Sunshine Cafe

Dear foodies,

thank you all for your past patronage and confidence in the burgers dished out at Sunshine Cafe.

I regret to inform the public that there is a change of Condo Policy. With immediate effect (enacted on 14 Nov 2009, Saturday), there is a no outsider ruling enforced by the MCST. Trust me, I am as stumped as my customers. There wasn't any notification in forms of email, letter nor phone call.

I am trying to appeal to the MCST to drop the ruling.

In the meantime, if you really need your burger fix, kindly drop us an email at info@poolbitez.com (to work something out) or to keep yourselves up to date with the happenings within the Sunshine sphere, you can choose the following: -

Mailing List. Drop us an email at friends@poolbitez.com
Tweet us at http://twitter.com/SunshineCafeSGP
Join our group in Facebook http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=49617499275

Looking forward to dishing out our burgers to you folks.

With regrets,
Andrew
Sunshine Cafe.

This place, Sunshine Cafe came highly recommended to me by a few unrelated friends. How they got to know about this gem is a puzzle to me.

This place is so ulu. Like that also they can find. But I guess all the effort in locating paid off with great tasting burgers.

Saw their cut-ups from Business Times, Expat Living Magazine and upon going home, did some research on them. Guess it really lived up to the reviews I saw.

Tried their signature burger, the Sunshine Burger ($18). Alamak. It was so big lor. 200 grams of patty, Portobello mushroom, salad in the burger (not the lousy and common lettuce so many places use), bacon and cheese. I had to cut mine to 2 pieces as I cannot get my mouth to even bite off a chunk of it. Taste wise, SHIOK. Its sweet, savoury, beefy (was told that its pure beef, no additives or herbs in the patty at all).

We also shared their chicken wings basket (forgot how much already). Somehow, it reminded me of Yaohan days. Where the marinade goes into the meat, and not only the skin.

I had a juice ($4) . But forgot the name already. It is red in colour. Very refreshing. My friends had beers (I think its Little Creatures @ $7 or something).

Confirm must come back. But with a very big appetite. Don't want to waste my money for not finishing the burger.

Worth the effort! No regrets. Definitely the top 3 burgers in Singapore.

Have to agree with the people here, that this is indeed THE best burger in Singapore.

Juicy beef + Crispy Fries+ Great Beer + friendly services

NO GST and Service charge...what can a man ask for??

My friends and I visit Sunshine Cafe on the average of once in two weeks to satiate our regular cravings for a big, juicy and real burger with beers. The Sunshine Burger is particularly mind-blowing - big, freshly char-grilled, bursting with melted cheese, bacon and portobello mushroom. The patty itself (freshly grinded on premises) has a good bite, and a slight char-grilled crisp before giving way to a soft and tender middle. When washed down with a variety of cold beers, the meal makes for a very satisfying evening. We also tried the thin-crust pizzas and portobello mushrooms and they are lovely!

When we visited Sunshine Cafe and met Cafe Owner and Chef Andrew, we found him to be warm, friendly, and straightforward yet receptive to feedback and suggestions. He cooks with love and takes pride that his food sizzles and oozes wholesome goodness and flavours.

A foodie and beer lover himself, Andrew never disappoints.

Good food, great company and a relaxed atmosphere. We just love the place! Try the detox juice as an aperitif!

After reading the good reviews from HGW, decided to drop by the cafe..

The location of the cafe is inside the condo itself, so make sure u get the directions right before embarking. Upon reaching, I'm very surprise the cafe is very much just a counter with some alfresco seating near the pool. In terms of ambience i would say it is very relaxing...probably the best part of whole makan experience

Now for F N B

we ordered A veg pizza, sunshine burger and a bottle of beer recommended by the manager, who is quite friendly...


Sunshine burger ( 6.5/ 10) $18

Touted "The BEST burger in Singapore" The Burger consist of bacon, beef onions, cheese , mushroom and lettuce and tomatoes.. the size is huge ..but for $18 at a cafe pricing, i consider it a bit steep. The set comes with salad and fries. My main complain for the burger would be the over-cooked fries, which is too hard . and the meat patty, taste rather salty. Other than that, not much complain.. can try.

Beer ( 8/10)

Smooth and not too bitter, just the way i like it.

Veg pizza ( -5 / 10)$14

My wife ordered it, its a thin crust pizza, comes with mushroom tomatoes and cheese. It comes as a shock to us when we see the pizza was burnt all the way on the edges, and the mushroom is too dry due to over cooking. after tasting 2 pieces of it, we decided to ask for a change as it is too hard to consume...

