The Lokal is, technically, prominently located smack on a street corner (see above), but has such nondescript singnage that it’s easy to walk straight past. It shares the same premises as Goethe Institut, and is a lovely nook of an Aussie cafe. It’s spacious yet comfortable, with brisk service and a quiet ambience during week days.

The chef and owner is Darren Farr, who hails from one of our all-time fave restaurants Tetsuya, back when we were living in Sydney. So I was anticipating…. AWESOME THINGS!

Here’s this week day daytime menu. Love the Pimp List 😉 Salmon and mackerel are smoked in-house, and I was keen to check it out but didn’t manage to. Will have to go back for that!

The bar area. It’s hipster industrial chic at it’s finest, no? But being hipster is currently all the rage in Singapore so it makes for the perfect place for a lot of people to check out 😉

The Lokal takes their coffee seriously. The beans are from Sarnies and they boast a custom-built Slayer espresso machine. My Iced Latte ($6.00) came, pleasingly, in a large milkshake glass. It could have been more potent, but it was pretty good.

Their brunch menu didn’t really entice me, and I was really keen on their Roast Beef Sandwich ($17), which has now been migrated to their Weekend brunch menu.

But they were super keen and did just that for me! It did come on ciabatta instead of rye, which I preferred anyway.

This roast beef sandwich is UNBELIEVABLY GOOD! The roast beef was one of the most tender I have ever had, and so juicy. It came with caramelised onions, watercress and grain mustard crème fraiche. They were a bit too heavy handed with the sauce, however, so I had to take it apart and try to scrape half of it off the inside of the bread.

I’d go back to The Lokal for their roast beef sandwich any day – it’s completely amazing!