Carvers & Co. | 4/5

SINGAPORE — It was a trip to Southern Italy in 2012, during which she cooked and dined at the hearth of Italian mamas, that inspired Sarah Lin to trade her job as a fitness trainer for a career in the kitchen. And while she hasn’t gone on to start her own version of an Italian trattoria, she has parlayed that same spirit of serving hearty, homespun fare designed for communal eating at her intimately casual new restaurant Carvers & Co.

Some Italian influences have made it on the menu. There’s a parmesan polenta cake with roasted pumpkin and eggplant (S$15.90), and a punchy yet light summer panzanella salad (S$9.90). But as its name implies, the restaurant’s mainstays are the roast meats that can be ordered in individual portions or whole hunks to share.

Lin trained under chef Damian D’Silva at his popular Immigrants gastrobar and his influence is evident in her food. Her wagyu striploin with caramelised onions and garlic confit (S$40) has D’Silva’s stamp all over it. The 220g, grade 6/7 Australian wagyu was rich with natural flavours, brazenly seared so it was smoky and had just the right amount of fat. It was as satisfying as any top-grade, ridiculously expensive wagyu rib eye at a fraction of the price.

On an island where restaurants often promise caramelised onions only to serve them with too much bite. Lin’s deserve honorary mention. Those onions were meltingly honeyed and deeply bronzed, and the ideal counterpoint to the rich, savoury meat.

The Roast Of The Day changes often and might include thick, succulent cuts of turkey (S$30) like the one we sampled at lunch. The meat was packed with flavour — most discernibly rosemary and thyme — and came with a mound of seriously buttery mashed potatoes and sweet, yielding candied carrots. It was like a Christmas meal on a hot afternoon.

And her porketta (S$30 for an individual portion/S$150 for a whole roast that feeds six to 10 people) was undeniably delicious. Lin rubs a slab of pork belly with olive oil, garlic and rosemary, rolls it up and roasts it in milk in a low-temperature oven for an hour. The fatty skin is taken off and blitzed at searing temperatures so it transforms into crisp nuggets of crackling to chomp on between mouthfuls of the luscious meat.

Lin has a good sense for hearty and home-style brunch dishes, too. Her peanut butter and banana French toast (S$11.90) came thickly slathered in peanut butter and lightly caramelised discs of bananas. Decadent yet balanced, the fluffy brioche (which she procures from Bakery Artisan Original) was expertly soaked with just enough egg and milk so the dish didn’t overwhelm with its richness.

And as coffee has become as integral to a good meal as high-speed Wi-Fi to a hotel, Lin serves brews made with beans roasted by Common Man Coffee Roasters and has plans to offer pour-overs featuring single origin coffee beans from internationally renowned roasters. If nothing else, the hipsters of East Coast would be happy. ANNETTE TAN

4/5

Carvers & Co.

Where: 43 East Coast Road; Telephone: 6348 0448; Opening hours: Daily 10am to 9.30pm, Closed on Monday