I ask the waiter for a change, and after a few minutes, the cook came out and "explain" to us that the pizza it NOT overcooked. reason being it is a thin crust pizza, and wood fireis used for cooking, he cant control the burning of the pizza, and that is THE way they do their pizza here..and its different from PIZZA HUT which is thick crust...( being sarcastic towards us) Mind u , we know how thin crust pizza looks and taste like...we had eaten from a lot of authentic thin crust pizza cooked by " Authentic" Italian chefs...none of them is as burnt as his version of pizza..

i can imagine if we were to finish the pizza , we would probably be contracting some cancer by the amt of burnt soot on it..

anyway, the cook ended the conversation " so do u still want the pizza or not?"

we decide to give a miss...

What put us off is the attitude display by the chef, his unwillingness to take constructive criticism...He probaly forgotten that his cooking means nothing if it can't satisfy the needs of his customers..or maybe becos their main customers are mainly Ang Mos..so they feel we can't appreciate their food..as Asians.


anyway, unless u enjoy Average food with attitude, otherwise, dun bother wasting your time finding this place....

Sunshine @ Carries, otherwise known as the Sunshine Cafe, is located next to the swimming pool in the Sommerville Park Condominum. The chef Andrew Lim produces stunningly good burgers. The Sunshine Burger, in particular, is a gem. A beautifully marbled 200g beef patty is put together with a succulent portobello mushroom, stringy bacon rashers, gorgeous melted cheese and onions, and served between two toasted gourmet burger buns. The burger is plated with fries and a mesclun salad drizzled with balsamic vinegar. Totally worth the 18 bucks.

If you're adventurous, you might even wish to try the Sunshine burger with peanut butter. According to Andrew, the salty smooth peanut butter complements the flavour of the meat. I can't say for certain; I didn't try it personally.

Also worth mentioning is the selection of imported Australian beers that pair nicely with the delicious burgers. I tried the St Arnou Premium beer; it was very smooth.

The food and beer were well worth the hunt. That being said, it was quite a hunt. I got a bit frazzled when I had to drive in circles trying to find the place. The HGW map seemed to suggest that the way to get there was to enter the development via Sommerville Estate Road, off Holland Road. Do NOT do this - it will result in you having to walk a long way to get to the Cafe. Go into Sommerville Park via Farrer Drive, which is along Farrer Road, instead.

I had a very delicious Sunshine burger from this establishment. The sunshine burger had a juicy 200g patty, crispy bacon and portobello mushroom. Very flavourful and just a thin edge of char for flavour. The Singaporean owner/cook was also friendly and patient in explaining the different food choices he had. It was great to be able to enjoy the food and relax at dinner after all the terrible food experiences I've had in singapore! Having the owner as the cook does make a difference. Will definitely return with more friends.

The concept of the Beer Gang is simple. Excellent beer + excellent food = Beer Night. Beer Night is not excellent beer + regular food. Beer Night is not regular beer + excellent food. We don't compromise. Each week, a new joint, dive or bar is proposed for exploration. Last night, Suan proposed Sunshine @ Carrie's, having heard raving things about the burgers there. Suan is a genius.

You probably don't expect the cafe to be located in a condo, by an Olympic-sized pool, and to be hanging out on patio furniture while waiting for your food. But you might not also expect that everything here is homemade, from the grade one Australian beef patties to the pizza crust. It's pretty easy to make a burger, but it's brain surgery executing a juicy, tender slab of meat that melts in the mouth (although I should have been asked how I'd have liked it done -- medium rare). We ordered a total of three burgers -- Mexican, Sunshine and my customized 200g with a grilled portobello and peppercorn sauce on the side. All flippin' fantastic -- it's very key that real burger buns are used, not some of the skimpy, wimpy, limp bread you see mocking good beef. The rucola pizza had a crust that made me wax nostalgic of what emerges from the best pie shops in Chicago. When you make a pizza crust comparable to pizza capital of the world (outside of Naples), you're a maestro. Crisp around the edges without feeling too heavy, it was a great host for the tomato slices, fresh rucola leaves topped off with mozzarella. Note to all restaurateurs: fresh ingredients make your cuisine taste really, really good. The sides of mesclun greens drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette were perfect.

