After several years of hiatus, and after watching lots of halal diners, eateries and cafes popping up around Singapore, I take it upon myself to document my visits again because some of these new places really deserve the recommendations (and, a few of them, sorry to say, dont).
and so.... I have decided to revive this blog. :D
and I have updated some of my past reviews because upon my last visit to those places, some of them have, unfortunately, closed. please forgive me if I have missed out any updates to the food places. If I do, do drop a note in the comment section so new readers would not end up... lost. :P
Labels:
notes
In the heart of the famous Arab Street (in vicinity of Bugis) in Singapore, lies a wonderful alfresco cafe that serves awesome burgers, creative and delicious mocktails. While some of my friends love the cakes, especially the rainbow cake (I have never tried them because I am not a fan of cakes - but hey if you are and you think their cakes are wonderful - or not, please add on a the comments section), I absolutely loooove their burgers and drinks. [Update: They have a new more comfortable outlet at Our Tampines Hub! what a beautiful time to live in the East! :D]
I have personally been there several times, and I have been lucky to get seats each time. It gets pretty crowded over weekends and meal times. Throughout 2014 to 2015, the cafe has expanded, and that is a good sign. Oh do take note that there is no halal certification because the owner is a muslim (see their website and humble beginnings here). They got good service too (staff are friendly and kinda hipster)!
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| One of burger dishes that I rave. The portion is pretty huge, so if you are not a big eater and there are two of you, you can share them. just ask the staff to have them cut into halves. they are happy to do so for you |
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| If you and your friends are ravenous, you can get this platter where you get each of their best dishes. we especially love the spiced chicken wings. What four of us did was to share 2 burger meals and a platter. that was satisfying! |
You got to try the mojitos and creative drinks like the bushramint. pricey, but it is really good and refreshing and I must say it is worth the price.
I did not really fancy the hot drink options. I tried the mocha sometime back in early 2014 and.. it was not nice in my opinion. Hopefully they have improved on their hot drinks now, but I did not want to try it again as I am afraid to get disappointed (but if you have tried it and liked it, let me know and I probably will try it again). [Update:
I have tried it again in 2018 at the Tampines outlet, and it was again a bit too sweet for my liking. So, no]
They have an okay selection of desserts. I hope they can come up with more interesting options in future. According to most reviews (see list below), you may want to try the rainbow cakes too.
It is priced like most cafes but I say, it is worth the price. Especially when you have the option to share with a fellow friend. :) full menu can be found on their website. It is quite popular, hence the crowd, so you cannot really chill there too long without feeling guilty.
My ratings:
- Food / Drinks: 8/10 (yes, totally OFF THE CHARTS, it is that good)
- Ambience: 7/10
- Service: 9/10
Overall: 8/10
- great place to chill with good food, drinks and a mosque around the corner!
Read other reviews / information on I Am.. at:
- HungryGoWhere: I Am..
- Burpple: I Am Cafe
- The Alternative Food Blog: Cafe Hopping - I Am
- Open Rice: I Am Cafe
- Our Cozy Nests: I Am.. Cafe
- Simplicity Nails: I Am.. Cafe Singapore
Find it at:
- 674 North Bridge Road #01-01, off Haji Lane, Singapore, Singapore 188804, Call: 6295 5509, Email: cafe@iam.com.sg. Opening hours: Mon - Thu: 11:00 - 23:00, Fri: 11:00 - 01:00,Sun: 11:00 - 23:00
- 1 Tampines Walk, #03-04, HomeTeamNS Tampines , Our Tampines Hub, 528523. Call: 6295 5509. Opening hours: Daily 11:00 - 23:00.
If you are missing authentic Malaysian food, you may consider dropping by to Encik Tan at the newly opened Kallang Wave Mall (nearest MRT Station - Stadium). [Update - Aug 2018: you can also now find Encik Tan at Vivocity Basement and many more places in Singapore! Check out their locations here.]
Carrot cake, popiah, wantan noodles, fishball noodles... the menu seems awfully familiar like those you can find at hawker centres and food stalls around Singapore. But at Encik Tan, it tastes a little different, in a good and delicious way. In fact, it tastes more authentic. (I honestly do not know how else to describe it, you have to try it yourself to taste the difference).
The staff are Malaysians, so that makes it abit more authentic. When I was there, I asked if they could make white carrot cake and would it be nice (I really need better questions to ask), and the uncle (probably the manager) said, of course, confirm nice! and it was!
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| Feels homely - It even has the authentic plate. |
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| the white carrot cake, tastes good! |
I visited them a few times. The wantan noodle dish tastes normal to me. The popiah sells out very fast (so sad! so you gotta come early to get it). There are 2 different queues for different food so that gets a little confusing.
Priced decently, and it is family friendly (big seating area for large families). So you tend to see big families dining in. I hope they have more food variety in time to come.
