BBQ Meats at Camp Kilo Charcoal Club, Kampong Bugis.

Roasting over a proper fossil fuel - be it wood, or charcoal - is one of the best ways of cooking meat (and other foods). With the right cut of meat, and the right fire or charcoal, the intense heat coupled with the smoke & other aromas from flare-ups from the fat drippings give a wonderful taste that other cooking methods can't match.

Unfortunately, BBQ'ing is also one of the most troublesome cooking methods. It takes a lot of effort to book a pit and start a properly hot fire, which simply doesn't make sense if you're only feeding two mouths. So we were thrilled to find out about Camp Kilo Charcoal Club - a newly opened charcoal-grilled BBQ restaurant at Kampong Bugis!


It's testament to the Kilo brand that within a week of (official) opening, the restaurant is already full house at dinner. It has a very casual, hip-and-happening vibe, and the dining area is al-fresco (outdoor only). Orders are placed at the counter - menu items will probably change in the future but for now there's Poussin Chicken (young, less-than-a-kilogram birds; $10 for half, $18 for a whole bird), Whole Roasted Pig ($12/100gm), Crispy Pork Belly ($10/100gm) and Pork Ribs ($15 for ½ a slab, $30 for a whole slab).


There's a complement of side dishes on menu, too - we tried the Brussels Sprouts ($14), which were sweet & spicy, with a hint of bitterness, and crisp from added rice puff balls.




The BBQ meats overall, while being very reasonably priced (I'd go so far as to say they were cheap) and generally very competently cooked, were a little compromised taste-wise. For example, the crispy pork belly was succulent, tender and tasty, but the skin wasn't as crisp/cracking as a Chinese sio bak; The ribs had a terrific house BBQ sauce but could have done with a longer cooking time in a proper smoker. The chicken was perhaps the star of the show: juicy, moist, with just the right amount of char on the skin.

We're also not huge fans of al-fresco dining in the Singaporean heat; but having air conditioning would inevitably mean a hike in food prices, so that's perhaps a reasonable sacrifice to make.

Camp Kilo Charcoal Club is on the ground floor of Kilo's Kallang headquarters - i.e. one of those places in Singapore where you really need a car (or taxi) to reach. Apparently they only open on Fridays (from 5.30pm) and Weekends (from 11am). Reservations accepted for Large groups; Non-Halal.