Lunch at The Lokal Cafe

After hearing some good reviews on The Lokal Cafe, I decided to give it a shot one day when a colleague suggested having lunch together. The Lokal Cafe is located at 136 Neil Road, Singapore 088865 (next to Goethe Institute) and the number to dial is 6423 9918.

The Lokal Cafe , an Australian cafe, is a fairly new kid on the block, often packed with coffee lovers in its comfortable setting - one may choose to sit at the tables near the sleek white coffee counter, or prop one's foot up on the plushy couches in the more laid-back area at the back.

Priding themselves on using the best raw ingredients to make hearty wholesome meals at affordable costs, this has already piqued my interest somewhat. On top of that was impeccable, amicable and polite service all around - from start till end - at no service charge!

We took some time to browse through the menu. I heard that the burger is their signature dish, but it sounded like a very big burger for my colleague and I (look at the list of ingredients and price).

I had wanted the Plate of Smoked Mackerel & salmon, pickles and pita bread (SGD$22.00) but they did not have smoked salmon that day. So I settled on the Roast Chicken Panini (SGD$15.00) with crispy pancetta, tomato, avocado, cos and aloli. The chicken was tender and the combination with crispy pancetta and avocado was an intense play on the palate. The juicy and sour-sweet tomato slices, paired with chewy panini bread made the sandwich an exotic blend of textures and in short, the colleague and I enjoyed this creation (I gave half of my sandwich to him, duh).

The colleague had the Roast Beef on Rye (SGD$17.00) with caramelised onions, watercress and grained mustard creme fraiche. The roast beef was rather tender, and the sweetness was further enhanced by the raw, fresh sweetness of the watercress. This sandwich was a rather juicy treat.

Then I had an aromatic cup of Cuppaccino (SGD$5.14) with lovely coffee art, to wash down my lovely lunch.

The colleague had a Latte (SGD$5.14) that he was full of praises for, commenting that he wouldn't mind having coffee like this everyday.

When we left, the friendly crew all bade goodbye and said thanks. What a very pleasant, quality cafe!