The Travelling C.O.W. (Chef On Wheels)

The Travelling C.O.W. (Chef On Wheels)
Food Truck travels to various locations around Singapore

2 Kallang Avenue
#02-16 CT Hub

https://www.facebook.com/thetravellingcow

Food Truck Gets A Base

(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)
Overall: 5
Ambience & Setting: 4
Food & Beverage: 7
Service: 2
Value for Money: 6
Spent about SGD $22 per person.

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Food truck The Travelling C.O.W. (Chef On Wheels) finally gets a fixed location of their own! Founder and owner Karen Cheng had among the 1st (and still only a handful) food trucks in Singapore; the iconic black-and-white milk cow pattern on the food truck stood out wherever it went. At their new headquarters in Kallang CT Hub mall, they serve up the usual favourites from their menu, however, there remains several facility problems to sort out.

Ambience at The Diner By The Travelling C.O.W. (Chef On Wheels) is functional casual, with sturdy wooden furniture against a wall and stone wall colour scheme. A small bar sits in the back, though it looks unused. About the only decor is the cashier / ordering counter, which is designed to resemble their iconic food truck! A chalkboard out front lists daily specials, and the regular menu is also prominently displayed.

Service at The Diner By The Travelling C.O.W. (Chef On Wheels) is largely self-service, where ordering, payment, and collection of cutlery is done over the counter, though staff do serve orders to your table. However, I note they're not too efficient, as I stood around for 5 minutes before they even acknowledged me, let alone take my order. Also, they seem to have some facility / electricity issues; the deep fryer wasn't operational on at least 2 occasions.

Food at The Diner By The Travelling C.O.W. (Chef On Wheels) is modern Singaporean fusion, featuring burgers and pasta that feature Asian flavours. Quality and execution is inconsistent, sometimes the food is good, sometimes it's terrible. A far cry from the The Travelling C.O.W. (Chef On Wheels) food truck, where the food is consistently good. Portions are decently sized for 1 person, and prices are typical of a cafe. Budget about SGD $22 per person for a meal here.

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The cute cow truck decor at the front is eye-catching! Sadly, the rest of the place looks rather dull and uninspired, but at least it's functional and comfortable.

The Travelling C.O.W. Outlet Exterior

The Travelling C.O.W. Outlet Interior

The Travelling C.O.W. Outlet Bar

The menu has familiar favourites like their excellent Ramen Burgers, but with slightly more variety than the food truck.

The Travelling C.O.W. Outlet Menu

The House Iced Passionfruit Tea (SGD $4) is refreshing and has solid tea taste, but at the same time is overly sweet.

House Iced Passionfruit Tea

The Lychee Cooler (SGD $4) features 2 lychees within a refreshing, non-fizzy, sweet beverage. Decent enough in taste, but it's poor value for money as it seems to be made with lychee syrup.

Lychee Cooler

The star of the Chili Crab Nachos (SGD $6) is naturally the thick, sweet savoury gravy, on top of the factory made nachos. Generous amount of crab meat, with a hint of spicy heat, the gravy is delicious!

Chili Crab Nachos 01

Chili Crab Nachos 02

The Truffle Fries (SGD $7) here are rather underwhelming. While the texture of the fries is great, piping hot, fluffy, with a light sprinkling of salt, the truffle taste is artificial and rather faint. Not that great, you get better versions elsewhere.

Truffle Fries 01

Truffle Fries 02

Loved the Tsukune Burger (SGD $12), with its large, juicy, savoury hand made chicken patty! Sandwiched with crunchy lettuce, juicy tomato, mayonnaise, and topped with a sunny side up egg between toasted burger buns, the combination is completely delicious! Bite into it, and the yolk breaks and runs down to the patty, which is also dripping with its meat juices. Messy, but so good!

Tsukune Burger 01

Tsukune Burger 02

Tsukune Burger 03

Loved the Ramen Bulgolgi Beef Short Rib Burger that is the star of the Ramen Bulgolgi Beef Short Rib Burger & Truffle Fries Set Meal (SGD $17)! The strips of marinated beef are tender, savoury, and juicy, while the lettuce is fresh and crunchy, and the tomato slices juicy. The ramen noodles that act as burger buns are crunchy, and not too salty. There's no polite way to eat this, it's messy and gets all over the place! While the version I had during my visit was fantastic (loved it!), I hear that there's consistency issues with it... generally, the ones you get from the food truck are better than those from the outlet.

Ramen Bulgolgi Beef Short Rib Burger & Truffle Fries Set Meal

Ramen Bulgolgi Beef Short Rib Burger 01

Ramen Bulgolgi Beef Short Rib Burger 02

Ramen Bulgolgi Beef Short Rib Burger 03

The Ramen Wagyu Beef Burger & Fries Set Meal (SGD $18) is the newest item on the menu, having just launched in October 2015. Features crunchy lettuce, juice tomato, a sunny side up egg, sauteed button mushrooms, and a handmade wagyu beef patty, grilled to medium rare, between crunchy ramen noodle burger buns. While every other ingredients within was decent, the star, which was supposed to be the meaty wagyu beef, was sadly underseasoned and tasted bland during my visit. As such, I cannot recommend this.