We are always on a hunt to bring our children to somewhere new, so recently I was scrolling my phone when an IG-story of another nearby cafe popped by. It was screaming kids activities, such as face-painting and balloon sculpturing. So with the intention of going there, we headed to Paya Lebar Quarter (PLQ), but found out that the activities have already ended. We took a nearby scroll to see what's around that area when we spotted Tanglin Cookhouse. It wasn't exactly crowded when we reached there at lunchtime, so we had the privilege to choose our seats. And thank God for that, because within 30 minutes, the restaurant is really packed. Guessed everyone slept in on a Sunday morning.
The interior of Tanglin Cookhouse was small but beautiful, it has a nice British colonial style touch to some Peranakan furnishing. Menu-wise, it has a pretty extensive selection of all-day breakfast paired with Asian-inspired dishes, pastas, soups and many others.
Lady M and I got ourselves two lunch sets ($28, which is available throughout the week, from 11.30am to 2.30pm, which comes with an appetiser and a main. We are slightly disappointed that we still have to top up $5 for a drink, which is just the usual tea, juices, and soft drinks
Nevertheless, for the appetisers, we had the Mulligatawny Soup and White Rojak Fruit Salad. If you are familiar with Indian-style soup, the former is just exactly looked and tasted as such. It is paired with some charcoal fritters (you tiao) as well, which surprisingly tasted well with the spicy soup. The latter is an upscale version of the usual rojak, with salad greens, pineapple, white dragonfruit, charcoal fritters, and others. Both are not your usual fare and make for great appetisers.
For the mains, Lady M had the Fish and Chips, which to be honest, was one of the best tasting ones out there. Each fillet is sufficiently and beautifully coated with batter which provided another dimension to every bite. We also absolutely love the serving size, which is also completed with fries (or chips for this matter), purple slaw and sauces (their garlic mayo was superb!)
I had the Tiger Prawn Spicy Aglio Olio. Absolutely delicious as well, from the al dente linguine to the perfectly seasoned prawns. Just when I thought I could share the prawns with my daughter, I found it to be too spicy for her to take - so they actually meant it when they added "spicy" in the name of the dish.
Tanglin Cookhouse do serve kids menu, but to be honest, is on the pricier side, with prices ranging from $14-16. Olivia picked Chicken Tenders as usual, but for this, we felt that the tenders were too slim and coated with a thick, slightly over-fried batter. She did munched a few with her favourite ketchup, but for this, we preferred Baker & Cook's rendition.
All in all, Tanglin Cookhouse is a great place to chill and dine with your family and friends any day. They have balloons and even a bouncy castle (albeit quite small) for the children too!