Chicken schnitzel ($10.90) @ Swag & Sizzle, Outram Park!
Chicken schnitzel, $10.90, at Swag & Sizzle on Cantonment Road: two panko-crumbed fillets with shoestring fries, mesclun salad and a tomato dip.
Lunch: chicken schnitzel from Swag & Sizzle, $10.90. ππ
What was on the plate ($10.90):
- Chicken schnitzel, $10.90, two fillets with fries and salad
Swag & Sizzle is the Western stall at 243 Cantonment Road, walkable from Outram Park MRT. It was opened by two former executive chefs from the French restaurant LβEntrecote, and the plating gives that away before the first bite.
You get two fillets rather than the one big cutlet most hawker Western counters hand over. Each had been pounded thin before crumbing, which is the detail that matters: thin means it cooks fast and evenly, and it means more crisp surface for the same amount of chicken.
The panko coating came out pale gold and craggy, visibly coarse rather than the fine sandy breadcrumb that goes soft within minutes, with flecks of black pepper through it. It stayed crunchy right to the last piece, and the chicken underneath was still juicy, which is the harder half of the job once a cutlet is beaten that flat.
Alongside: shoestring fries, thin and salty; a mesclun salad with lollo rosso and halved cherry tomatoes; and a lemon wedge to squeeze over.
The dip is the part that stands out. Instead of the usual brown gravy or plain ketchup, a ramekin of tomato sauce comes alongside, bright and tangy and closer to a marinara, which cuts the fried crumb better than gravy would. There was ketchup on the plate too if you want it.
At $10.90 this sits in the cheap end of hawker Western, cheaper than the $14.90 barramundi from the same stall, and you get two pieces for it.
Overall: 4.3 / 5. πππΌ Thin, crunchy panko fillets that stay juicy, and a tomato dip that beats gravy. Would re-order.
