Expat Choice Guide Celebrating 10 Years (2016–2026) | Introducing Modern Southwestern United States Cuisine by Cali

Indulge your palate at Cali with the delights of modern Southwestern cuisine. A series of dishes presenting fresh, vivid, and bold tasting flavours to tickle your taste buds.

The cuisine presented at Cali, Park Avenue Rochester⁣ and Cali, Ascott Raffles Place is food styled after the rustic cooking of the Southwestern United States Southwestern cuisine is like Mexican cuisine but often involves larger cuts of meat, namely pork and beef. As with Mexican cuisine, Southwestern cuisine is also largely known for its use of spices which gives Cali cuisine its unique taste.

Kick starting your Southwestern United States experience at Cali go for the Jalapeño Poppers with Tostadas (SG$10), below made up of Deep Fried Chunks of Jalapeno stuffed with cream cheese, Monterey Jack and mozzarella. Served with tostada & avocado mango salsa.

Cali

The natural herbs and spices in each recipe bring out the best in every dish prepared. Start with a soup or a salad to get your tastebuds firing. The Baby Spinach with US Asparagus (SG$12) above is a good accompaniment to your meal consisting of house marinated US asparagus with shallots, white wine vinegar, tarragon, baby spinach and feta cheese, or the appetiser of Cali's Santa Fe Jumbo Crab Cakes (SG$14). Juicy chunks of crab meat infused with tantalising south western flavours, served with a side of mesclun salad and spicy tartar sauce.

If you are a meat-lover, try the sizzling Fajitas made with mouth-watering marinated juicy meat offering three varieties including Kurobuta Pork Loin (SG$26), Beef Tenderloin (SG$26) or the Chicken (SG$22). The meat is extra juicy and extra tasty with a wicked marinade that tenderizes your choice of pork, beef, or chicken. The generous serve arrives to your table sizzling hot and is served with tortilla wraps, monterey jack cheese, sour cream, and guacamole salsa.

The diversity of the Cali menu is great for small lunch time and dinner groups as there is literally something for everyone. Mains include Grilled Sea Bass (SG$26). Lightly oiled grilled sea bass with romesco sauce. Served with butter rice and aloe vera salsa. Or opt for the Slow Cooked Beef Cheeks braised in red wine sauce until melt-in-your-mouth tender, then served with baby spinach and creamy mashed potatoes.

Cali

Why not go all out and order a delicious Burger? The house speciality, the Whack-You (Wagyu) Burger (SG$24), is presented in a burger bun with 180 gm juicy wagyu beef patty, then layered with sliced cheese, gherkins, tomatoes, lettuce and served with fries, or the Crabmeat Burger (SG$22) Classic old bay seasoning combines a light and lemony, crab stuffing with portobello mushrooms, then layered with cheese, gherkins, tomatoes, lettuce and served with fries.

End your meal with the Molten Lava Luxurious Bomb (SG$10). Chocolate lover or not, you will find yourself enjoying this dessert as it strikes a balance with elements of chocolate cake and souffle, topped with summer berries compote and vanilla ice-cream or the Warm Pecan Pie (SG$8). A flaky crust pie filled with sweet buttery caramel filling and pecans and served with cinnamon caramel sauce and chocolate ice cream.

Enjoy a glass of white or red wine with your meal at just (SG$8) or opt for a bottle with prices ranging from (SG$38-$88). A wide selection of Liquors, Beers and Cocktails are also available. There is also a modern relaxed bar and lounge area on the first floor which is open in the late afternoon into the evening. A place to unwind after a long day at work, Cali is also an ideal place to talk business with your clients or a place to have a casual conversation with colleagues.

A versatile menu from Soups to Desserts, and Pizza to Fajita. This Southwestern Cuisine will have you coming back for the taste, excellent service, and quality produce. When you walk into the doors at Cali, you can expect stellar service regarding every aspect on your dining experience. Starting from sparkling interiors to professional behaviour and scrumptious meals; Cali do it all - just with you in mind.