Speaking of great hosts, we really appreciated that the owner Andrew stepped out from behind the grill to check on how we were doing, take a picture for his Facebook group and oh my god, serve us a platter of freshly made brownies with chocolate sauce. It wasn't just a piece of brownie for each of us. There was enough for three squares each. Too many places are run like a business. Last night, hanging out by the pool with a little lantern on our table, we felt like we were at a good friend's house, who wouldn't stop bringing cold beer and other treats from the kitchen. In fact, even though some portions of the order took 50 minutes to serve (we were given due warning), it didn't feel like it at all. And we were more than happy to wait.

Oh, I got so far ahead I forgot to mention that the wings and fries appetizer combo we had, as well as the grilled portobello salad, were fantastic. The fries, although not hand-cut, were cooked just right - perfect crispness is not an easy feat. I didn't have any of the wings, but they disappeared fast. The salad will soothe any conscience for indulging in beer, pizza and burgers. We hung out into the night, but it was like sunshine all the time. Thanks, Drew, for a wonderful evening!

P/S Just $7.80 for a bottle of Little Creatures and no GST or service charge? SCORE! Just please be sure to be nice to your servers.

I must say that good food is hard to find.

I tried the Sunshine Burger on Saturday with some mates of mine after reading the 1st review about Sunshine Cafe.

Everyone had the Sunshine Burger, as it was so well reviewed. Verdict? Great. No. Great is not the word. Heavenly!!!

Super huge patty (200g I think), nice salads in the burger (rather than the typical Romaine or Iceberg Lettuce), freaky huge Portobello Mushroom, ultra crispy Bacon, all in the mercy of your hands. It also came with a side of Chips (which are done the way I like it to be, crispy and yet moist in the middle) and salad. Being a salad freak, you can also ask for double salad by forgoing the chips or the other way around.

The owner, Andrew taught us the way to eat it, weird it may sound, but it sure works. With all the juices interacting with our hands, it sure was finger licking good. I will follow that rule now. Except for places which have small puny burgers like MacDs or BKs.

The method (to the best of my memory) was:
Place your hands (as if performing CPR) on the top bun, press down the burger (till you feel the burger is lower in height), grab the bottom bun with your thumb, lift it, balance the whole burger with your index, middle and ring finger (pinkies up in the air if you want to be a little dainty) ...AND ATTACK!

The pleasure of tastes swirling in my mouth was .. HMM HMM HMM. Everything complimented everything. The sauces, juices (from the patty), bacon, mushroom.

Washing down the burger with some very nice beer sure made my day. We had Little Creatures and St. Arnous (Aussie Aussie Aussie).

Will definitely head back for more Sunshine.

"Pizzas, burgers and fries and all things nice", says the card. Thanks to the heads up from Howard, I paid a visit to Sunshine Cafe in Sommerville Park. Here I found some very good burgers, which I rank up there with the ones at Smok'inn Frogz.

The fun part about hidden finds is to find it! Here's the link to the map. A walk up the hill on Farrer Drive from the bus stop took me to Sommerville Park's main gate. I asked the guard for directions, and a short walk around block 79 was the pool. You can sit anywhere around the entire pool area. Poolside dining under the stars works best if the weather holds up. Rain will restrict dining to a small indoor area.

Open since late 2008, Andrew explained that his specialties were burgers and his top recommendation is the Sunshine Burger ($16.50) - 200g of beef patty that he makes himself from chilled Australian striploin (Australia marbling score MB 1), bacon, portobello mushroom, blended cheese, onions, served with two sides. The sides are usually a serving of fries and meslun salad, but you can choose to forgo either one for a double portion of the other if you prefer.

The patty takes at least 12 hours to set after he makes them. The combination of the bun, the beef, the portobello mushroom made for a very tasty burger. I thought the combination of tastes was very complementary and I enjoyed my burger thoroughly. I'm happy to come back for more!

There are other burger choices such as Hawaiian burger, and for smaller eaters, burgers with 100g patties. Pizzas are also available, and he can cook two pizzas at a time. Special orders can be arranged in advance if you would like special grades of beef.

Andrew loves the St Arnou beer ($7.80) and would encourage you to try some. He was confident enough to tell me if I didn't like it, he'll drink it. There's also Little Creatures, Heineken, Stella Artois, Carlsberg and Chang.

It is best to give them a call before coming, especially if you are in a large group. This is because only Andrew cooks, and you'll need to be patient if there's a large order.