[CLOSED] Kelo Food – Joy of Healthy Gourmet Eating [MEDIA INVITE]

Welcome to Kelo Food, co-founded and helmed by Chef Charlie, to provide delicious and affordable healthier non-repetitive keto and low-carb substitutes in fulfilling your ketogenic diet. Chef Charlie creates amazing recipes that would allow people to build more wholesome relationships with food, without compromising on their cravings.

Kelo Food

The seeds for Kelo Food were initially planted by NuCarbs, which provides keto and low-carb meal plan subscriptions for those on this food journey. NuCarbs then evolve to Kelo Food this year, a 60-seater restaurant for all to experience a wider menu and pet-friendly alfresco area. Kelo’s food is not only 100% preservatives-free, sugar-free and MSG-free but also 100% original as the recipes and sauces are made from scratch in-house.

Part of Indoor Dining Area

Kelo Food’s menu will feature Asian fusion main dishes by day, and tapas & skewers by night. LD and I attended our tasting in the evening.

Dinner Menu

Side Dish

We started with Fresh Japanese Oysters ($17 for 6 pcs, $32 for 12 pcs). We ordered half a dozen with different flavours. 2 pcs Standard Raw, 2 pcs Roasted Garlic Butter Red Misso (+$1) and 2 pcs Green Herb Yoghurt Sauce (+$1).

Fresh Japanese Oysters

Fresh Japanese Oysters

For the standard raw, we just squeeze a dash of lemon to enjoy the fresh, plump and juicy Japanese oysters. The green herb yoghurt sauce is creamy and pack with herbs; However, it is light enough, so we can still taste the natural flavour of the oysters.

Standard Raw Oysters

Green Herb Yoghurt Sauce Oysters

The roasted garlic butter red miso is the strongest sauce of them all. It is sweet, thick and earthy. This red miso sauce is delicious; however, it blanketed the natural flavour of the oysters.

Roasted Garlic Butter Red Miso Oysters

Next up are the sticks / bbq skewers. We ordered Chicken Leg Cube ($3.5) with Yuzu Teriyaki sauce. Shiitake Mushroom ($2) with Red Garlic Butter Red Miso; and Tiger Prawn ($4.50) Tangy Thai.

Sticks: Tiger Prawns, Shiitake Mushroom & Chicken Leg Cube

The Tiger Prawn paired with Tangy Thai sauce is a flavour that we are familiar with. Inspired by Green Chilli sauce that is normally accompanied with Thai seafood dishes. Spicy and appetizing. The prawns are grilled to perfection, I deshell it effortlessly.

Tiger Prawn - Tangy Thai

The shiitake mushroom is crunchy, moist and packed with umami flavour thanks to the red miso sauce. The chicken leg cube has a familiar taste from the sweetness of teriyaki sauce; however, the yuzu elevated the flavours further by giving it a refreshing twist to the familiar sauce.

Shiitake Mushroom with Red Garlic Butter Miso &
Chicken Leg Cube with Yuzu Teriyaki

Roast Adobo Pork Tomahawk with Adobo Gata (Coconut, $26) plus Cauliflower Fried Rice. I like the rustic presentation. On my first bite, I got the fatty part of the pork, which is filled with a lovely charred aroma and the fats just melts in my mouth. While we find the middle part of the meat a bit dry, the flesh closer to the bone was juicy and super tasty. Not sure why the meat is very inconsistent, hopefully, they can solve this puzzle and this dish will be amazing.

Roast Adobo Pork Tomahawk with Adobo Gata

Roast Adobo Pork Tomahawk with Adobo Gata

The Middle Part

Our pork tomahawk is accompanied by Cauliflower Fried Rice. The fried rice is just superb, with a combination of fragrant aromas from the fried egg and garlic. The cauliflower is juicy and bursting with flavour. A total flavour bomb!! A must-order at Kelo.

Cauliflower Fried Rice

Cauliflower Fried Rice

Pan Seared Beef Cube with Garlic Confit & Green Herb Sauce ($18). The beef cubes have a nice crust on the exterior, however, we find the interior is cooked beyond the medium-rare point. Instead of juicy and succulent beef, we get juicy and chewy meat. The garlic confit is sweet and the yoghurt green herb sauce paired nicely with the beef. The combination of the drippings from the beef cubes and yoghurt sauce made a nice dressing for the salad below.

