Charcos

There have been many recommendations about this place from friends but I've yet have the time to visit. So last week, came here twice(Tuesday & Friday) for dinner. As this food place was somewhere in a coffeeshop in one of the many neighbourhood, it wasn't relatively easy to find. The first time, my friend actually drove me there as she had a sudden craving for their Seafood Salad. The second time, I actually walked there and had to find my way about the naighbourhood as I didn't know the bus number to travel there.

FOOD REVIEW!!
I've had the Haiwaiiaan Burger, which comes with a side of their Hot Spicy Fries. As I was new here, I didn't exactly know what was their specialty so I sticked with something safe. One of my friends got the seafood salad and the other got herself the kebab wrap. The burger was filled with shredded chicken meat and pineapple. It was actually pretty tasteless on it's own. Plus, I hated the fact that the chicken was shredded cause it made it even difficult to eat and i think due to the fact that the meat was shredded, it was pretty much tasteless. I think that I'm suppose to fill it up with the self-service bbq sauce, but I really didn't bother to go up to the sauce station. The seafood salad was quite good, on that day. It's basically crabmeat with thousand island sauce? or whatever the sauce they use.

So, that night, after telling my Bro's gf about my new found eating place, she said that the recommended food item to have there are the ribs, which she apparently rave about. So, decided to visit again on the Friday.

I am not a big fan of red meat but if it's good, i thought why not right. So, this time round I had the seafood salad again! Cause apparently I love it the other time and had the Ribs plate? which comes with the Fries; while my cousins got the Sampler Plate with Avocado Chix Salad and Potato Salad. I forgot how many Ribs it came with but it was quite alot. I couldn't finish it, so I shared it with the rest. The ribs were quite good honestly, well, I havent tasted alot of ribs so, I can't really judge. The ribs were just hot spicy and sweet on it's own without the BBQ sauce and the lamb meat didn't smell. So, thumbs up for me! The seafood salad was abit too saltish/sourish in comparison to my Tuesday's visit. I guess they've put on a abit more sauce than they should. The chicken avocado salad was awesome though. The potato salad was abit of a let down as the potato wasn't soft enough. It was abit too hard for my liking. However, I love the potato creme. Very smooth and creamy.

Service - Let's be realistic, it's located at a coffee shop! Don't expect Swenson's type of service here. But the guy at the counter cashier was really friendly. Plus, they do deliver the food fast; which is not bad at all. However, the sauces and cutlery are self-service. I don't have alot of complains on the service here either.

I'll definitely come here again as it is located quite near to my place. I'm dying to try their Portogese Chix next. =) Plus, their other salads.

I came here twice for lunch. Yesterday was my latest visit.

The coffeeshop is relatively quiet on a Saturday.

Charcos serve a variety of dishes from creme potato, salads to roast meat. It also has a Halal Certification.

What I like is that the portions are quite big and the items are affordable especially with their set meals. They have alot of combo meals.

Having tried their roast chicken twice. The chicken is not that good. It is too dry and rough for my taste and they could afford to give it abit more seasoning.

The salads are the stars of the stall. They serve Potato Salad, Coleslaw, Egg Salad, Chicken Avocado, Seafood Salad, Caesar Salad and Greek Salad. Quite a spread and unique because you rarely find these beyond a bistro, restaurant or shopping malls.

Their Potato Salad was better in my first visit. I enjoyed it, dressing not overdone and the potato was just nice but in the second visit, the potato was too hard.

The Seafood Salad is too salty for my taste. I didn't like it.

The Egg Salad is delicious but very creamy. If you don't mind the cream, its quite nice. Performed consistently for the two visits.

Their Caesar Salad is so-so.

One good reason to dine here is for their salads.

My sis brought me here for what she thought would be some nice western food near our house.

