Charley T's at 112 Katong

Last week, Noey and I were invited to sample the food at Charly T's, a casual dining restaurant located at 112 Katong.

Upon receiving the invitation, I was intrigued, in part because I am a total tourist when it comes to the eastern part of Singapore. DD grew up living in Jurong, and me in the North, Central and then far West of Singapore. We studied in schools in the central area and when it came to setting up a home of our own, that's the area we plumped for as well. So the East could be a foreign land as far as we are concerned. Naturally, I have never been to 112 Katong. This seemed to me like a good opportunity to get to know some of the eats in the East.

Feeling like we were on an adventure, and armed with trusty ol' Google Maps, Noey and I found our way to Katong on a busy Tuesday evening.

As it turned out, our adventure didn't come to an end in Katong, as our meal at Charly T's brought as on a food journey through different parts of the world. The menu was rather interesting, an eclectic mix of dishes that defied categorisation. They call it "global cuisine". You'll see what I mean as we go along.  

Noey and I were treated to a yummy fruit juice drink each at the start of the meal which I unfortunately forgot to photograph. Called Odysseys, Noey and I got the Green Tang (a mix of green apple, orange and pineapple) and Red Flash (a mix of strawberry, cranberry and lychee). Both were good, but Noey and I both agreed that the Green Tang was better. The sour notes rounded off the sweetness in a way that was made it refreshing. Not surprisingly, Noey the juice monster really went for this and finished most of it.

While waiting for our food to arrive, Noey was kept suitably entertained with colouring sheets and colour pencils which the restaurant had available. I am always grateful to restaurants which provide these as it keeps my fidgety son from getting too restless before his meal.

We were joined by Madeline and her little girl for dinner, and together we sampled quite a number of dishes.

First up was Charly T's Famous Rotisserie Chicken. We tried the Kansas City BBQ and the Original recipe, out of the 4 varieties available. It's been a while since I've had rotisserie chicken and I thought these war pretty good - crisp skin with tender meat. No complaints from either Noey or I! We both went for it with gusto. The chicken came with 4 different in-house dips, and while I though the chicken tasted perfectly good on its own, the dips did add an interesting dimension to the it. Madeline and I both agreed that the Chermoula Sauce - a Moroccan sauce of cilantro, garlic and cayenne pepper - was the best. Noey enjoyed the Roasted Sesame Sauce, which I thought had a Chinese flavour to it.

The chicken also comes with a choice of 4 sides. These are Steamed Fresh Vegetables, Butter Garlic Rice, German Potato Salad, and Macaroni and Cheese. The number of sides per order ranges from 2 for a quarter portion of chicken to 4 for a whole chicken. Noey enjoyed the Butter Garlic Rice, and I dare say, ate most of it. Personally I found it only ok. I enjoyed the German Potato Salad much more. I'm sure it was the bacon on the chunks of potato that did it for me! The Macaroni and Cheese was particularly interesting, not the least because it was orange. We learnt that this is because the cheese sauce is made with cauliflower and red bell peppers, latter of which gives it it's unique colour. I thought the hidden vegetables were great - healthy and tasty mac n cheese. What is there not to love?

Next up was the Kalua Pork. This dish was apparently inspired by pork from a Hawaiian luau. It is pork belly, though you can hardly tell at all, since it has been slow-cooked till practically all the fat has melted off. The meat had a hint of a smoky flavour, and was very tender. I found it a bit plain when eaten on it's own, but it tasted really excellent when eaten with the accompanying BBQ sauce. Mmmm.

After the pork came the Chicken Cordon Bleu. Both kids perked up immediately when the plate arrived at the table. Fries! And they were good, crisp ones fresh out of the fryer. Noey was a happy camper. This is one dish that my husband loves and I know he wouldn't find fault with this version - a crispy shell encasing tender chicken with slices of ham and oozing creamy cheese. 

We were pretty stuffed by then but we still had one more main to go: the quintessentially American Sloppy Joe. The Sloppy Joe is something I've heard a lot about (from my Archie comics when I was younger, I suspect) but have never tried. I didn't realise that it's minced beef cooked in a tomato-based sauce, slapped onto a burger bun. Right. Hence the sloppiness. We avoided all that messiness by getting the chef to neatly quarter the burger for us, so that we could pop the sections in our mouth without difficulty. I liked this a fair bit. The meat sauce reminded me a lot of a less spicy version of chilli con carne, which I love. My only complaint would be that the burger was rather tiny. I could eat a quarter of the burger in one bite, so four bites and you're done. Certainly not for the boys, I would think.  

We rounded off dinner with everyone's favourite - dessert! We had the Kaiserschmarrn, an Austrian dessert which was essentially a light fluffy pancake torn up into pieces, mixed with raisins, dusted with icing sugar, and served with ice-cream. This was really good, and Noey chirpily declared the ice-cream his favourite part of the meal. No surprises there, I suppose! The warm pancake just goes perfectly with the in-house vanilla bean ice-cream. The fact that the pancake has al been conveniently cut into pieces was great for lazy people like me. We finished this in no time.

It was, all in all, a lovely meal, though Noey started to get restless toward the end and kept bugging me to go to the arcade which was just next door. Charly T's ha another outlet at NOMU (beside The Cathay along Handy Road) which is much closer to home for me, and we might check that out the next time we have a craving for rotisserie chicken. Or that yummy Kaiserschmarrn.

Charly T's
112 East Coast Road #03-15, 112 Katong
Singapore 428802
Tel: 6636 4701

* This review is written based on a Food Tasting that we were invited to. All opinions, however, are strictly my own.