Cafe Oliv, East Coast Road

This establishment has some ways to go with their food. Cafe Olive (220 East Coast Road) is affordable; costs less and provides equivalent or better quality than the run of the mill family restaurants in town. There isn't any GST and service charge. I dropped by on the notice from a reader regarding their tenderloin sandwich which I did not regret. In fact, I was surprised by what I had and judging from what I saw from the other tables, there were other offerings which looked good enough for me to come back. Including some good looking braised lamb shanks going around the tables.

Salty egg soft shell crab biscuit fritter

This would make the second soft shell crab in recent years that I've had that was good enough to be mention worthy amongst the gamut of many. Most soft shell crabs today have become unremarkable and many are poorly done. To the point that I've really been avoiding them. I picked this starter based on the recommendation of a friend and it turned out quite good. The entire of the exterior of the crab was crispy and the insides were hot, tender and juicy. And at $4.90, I couldn't complain. I only wonder what did the salty egg of the named referred to because I was expecting it to be covered in salted egg yolk sauce and it didn't really taste anything of that.

tenderloin foccacia

This tenderloin sandwich was surprisingly good. It's beat the ribeye sandwich from Marmalade Pantry which now paled badly in comparison. And this went at about half the cost at $10.90. There's a doneness option. Tenderloin cut for the sandwich was noticeably heftier than the ribeye in comparison. Shame on Marmalade Pantry. I believe that the buttered and lightly toasted focaccia stood out more than a ciabatta in a weak wasabi sauce in comparison as well. That said, if anyone does know of good steak sandwiches, I'd appreciate a heads up. For now, this recommendation is the best I've had around.