I was quite excited about the variety of salad here; coleslaw, potato , egg, greek, caesar, seafood, chicken avocado salad and ordered the lamb rib (which I hardly see elsewhere) to go with my 3 choices of Caesar, seafood and egg salads. The salads were served refrigerated cold and I doubt they were fresh; still a palatable eat regardless. Lamb ribs came all chopped up and laced heavily with fats; I was disgusted. The lamb also had a moderate gamy taste that I tried to mask by dousing my meat in the self service BBQ and chilli sauce.

Sis had the ¼ chicken and salad of Caesar, potato and greek salad. She gave some for me to try. I must say the potato salad tasted quite good. Chicken was dry and chalky.

Both orders had sides of thick cut fries sprinkled with some sort of paprika powder which were crispy, spicy and yummy!

The coffeeshop styled western food only impressed me with the salads and fries it offers as sides. The mains were terribly disappointing. On the bright side, the stall is ratherish near home and I could visit for some selections of salad if I ever get the craving.

It's a halal place. The location is a coffeeshop tucked in AMK. What can you ask for ambience in a coffeeshop right?

Went there on Sat, evening and its not crowded.
I like the food. They've got friendly staff and serve really fast. The staff were patient to explain the "combination" of their menu.
It's like Kenny Rogers. Their sides were salads and its a plus to me cos I like salad. I had tried seafood salad, casear salad and greek salad. It taste great. So are their fries, it comes with some chilli powder on top of it. yum yum.. eat while its hot. The quarter chicken portion is bigger than that of Kenny Rogers. So its filling.

Just have to be patient at the ordering counter, as first timer there would take longer at the counter.

In my next trip, I'm gonna try their lamb ribs.

I stayed at bedok it's quite far to Charco's, i was introduced by my collegue as it is halal.
I went there last week during 8plus i ordered a kids meal Kids Chicken&Chips at $4plus for my boy.
For myself i ordered a Creme Meal if i'm not wrong.
It cost me $7.90 the price is abit expensive for a place in coffeeshop.
I saw the salad bar label that was fresh made daily, wanted to tried but didn't because my boy was very hungry so i just ordered something easy.
The waiting time was alright but the ambience aren't very clean i understand is located at coffeeshop.
My Food came first, and i was suprised that the chicken is uncooked and is very oily, same for my boy.
I didn't went to change for it, just eat the cooked part.
The Chips were nice.
Cream potato was not soft enough.
I stayed there to wait for my hubby till around 10.
And its their closing time, i saw something which is not nice.
They use the Gladwrap to wrap the leftover Salad and i think they keep it.
But some Salad they threw it away.
It seems like they kept the Salad overnight.
I should have taken a picture of it.
I thought they wrote there was made fresh daily?
Definitely won't return to this place.
The service was alright but their menu wasn't very detailed.
The value is too high.
Normal western food Chicken at least cooked !

I used to frequent Charcoal chicken (the perth version of Charco's located at Westfield Carousel) while studying in Australia and I was excited to know that a similar shop opened here. While Charcoal chicken is located in a mall, Charco's is located in a rather obscure address of a coffee shop (though it is great that it is never crowded).

I do not really see an issue with the service here - it is clearly self-service and the servers provide a prompt and efficient service. Try not to expect too much from a food place located in a coffeeshop.

The ribs are wonderful and very popular with Malays/Muslims since it is halal certified. Halal ribs are hard to come by, anyway as most restaurants are big on pork ribs. The ribs are soft, well cooked and the sauce tastes pretty good. The ribs go really well with the creamed potatoes. Fries are thick, straight cut and are usually pipping hot.

There are about 8 varieties of salad which are quite fresh tasting and are very filling though not for the health conscious as they are pretty generous with the dressing. Portions given are just enough.

An area of improvement would be the chicken - sometimes they taste good, most times overcooked - the meat is too soft for my liking. I wish they cook the chicken to maintain the juicyness. Some of the chicken dishes come with a pale-looking gravy which is not really worth eating. You are better off taking the BBQ sauce they provide. A friend tried the kebab but was disappointed.

They have recently introduced a 'sampler plate' ($13.90) which has 1/2 rack of ribs, 1/8 original chix, 1/8 portuguese chix, creamed potatoes and 1 choice of salad. There are promotions from Monday to Wednesday - eg: 2 plates of 1/4 chix & fries for $10.90.

