The Lokal, Neil Road

One of the rude awakenings of having baby #2 is the lack of couple time. When we only had Russell, it was easy enough to set aside date nights and 'our time' during the weekends. However, now it seems we are either dealing with the frantic cries of #2 or much louder tantrums of #1. I guess it is important to adjust our expectations of what it means to be a couple - in a marriage - and ride out this phase by sharing and celebrating the rare moments of our-time.

Come one Staurday, we found ourselves the lucky recipients of some our-time and we decided to head up to The Lokal, owned by the folks of Sarnies. We were third in line at 12.30pm and I overhead the waiting time at 1.15pm to be around 30 minutes. Though the bar seats weren't the most comfortable, I preferred them to sharing a table so small you could count the pores of those closet to you.

Recommended by a colleague, The Lokal is one of the very few cafes that piqued my interest as they make many things such as yogurt, smoked salmon and ricotta from scratch in-house. What's more eggs Benedict appears to be the poster child for a run-of-the-mill cafe and that is not something you would find here.

The pork sausage burger exceeded my expectations with an incredibly juicy and squishy patty. With a slice of fresh pineapple and moreish onion jam at play, it was sort of the burger fit for breakfast or by the poolside - comforting yet without feeling heavy.

The crisp golden fries were a work of art, so here's another photo to illustrate their utmost glory. Ahhh... I am still thinking about them!

I had to try their house-smoked mackerel, which certainly brought back find memories of smoked fish breakfasts my family had in London. That dollop of ricotta by its side was a mistake - the server thought I wanted a side instead of the dish below. And she didn't even flinch when I placed an order for these two things. Inscrutable. 

The presentation was quite a sight to behold! Mountain-load of smashed avocado and house made ricotta smothering a buttered slice of sourdough. A drizzle of EVOO and sprinkling of pomelo and crushed almonds livened up the dish, but I couldn't help but wish for a good crackling of freshly grounded pepper to perk things up.

A top-heavy raspberry, white chocolate, almond muffin accompanied us on the way back. Looking every bit rustic-lovely, the nutty muffin was speckled with tangy tones of raspberry and sweetened up with white chocolate nibblets.