Buddy showed me a comfortable little place in Joo Chiat to chill with tasty, interesting dishes and nice drinks.
ToMo Cafe is a simply furnished unpretentious space, in fact it looked quite plain Jane, yet it is inviting and chill.
Tomo means "friends" in Japanese and indeed, the place has a friendly, welcoming vibe which felt very cosy. The cool people around and friendly staff have much to do with it, I guess. Come and you will know what I mean.
The dishes and drinks created by head chef Kevin reflect his strong culinary grounding (helped at his parent's zhi char place in Chua Chu Kang since his teens and worked in Bayswater Kitchen, Salt Tapas & Bar and Tripleatz before heading Tomo). There's a free spirited creativity and boldness of youth in Kevin's tasty dishes, yet there is control and understatedness in his creations.
I had the Crab Linguine with Miso Butter.
The pasta was done al dente, firm not stiff and had a tender crunch to the bite.
The dish was rich with quite robust umami savoury sweet flavours from hand pulled crab meat, generous ebiko topping, garlic, nori (seaweed), etc.
I love it.
Grilled Tiger Prawn Pasta.
Capellini or angel hair pasta smothered with a umami rich, savoury creamy mayo sauce, and topped with nori, torched ebi.
Red Wine Char Siew.
Tender, juicy, crunchy, savoury sweet smokey pork jowl with red wine sauce and cured cabbage. Yes, the fat was lightly crunchy and juicy like a candied pear slice 🤭
I like this honeycomb latte 😁 It is just a fancy way of drinking latte but it is more fun and nicer 😁
Pour the freshly brewed espresso into fresh milk with ice.
Add honeycomb sugar to taste (it is actually just caramelised sugar lah). It's so good I fought myself not to eat the sugar as candy 😁
Stylo lah, coffee this way. It's an example of how chef Kevin makes the ordinary into a talking point, something special and memorable.
I definitely like to come back again for more dishes and chill over a nice coffee. Right beside Common Man Coffee Roasters (which needs no introduction) but ToMo Cafe still holds its own, strutting its unique stuff with pride and confidence.
Restaurant name: ToMo Cafe (Joo Chiat)
Address: 189 Joo Chiat Rd, Singapore 427460
Nearest MRT: 15 minutes walk from Marine Parade station
Tel: 8944 8110
Hours: 9am - 6pm (close at 9pm on Fri & Sat)
Tiger prawn pasta sure looks good.
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