We have visited Charco's a few times - usually in a mood for some ribs/chicken that is quite easy on the pocket and away from fancy restaurants. Though it would be better if it has a better location.

I stay around the area of Charco's and i've only tried this stall once.

First to start with, their service is NOT AT ALL AVERAGE, its TERRIBLE! Upon ordering, i was handed a medium sized "banner" with my order number imprinted onto. Sat down and within minutes my food came. Oh wow! When i asked the malay lady if she would deliver my utensils, without a word being said by her, she pointed to a tray right next to the stall trying to indicate something. I walked over and realised that the utensils were all there. While walking back to my seat, after taking my utensils and chilli and bbq sauce, i overheard that damn malay lady. She was saying something along the lines of, only get paid $4.50 an hour, expect so good service?

From that point on, it went all downhill for me. My meal of portguese chicken was moderate. It was tasty indeed but their chicken was tough and dry. I glanced up and saw that they were actually using ovens to do the chicken when i thought it was supposed to be grilled or at least char-grilled. The only plus point was their salad. It was one of the tastiest i ever had. They have an excellent selection of salad at their salad bar and it seems fresh to me.

Overall, their food was moderate but their pricing does not justify that of the food. I expected something more from their food given the exquisite pricing. Service was HORRENDOUS! And for sure am i going to boycott eating from them.

By the way, at the very same coffeeshop, theres a fishball noodles stall thats only open from 8am in the morning till early afternoon. It serves very good fishball noodles. Pricing is reasonable as well, @ $2.50/$3.00. It used to be $2.00/$2.50. Oh well, thats what inflation brings about.

Based on the address I had, I didn't expect this place to be located at the ex Botak Jones joint. My wife and I wanted to try this due to the portugese chicken featured on the Sunday newspaper. We had first tried this in Sydney and was happy to know this dish is finally in Spore.

Upon reaching, the big poster stated it was a Perth style cooked chicken. Nevertheless, we ordered the 1/4 charco chicken with 3 salads (chicken avocado, caesar and coleslaw) and 1/2 portugese chicken with fries.

My wife loved the portugese chicken but it was not spicy enough. The avocado salad had a minty taste which I don't like. Charco chicken was a bit dry and stuffed with rosemary herb paste.

There were many diners and my order actually came very quickly which is great. I wasn't too impressed with the chicken but maybe I'll just give the kebab and burgers a try next time. I guess you can't have too many complaints with this neighbourhood store if you are looking for a simple meal.

I came here awhile ago, prepared for some artery clogging grub from Botak Jones but was surprised to learn that the crazy ANG MO had shifted to another part of ANG MO Kio(Okay okay, corny), and this had replaced it.

Oh well, we gamely soldiered on and continued with a less familiar (but equally artery clogging) makan session. Lamb ribs with creamed potatoes and shrimp salad was the name of the game. The food wasn't too bad and portions were pretty generous.

Unfortunately, I can't really see myself going back for more I can't quite tell why. It's just not the same as the previous guys. But that's just me.

And what's with the name?!...

I was initially thinking of trying the their ribs meal, but upon seeing the salad bar, I immediately decided to give the salad a try.

the quarter chicken with 3 salads slimmer meals ($7.50) was great - tender, juicy chicken piece was accompanied by 3 types of salad. there were 7 varieties to choose from: coleslaw, potato salad, egg salad, greek salad, caesar salad, seafood salad, chicken avocado salad (I chose the last 3).

their salads were good, especially the generous portion of huge crab sticks and prawns for the seafood salad. the chicken avocado salad looked more like pasta salad, though, with no hint of avocado. caesar salad was tasty.

schnitzel roast meal ($6.50) was basically a few slabs of chicken cutlet, green peas and roasted potato chunks. it's just average, nothing special about this set.

we were there for late lunch, so the place was quite empty, maybe that explained the express service.

given the location and place, the price range can be considered steep, but it's worth a try!