Some's - A Roast's Culture

If you happen to be in the vicinity of Novena, what makan places will you think of? Wee Nam Kee Chicken Rice - crowded. The Big Bird - overrated. I was looking for somewhere that is not as crowded, has good food, must be of good value, errm.. better if there's air-con! ... and ... I found one!

Some's - A Roast's Culture offers lunch value meal of roast delights at $6 nett! The value meal comprises of your choice of one meat, two sides (poached cabbage and achar), soup and rice/noodles. If you're a carnivore like me, you can choose to have more meat choices - two meat ($7), three meat ($8) or four meat ($10).

Check out the menu! (Note: Click on image to enlarge.)

What goes well with roast delights? Beer! (personal opinion) If it's not because I had to go back to work after that, I would like to have some beer to go with my fragrant roast meat though..

Braised Roast Duck ($6.50) is a combo on its own. It means that you cannot add-on other meat choices. According to the boss, he only prepares 12 servings of this dish every day! The duck is slow-cooked so it was really soft and tender. Every bite was filled with strong aroma of spices with added tastiness of Some's traditional sauce. Good but with some down parts. The lotus roots were quite hard and raw while the yam was quite bland. Also, though at a glance, the portion looks quite generous, but there were too many bone chunks here and there. It would had been better if more lean meat and flesh were given.

Crispy Pork + Roast Duck Combo ($7) - the above picture shows two sets of the same combo. Don't be mistaken! hahahaha.. The achar was really really good. It was very crunchy and the strong sweet-sour flavour was just so appetising! On another hand, the poached cabbage was... not very tasty. Would the word "awful" be too harsh?

Main star was Crispy Pork! O.M.G. the crispiness is 10/10. My colleagues could hear the crunching sounds when I was eating it. However, remember to be realistic. The crispiness decreases when left too long. So, be sure to eat the Crispy Pork first if you order this!

Roast Duck was too dry and really really tasteless. It does not have the roast fragrance at all. I was so disappointed because it looked good. (-_-) Fortunately, there was some tangy home-made sauce at the side to go with the duck.

The above picture shows (top) Tender Char Siew + Simply Chicken Combo ($7) and (bottom) Signature Ribs + Tender Char Siew Combo ($7).

Simply Chicken was what its name says - simply chicken.. nothing special. I had high expectations of the Signature Ribs 'cos its supposed to be a signature dish right?! However, sadly, it fell short of my expectations. I thought that it was too salty and the thick sauce was overpowering and upping the saltiness to the max. No doubt the ribs itself was really tender and soft but the overdosing of sodium really spoilt the dish.

The contender that outshone the signature dish was Tender Char Siew. As its name suggested, it was really tender and I think they used lean meat only. The
char siew was well-marinated and roasted to perfection.

Hence, the perfect combo to choose when I visit next time would be Crispy Pork + Tender Char Siew. (^O^)

OH! Remember you can choose either rice or noodles? See below.

We all know that lu zhi (gravy from braised meat) goes well with rice. But if you want plain rice, please inform them upon ordering. They don't ask if you want gravy or not.

I didn't not try the noodles but I gathered that the noodles was not bad. Can try!

Woooh~ Whatever chilli you want, they have it!

Service: I think the place is run by a family. They were really friendly and smiling all the time. The boss was patiently explaining the menu to me when I was there the first time. He was very honest in recommending what was nice and popular (Crispy Pork) and what was normal (shall not mention). Hahahaa~

Ambience: Though the place is air-conditioned, the door was left open so it was only rather cooling. But that was good enough. If the door was closed and we are eating in a fully air-conditioned place, I think I'll be tabao-ing the roast meat smell back to office. The place is spacious and they have tables for groups of four and even to a big group of ten!

Value: Worth! Maybe I should try the $10 (four meat choices) combo next time. Heehee.. (^___^)

Verdict: Yes I will be back again! Food was served fast and considering the quality and quantity, I think my $7 was very well-spent! Moreover, it's not easy to find a place that is not packed during lunch time, air-conditioned and serves good food.


Some's - A Roast Culture
Address: Goldhill Centre, 189 Thomson Road
Tel: 62511278