that waffle again..


Symmetry Cafe
9 Jalan Kubor #01-01 S199206
Tel: +65 62919901

HOURS
Mon 1030 – 2100
Tue–Thu 1030 – 2300
Fri 1030 – 0000
Sat 0900 – 0000
Sun 0900 – 1900



A few shots after sundown...and the Symmetry Kitty! Sooo cute lor...and 乖 like 囡囡 in Mclub.

Menya Musashi 麺屋武蔵 @Bedok Mall

My friend has been raving about the ramen and broth from Menya Musashi, a famous franchise from Japan, so I'm here to give it a try.

The ramen store is open concept style with Tiger and Eagle murals on the ceiling, and modern zenish decor in the dining area.

Hi tech ordering system, using iPad to send orders to the kitchen. This is becoming a common trend at newly opened eateries.

I ordered the Tontoro Tsukemen set $20.90++ which includes Tsukemen (dipping noodles) with black garlic broth and choice of one side dish. I picked the Crispy Cuttlefish for side, and add on another side dish Squid & French bean in Goma sauce $6.90++ as it looks yummy on the menu.

Ice water here costs $0.30++ per glass or $1.00++ for a big jug. I ordered the big jug one.

My Tsukemen turned out to be ramen soup instead of dipping noodles. For a moment I thought I had poked on the wrong item on the iPad. Luckily the ramen in black garlic broth looks delicious too, so I just dig in without questioning the waiting staffs.

The black garlic broth was thick and flavorful, very nice but a tad greasy though. The noodles served here are thin strand ones like wanton noodles, delish as well. Tontoro pork slices were well marinated and tender, coupled with the crispy 'tau kee' and nicely prepared lava egg...overall a really fab dish, slurp!

Crispy Cuttlefish and Squid & French beans in Goma sauce were both very tasty, no complains here.

Food here is quite good and service was decent as well, next time I'm gonna try the original broth ramen.


Menya Musashi 麺屋武蔵 @Bedok Mall
311 New Upper Changi Road #01-69 S467360
Tel: 6844 9373

Opening Hours: 10AM - 10PM