Xiao Ya Tou

Those who understand Chinese might find this name Xiao Ya Tou (小丫头) a catchy and unique name and it's not hard to guess what cuisine they are serving if you understand the chinese word. According to their tagline, it's a restaurant that served naughty modern Asian cuisine. I first heard of this restaurant from my friend and decided to give it a try with Chappy. Lucky us managed to buy the $100 voucher with just $70 on Chope.sg (Yes auntie mode on). I think the promotion has ended but they do have this 10% promo going on, you can check it out here!

The restaurant is full with retro decors and it gives u a quirky retro feel from the interior to the menu, I honestly feel like taking the menu home..lol~ We went there on a weekday night and thus only dinner menu is available. Greedy us ordered 5 dishes to share. Our favorite and 'your must try' has got to be the twice cooked angus short ribs (两次熟牛仔骨) that served with smashed cucumber and sesame butter. The ribs are really soft and tender, literally just melt in your mouth. Another signature is their XYT Lu Rou Fan (卤肉饭), not the usual braised pork rice but braised wagyu beef on rice (bonus point: it comes with poached egg!). Being greedy as always, we also order the ngoh hiang, dumplings and charred eggplant to share. For their drinks menu, they have pretty interesting cocktails, im so gonna try their milo dinosaur next time haha!

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves that night although the bill came up exceeding our budget..hahaha! Overall it's a really nice place to chill with your friends over interesting cocktails and their modern Asian cuisine with a little twist~ I am definitely going back again to try their brunch menu!

Xiao Ya Tou
6 Duxton Hill
Singapore 089592
Tel: +65 6226 1965

The Lokal

*please watch in HD :)

I have read too many good reviews about The Lokal  but I don't understand why I took so long to finally visit this cafe..haha! It's located at a corner shophouse along Neil Road. The Lokal  is the sister outlet of Sarnies and its decor and ambiance will give you the Aussie feel, remind me of the cafes that I visited during my Melbourne trip! We visited on a public holiday afternoon and a mini queue was already formed inside the cafe. I think we got our table after a 15-20 minutes wait which was not too bad actually! And we got the window seats which means i got good lighting to take pictures! :p

We were so famished by that time but we just couldn't decide which item to order because everything just look so promising..lol! We ordered a roasted beef ciabatta and a smoked salmon egg royale to share. For the drinks, sf had the hot chocolate because she said she just had coffee this morning before meeting me? LOL! I'm not really a coffee person so I always opt for mocha..hehe! Our food came pretty fast and omg i can totally understand what's the hype about this cafe just by trying both dishes that we ordered!  I personally adored the egg royale more! That delicious slab of smoked salmon was done to perfection and this was coming from a person (aka me) who don't really fancy salmon (except raw salmon)! The egg yolk flows out perfectly as well..just watch the video and you will know what I meant..haha! Being a bread lover, I absolutely enjoy the beef ciabatta which is the perfect combination of sliced sauteed beef and caramelized onions (insert heart eyes emoji)!

I still remember it was super hazy that day (PSI hit around 300+!!) but it was nonetheless a well spent afternoon with lots of catch up and updates with sf! Overall, The Lokal  definitely lives up to its hype and it certainly deserves a return visit anytime!

The Lokal
136 Neil Road Singapore
Tel: +65 6423 9918
Mon-Fri: 8am - 6pm
Sat-Sun: 10am - 4pm