Charly T’s: Savour Home-Styled Food from Around the World

According to the story, Charly T, whom the restaurant is named after, loves food, music and travel. The menu at Charly T’s Food Journeys is an amalgamation of his favourite recipes, hand-picked from his extensive travels and come in wholesome “home-style” cooking.

Charly T was born in Singapore and grew up in Kampong Amber, where he helped his grandfather to tend to the family vegetable garden and chickens. Not surprising then that chicken is his favourite food and  the restaurant’s signature dish is their rotisserie chicken.

Few weeks ago, I got to try this signature dish, thanks to an invitation to sample the food at Charly T’s second outlet at 112 Katong (the first is at NOMU, which is besides The Cathay). I took Kenan along and we enjoyed the food. Here’s what we discovered.

The vibe: 

Done up in earthy tones and warm lighting, the casual dining restaurant is modern and welcoming. A huge glass window lines one side of the main dining area so guests can look into the kitchen and see their food being cooked. Beyond the main hall is the al fresco lounge area (bottom right), or otherwise called the Charly’s Porch, where diners can enjoy some cool outdoor breeze and watch sports matches on a 60″ widescreen.

The food: Charly T’s is most loved for their rotisserie chicken, which now comes in four flavours. Besides the Original Rotisserie Chicken and Kampong Chicken, they have added the Kansas City BBQ Chicken and Black Pepper Chicken.

For our food tasting, we had the Original Rotisserie Chicken and Kansas City BBQ Chicken. Both the chickens are surprisingly tender and moist, with each bite bursting with flavours – even the breast meat, which is usually the toughest part of the chicken, turned out to be just as soft. I learnt that the secret to this delectable fowl dish is that the chickens they use are chilled but never frozen and are marinated for over 13 hours before being slowly roasted, rotisserie-style.

There are also four sauces to complement the chickens – ‘homemade’ Chermoula Sauce (traditional Moroccan sauce of cilantro, garlic and cayenne pepper sauce), creamy Roasted Sesame Sauce, Kansas City BBQ Sauce and Charly T’s Original Sauce (spicy or hot).  I like the chermoula sauce, which is really unique, as well as the BBQ sauce.

Each order of the chicken is served with side dishes of steamed fresh vegetables, butter garlic rice, german potato salad and macaroni and cheese. I especially like the macaroni and cheese. What sets this apart from others is that it uses less cheese and includes fresh cauliflower instead, a recipe from award-winning chef Rozanne Gold’s ‘Eat Fresh Food’ cookbook, making it a healthy and nutritious side dish.

You can order the chickens in different sizes – quarter size comes with two sides, half chickens with three sides and a whole chicken with four side dishes.

Up next are the Kalua Pork and Chicken Cordon Bleu.

The Kalua Pork is a Honolulu dish, which is a spin-off of an indispensable dish found at Hawaiian luaus or feasts. The pork is quite tender and juicy, and the best part is there’s wasn’t much fats, so making this a healthier choice for pork lovers.

The Chicken Cordon Bleu oozes cheese as you cut it open. While it’s crispy and tasty, I found the chicken a tad dry. It came served with a generous amount of French fries.

To round up a nice meal at Charly T’s, you must have their best-selling dessert – Kaiserschmarrn!

The Kaiserschmarrn is a traditional Austrian pancake dish. Warm, light and carmelised, the pancakes, which are split into small pieces, are sprinkled with generous dose of raisins and then dusted with sugar powder. It comes served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. One of the best desserts I had in a long while!

Kenan also got a taste of a chocolate cake pop (which I would not normally have allowed him to eat!).

Family factor: Charly T’s Food Journeys makes for a great family restaurant. Many children enjoy western food, especially the deep fried stuff like chicken. At Charly T’s, they offer a healthier version of these and they are so tasty, it’s not hard for children to fall in love with them (Kenan certainly loved the chicken!). I also like that the choices of side dishes are generally healthy options like fresh vegetables and macaroni and cheese, instead of French fries or fried nuggets for example.

What’s more, they also offer something to keep young children meaningfully occupied…

We certainly enjoyed our meal at Charly T’s. Thank you once again for the invite!

If you’re wondering where to bring your family for a nice meal, head down to Charly T’s at 112 Katong.

They also serve breakfast on Saturdays and Sundays from 9am to 12noon. They offer home-style breakfast like omelette, yogurt and fruits, Mom’s homemade Dilly Bread and waffles.

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

Website

Opening hours:
Mon – Thurs: 11am to 11pm
Fri: 11am to 1am
Sat: 9am to 1am
Sun: 9am to 11pm
Eve of public holidays close at 1am

Tagged as: Charly T's Food Journeys, Food review, Restaurant review, Western food