Pan Seared Beef Cube with Garlic Confit & Green Herb Sauce 

To accompany our meal, we enjoy the low-carb mocktails made with monkfruit sweetener. I have the Creamy Limonada ($8), a mix of lime, heavy cream, monkfruit sweetener and Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar. It is creamy and uplifting. LD ordered the Sparkling ACV Lemon Lime ($8), a mix of lime, monkfruit sweetener, Bragg ACV, lemon water and mint leaf. Her mocktail tangy and will wake you up.

Creamy Limonada

Sparking ACV Lemon Lime

On top of the low-carb mocktails, Kelo’s gastrobar drink menu is also designed for fellow drinking kakis who are unable to give up on their love for alcohol. Kelo offers Keto Impossible Ale and Lo-Carb Blondie at JUST $7 per half pint and $11.50 per pint, specially brewed by LeVeL33 urban microbrewery. For those who like to go hard, they can opt for the Signature Cocktails, all concocted using monkfruit or allulose sweetener and ZERO carbs spirits like Gin, Whisky, Rum, Tequila and Vodka (yes these have no carbs). Even Sake which is made from rice, koji and water is suitable for the ketogenic diet.

Non-Alcoholic Drink Menu

There are two seating areas in Kelo. The indoor is very cosy, almost like a lounge & bar seating style. Meanwhile, the alfresco seating area is airconditioned, covered by glass windows and glass ceilings. A nice place to enjoy the scenery outside complete with natural lights and the benefit of air-conditioning.

Part of Indoor Dining Area

Part of Indoor Dining Area

The Bar

Alfresco Dining Area

Overall, we enjoy the food served at Kelo Food. From a non-ketogenic perspective, we find the food to be tasty, enjoyable, creative and big on flavour. We totally did not miss the carbs and sweets on the night. Cheers!!

Thank you very much Protegie and Kelo Food for the media invite.

Food & Drink: 7.5/10

Value: 7.5/10

Service: N/A (Media Invite)

Ambiance: 7.75/10

Budget per Person: $11 - $25; $26 - $50

Kelo Food

134 Jalan Besar

#01-00 K2 Guesthouse Central

Singapore 208852

T: +65 8920 2007

W: https://kelofood.sg/

F: https://www.facebook.com/kelocafegastrobar

IG: @kelocafegastrobar_sg

OH:

Wed & Thu: 16.00 – 23.00

Fri – Sun: 11.00 – 15.00; 16.30 - 23.00

*Open from Wed – Fri for takeaway during lunch till dinner

Closed on Mon – Tue

COCA Singapore – Fragrant Laksa Hotpot [MEDIA INVITE]

COCA Singapore recently launched a Fragrant Laksa soup base as a part of Coca’s hotpot buffet. Its laksa rempah is made daily along with a fresh blend of lemongrass, dried chillies, galanga and dried shrimps.

COCA @ Kallang Leisure Park

For this tasting, we get to try the Regular Buffet Dinner menu, which has more than 70 items to choose from. We tried two soup bases, The Fragrant Laksa and Hua Diao Phoenix Pot. We had tried the Hua Diao Phoenix soup base for home delivery before and we like it. The difference is when you eat at the restaurant, the service staff flambe the chicken with hua diao wine, before putting it in the broth for boiling. The result is a smoky aroma of the wine, without the alcohol.

Hua Diao Chicken Flambe

Hua Diao Phoenix Pot with The Flambe Chicken

The fragrant laksa soup base is aromatic and filled with rempah flavour, topped with a generous spread of chopped laksa leaves. While the aroma is fragrant and strong, it does not have a rich coconut milk flavour like the laksa dish that we usually eat. This is good as you don’t want to be overwhelmed by the coconut milk when eating your steamboat.

Fragrant Laksa Soup Base (Right)

According to the service staff, it is best to pair the laksa broth with seafood. Therefore, we ordered the prawns, clams, oysters and crab to cook in the laksa broth. The prawns are fresh and already deshell, leaving only the head and tail intact. We enjoy the crunchiness of the prawns without the need to get out hands dirty.

Prawns & Thinly Sliced Lamb

Prawn Cooked in Laksa Soup Base

The oysters are a must-order here. Each one of them is around the size of your thumb, fresh, plump and juicy. When you cooked it in the laksa broth, it also removes any trace of the fishiness in the oysters. After we cooked the prawns, clams and crab in the laksa broth, it adds additional sweetness to the laksa broth.

Oysters

Seafood Loaded Laksa Broth

We tried three different sliced meat: beef, pork and lamb. The beef and pork are tender and succulent. For the lamb, if you can’t stand the gamy meat, you might want to give this a miss.