Cali, Ascott Raffles Place⁣⁣⁣

a. 2 Finlayson Green, Level 2⁣⁣⁣, Singapore 049247⁣⁣⁣

e. raffles@cali.sg

s. www.facebook.com/Cali.Singapore

w. www.cali.sg/

t. +65 6336 1228

Cali, Park Avenue Rochester⁣

a. 31 Rochester Drive,⁣⁣⁣ #01-01/02,⁣⁣⁣ Singapore 138637⁣⁣⁣

e. rochester@cali.sg

s. www.facebook.com/Cali.Singapore

w. www.cali.sg/

t. +65 6684 9897

Please Log In or Join to leave a rating or comment

Comments

Sylvia Fernandes

03 Jun 2021 , Thu

391 comments

ELITE

RATED 8 / 8

Tucked away in the Ascott @ Raffles Place is one of Cali’s 3 restaurants. I wondered how I could have missed it all these years having driven past so many times. Set in the best location to serve patrons of the business district, Cali has a lovely privacy about it.

Stepping in to the foyer, a lovely bar presented itself. Open at night I could imagine a relaxing tete-a-tete with a few friends and a glass of bubbly!

Progressing up the stylish curved staircase I was pleasantly surprised to see the restaurant, brightly lit with views to the buzzy outside world. A private room for up to 25 pax (in Covid times) lay to the left.

I thought it would be a great spot for a training event or private group celebrating a special something. Nice! Parked in a corner of my brain for some time in the future, I ventured to my table.

Cali offers a 5-course set lunch for $48 hence the full capacity crowd who were happily dining. My guess from the way they were dressed was that they were mostly office workers on their lunch break.

I noticed the Cali slogan – Everything Easy for Everyone Everyday! It looked like they had captured a captive market, making it an affordable consideration.

I decided against my usual “no alcohol at lunch” philosophy as it was the eve of a public holiday and I wasn’t going back to work! Voila! If that sounded like an excuse it was.

“I’ll have a chardonnay thanks” for Cali have priced their Pierre Jean Chardonnay and Merlot at a very reasonable $8/glass. It was fair dinkum, paired with a baby spinach & US asparagus and Jalapeno poppers with tostadas (deep friend jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese).

I reminisced about the Southwestern / TexMex food I’d binge on in the U.S. and felt I should dig deeper into my memory recall with some Santa Fe jumbo crab cakes.

Feeling that Cali had a good value proposition, with starters priced at $10 to $14, I couldn’t help but imagine that this establishment would be very attractive to corporate people seeking a special lunch.

For residents of the Ascott this would also be a highly convenient spot for daily breakfast and a glass of wine at the bar, on return from a sightseeing day out. Cali’s location being so central is certainly well placed for constant patronage.

Moving on to mains I had to have the fajitas. Wanting to be different, I ordered the Kurobuta pork loin which came in a sizzling hot plate with tortilla wraps and dips. Made my own fajita wrap and gobbled it down with a few sips of wine. Delicious!

Portions at Cali are pretty generous so I was definitely not going to have dinner. The braised beef cheeks arrived. Served on a bed of mash and spinach on the side, this fell off the bone.

Slow cooked and braised in a red wine sauce, this was a melt-in-your-mouth experience. Hard to do something like this at home as it requires long hours of braising and oven baking attention.

Cali’s menu also extends to pizza, pasta and burgers priced at about $20. The Cali’s I-Want-Meat-Zza Pizza was something new and worth a try. Emulating a 4 cheese pizza, there were 4 different toppings in each quarter – parma ham, chicken tikka, pepperoni and mozzarella.

This was a good thin crust pizza and one I would recommend as there would be something for everyone, just as the Cali slogan suggests.

Reaching the end of my meal I was recommended to have the Molten Lava Luxurious Bomb. With chocolate oozing out of the perfectly baked chocolate cake, I dug into a dollop of vanilla ice-cream.

The fusion of cold and warm textures in my mouth was nothing short of magnificent. Priced at only $10 I would not rule out the possibility of popping in to Cali for a dessert and coffee.

If you are reading this and feeling full don’t worry. At Cali you have options of a 2, 3 or 4-course meal as part of your set lunch.

Having enjoyed a lovely lunch I felt the essence of Cali was about value meals.

No need to wait for a special occasion, just rock on down for an everyday hearty meal with a few friends which will undoubtedly leave you satiated.