Thinly Sliced Pork & Thinly Sliced Beef

Thinly Sliced Beef

COCA is also known for their speciality fish glue and paste. We tried their fish glue, shrimp paste and fish paste. The shrimp paste is a must order as it was bouncy and packed with shrimp flavour. The fish glue tastes like fishcake, however, it is missing the bounciness. The fish paste turns out to have a similar taste as their fishballs, thus nothing to miss if you do not order it.

Fish Glue

Shrimp Paste

The fishball with roe is thick and bouncy, however, the roe is easily hardened, sticks together and missing the popping sound from the fish roe. I highly recommend that you order shrimp wanton and stuffed beancurd. They are awesome and delicious.

Clockwise: Crab, Stuffed Beancurd Skin, Thinly Sliced Lamb,
Fishballs with Roe & Shrimp Wanton

To ensure a balanced diet, you need to order vegetables. We like the Tang O and beancurd skin and mushrooms. The Chinese cabbage is good when you add this to the hua diao soup base as it adds sweetness to the broth.

Green Noodle & Vegetables

For carbs, don’t miss out on COCA signature Green Noodle and Thai mama noodle. The green noodle is already cooked, so you just need to blanch them with the broth. The crunchy texture of the noodle can easily be eaten in a dry or soup version, for LD, she loves it with Coca’s signature sukiyaki sauce. While the Thai mama noodle is just made for the laksa soup base.

Clams, Thai Mama Noodle, Luncheon Meat & Fish Ravioli

There are a lot of sauces and toppings to choose from. I find the sesame paste is good, while LD likes their Original COCA Sauce and Thai Seafood Sauce.

Clockwise: Cuttlefish, Tau Pok, Green Noodle, Quail Eggs, Fishball Noodle, 
Sliced Potato, Stuffed Beancurd Skin, Pork Liver

You can top up $8 per pax for Buffet Plus, which allows you the selection of Premium Soup Bases, Free flow selected beverages (fresh lime juice, ice lemon tea, lemongrass pandan and water chestnut) and one time serving of their dessert. The East Meet West, a scoop of coconut ice cream, topped with gula melaka and sago. It was delicious that I wanted to order more than one.

Drinks - Lime Juice, Water Chestnut & Lemongrass Pandan

The East Meet West

The décor of the place is modern and steamboat focus. The tables are closed to each other, so to abide by the safe distancing rules, their seating arrangement will look weird.

Part of the Dining Area

Overall, COCA latest Fragrant Laksa Hotpot is going to be a hit with the diners. I like the fragrant and aromatic flavours, with a manageable spicy level. The regular buffet dinner provides an extensive buffet spread, while the additional top-up for free flow of drinks and a dessert is worth the money. Cheers!!

Regular Buffet Dinner Menu 
Image Credit: COCA Singapore

Price and Timing

Regular Buffet Lunch Pricing

Weekdays (Mon to Thu)

Adult: $36++, Child: $22++, Student: $28++

Senior Citizen: $28++ (only valid from mon to Thu except eve of PH and PH)

Fri/Weekend/Eve of PH/ PH

Adult $40++, Child $24++

(Above prices include choice of 1 soup Double Treasure or Tom Yum). Top up $6++ for Laksa Hotpot broth (香浓叻沙）

Regular Buffet Dinner

Mon to Thu

Adult: $49++, Child: $28++,

Senior Citizen: $42++ (only valid from mon to Thu except eve of PH and PH)

Fri/ Weekend/ Eve of PH/ PH

Adult: $53++, Child: $30++

Premium Seafood Buffet (100 minutes All-You-Can-Eat Hotpot)

All Day

Adult: $82++, Child: $35++

(includes a glass of welcome wine and free flow selected beverages, 2 soups including 1 premium broth (Laksa), complimentary appetiser of the day, one-time customisable Mala Xiang Guo, array of unlimited seasonal seafood options, free-flow selected desserts.

Buffet Plus Menu

Thank you very much Jennifer Yeo Consultancy and COCA Singapore for hosting us.

Food & Drink: 7.5/10

Value: 7 /10

Service: N/A (Tasting Invitation)

Ambiance: 6.5/10

Budget per Person: $51 - $80

COCA @ Leisure Park Kallang

5 Stadium Walk

#02-01 Leisure Park Kallang

Singapore 397693

T: +65 6241 3833

W: https://coca.com.sg/

F: https://www.facebook.com/CocaRestaurants

IG: @Cocasingapore

OH:

Mon – Fri: 11.15 – 15.00 (LO 14.30), 18.00 – 22.30 (LO 21.45)

Sat & Sun: 11.15 – 22.30 (Lunch LO 15.45, Dinner LO 21.45)

Please visit their website for other locations.

Songane – Yummy Korean Food

We were looking for a place to dine and catch up with our friend YP. YP suggested a few places before we finally settle on Songane. A quick check on Google, it seems that this place rack up a substantial positive review on google, plus it is one of the few places in Singapore that serve Oritang (Korean Braised Duck Soup).

Songane

Oritang ($18) duck stew Korean version. Alas, we were too busy eating, we forgot to take a photo of the duck stew. It looks closer to our Singapore version of curry, except it does not have the spices and aroma. The duck meat is succulent, while the broth is spicy (base on LD & YP standard) but super spicy base on my standard. LD says that it is good and will return for more duck.

Banchans

For the BBQ plate, Songane uses a cast iron grill with a gas burner. No charcoal is used to enhance the flavour of the meat. The grill also comes with mini compartments on one side where they grill the kimchi, corn cheese and garlic. We ordered Beef Set ($83.70) – Short Ribs, LA Galbi, Soybean stew and Seafood Pancake.

The BBQ Plate

First to go on the grill is the Short Ribs. It is one of the best cuts for Korean BBQ, usually about the size of two fingers. It has a high marbling content, is juicy, succulent and almost melts in your mouth. It is cooked perfectly here and I usually enjoy it with a bit of salt.

Short Ribs

Songane Pork ($22) – additional order. Songane uses DUROC pork / chestnut pork, known to be more flavourful and fattier compared to regular pork. The chef made a very deep incision every 1 cm along the pork belly, allowing the fats to render when it is bbq. When both sides of the pork belly turn golden brown, the cook cuts through each piece of the pork belly following the incision. Afterwards, each cut of the meat will be grilled to golden brown on all sides. When you bite into the pork belly, it has a crispy exterior, followed by a burst of juicy pork fats and meat. #Porkgasm

Songane Pork

Songane Pork

Songane Pork - Ready to Eat

Hangjeongsal ($21) / Pork Jowl – additional order. This is not for the faint-hearted. It has a higher fat content compared to pork belly, but it delivers a crispier exterior and more burst porky juice internally. The fats can overwhelm you, therefore it is good to balance it with the kimchi or grilled onion.

Pork Jowl and Songane Pork

Pork Jowl

Pork Jowl - Ready to Eat

The last protein that goes on the grill is the LA Galbi. Since it is marinated with sweet sauce, it is cooked with low fire. The sweet marinate absorbs into the ribs, resulting in sweet and juicy flesh. The fun part of eating LA Galbi is chewing on the elastic, the connective tissue between the meat and bone. All I can say is the crew cook it just right, resulting in a pleasantly chewy texture, instead of hard and rubbery. Yumz!.

LA Galbi

Seafood Pancake. The version here is crispy and crispy. I am not a fan of Korean pancake, but for the version here, I did not hesitate to have more than my share.

Seafood Pancake

Since the Oritang already spicy, LD ordered Soybean stew for me. Korean version of Miso soup, earthy and packs with fermented soybean flavour. It also helps to neutralise the fats from the pork belly and pork jowl.

Soybean Stew

Soybean Stew

The décor of the restaurant is a mix of classic and modern. The floor to ceiling glass windows allows the natural lights to shine in the restaurant. The tables and chairs are made from wood, while each table is equipped with a built-in stove in the middle. The service is very good. The service staff grilled the meat for us, while serving 5 tables at the same time. Surprisingly, our bbq meat still turn out well, WOW!

I notice that their weekday lunch set is priced at $9.90++, for One Main, Rice, Banchans and Barley tea. Awesome value!

Lunch Set Menu + BBQ Set

CBK verdict, Songane serve delicious Korean food. The Oritang, grilled meat and crispy seafood pancake are good. We definitely looking forward to our next visit here to try their ginseng chicken and Naeng-myun. Great recommendation YP. Cheers!!

Food & Drink: 7.5/10

Value: 7.5/10

Service: 8/10

Ambiance: 7/10

Budget per Person: $26 - $50; $51 - $80

Songane

380 Jalan Besar

#01-02 ARC 380

Singapore 209000

T: +65 6980 3474

W: https://songane.business.site/

F: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Songane/529394981332579/

IG: @Songanesg

OH: Daily, 11.30 – 14.30; 17.30 – 22.00