My ratings:
- Food / Drinks: 7/10
- Ambience: 6/10
- Service: 6/10
Overall: 6.5/10
- if you are in the area and craving something cheap and satisfying
Read other reviews / information on Encik Tan at:
- Soshiok: Encik Tan a Hit with Malay Families
- Lepak with Yaops: Encik Tan - a Big Hit at Kallang Wave Mall
- Burpple: Encik Tan Singapore
- OpenRice Sg: Encik Tan
Find it at:
- #01-32 Kallang Wave Mall 1 Stadium Place, Singapore 397628, Opening hours: daily 10am to 10pm
- Full list here
Labels:
*Asian,
*Malay,
*Noodles,
$0-$8 per pax,
Encik Tan
There was a alot of talk about Sarah's the Pancake Cafe when it first opened in 2014 at the new East Village Mall. So I was one of those who really wanted to try! i am not a fan of pancakes but I am a fan of cafes and all day breakfast. On their door, it is mentioned that the last order was 930pm, the first time I was there it was 925pm and they were already closing. They politely turned me away. Oh wells I guess it was not my luck that day.
So I was there again, this time on a Sunday afternoon. It was crowded and seems popular. There were the savoury and the dessert options - which was a good thing to find and it was halal, so I was sooo excited.
I was a little disappointed with the dessert options as I was not able to decide on any. I am quite fussy, and I could not find a single dessert option without anything that I did not like. I hated the fact that I could not choose my own toppings and the options for toppings are fixed.
So I went to savoury options, I was pretty hungry so was looking forward to smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on pancakes called the Benedict (I mean you cant go wrong with such an option). Was soooo happy to know that they serve hollandaise sauce too!! but in the end I was quite disappointed.. the salmon was wayyy too dryyy (cant they tell the texture??) and the hollandaise sauce was too buttery-eggy for me. the pancakes were decent - light and fluffy though.
 |
| the salmon were obviously dry, and the sauce is too buttery. |
At first I thought maybe I tried too many nice smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce overseas, but after alot of thinking, I decided, no, this was bad.
Throughout the time I was there, there was a strong smell and abit of smoke from the kitchen. My experience was not that good. The pasta my friend bought was not too good either (I refuse to take a photo of that). I really dont understand why there is really a crowd, probably the dessert options are better (I read that the fusion pancakes of chendol and pancakes are good - so you can try that), but I dont think I am going again soon, unless someone tells me otherwise. Hope they improve their savoury options soon to match their prices, and I am hoping that it was just my order that they did not do well on.
If you wish to try, check out their Facebook here.
- Food / Drinks: 3/10
- Ambience: 4/10
- Service: 4/10
Overall: 4/10
- its okay, ill go elsewhere
Read other reviews / information on Sarah's the Pancake Cafe:
- HungryGoWhere: Sarah's the Pancake Cafe
- Daniel Food Diary: Sarah's the Pancake Cafe
- Burpple: Sarah's the Pancake Cafe
- PinkyPiggu: Sarah's the Pancake Cafe - East Village
Find it at:
- 430 Upper Changi Rd, #01-062 East Village Singapore 487048 (vicinity of Simpang Bedok), Tel: +65 83335451, Opening Hours: 8am – 10:30pm (Sun-Thurs), 8am – 12am (Fri-Sat)
This is one shop that is silent, but amazing.
Located
at a small corner of Lucky Plaza in busy Orchard, no one would have
guessed that this small small Malay shop has an endless queue the moment it opens
until it closes.
Very tiny shop, it
can house probably about 20 people cramped around 5 tables or so. The queue is
perpetually never ending especially during lunch time when office workers come
to dine. And there are those who would pre-order like 20 over packets of chicken
rice for a feast so the wait can be quite long.
The workers and
cooks are really busy, so you can expect not to be pampered at all. You may
also get scolded by the worker if you take too much space or place your bag on
an unoccupied chair, or take too long to eat, during peak hours - which happen
all the time considering the shop only opens from 11am to 3++pm until they sell out or when they feel
like it.
But… because their
chicken rice is soooo goood. You will end up forgiving them on the other
aspects.
 |
| As-Shifaa Chicken Rice - worth every penny and effort |
The rice is
fragrant. The chicken is sooo crispy and so juicy. The crumbs are sooo yummy.
The soup is flavourful.. And best of all is the sambal, or chilli paste in English. Feels like home-cooked, you
really can't find it anywhere else.
It is so good, if
you look left and right, everyone has their plates totally clean - every bit of
chicken and rice have been eaten. it is really not your normal chicken rice.
Not many people know about this shop as it is happily surviving on it's own loyal customers. and there is only one as-shifaa and they appear to be so secure about their business, they dont seem to care about expanding. But, for the sake of good food, I urge you to try this, at least once in your life. :D
p.s. They have other food too, but... do you really want to forsake the chicken rice?
p.p.s They are on Facebook too people!
My ratings (visited on 22/9/2014):
- Food / Drinks: 20/10 (yes, totally OFF THE CHARTS, it is that good)
- Ambience: 4/10
- Service: 5/10
Overall: 9.5/10 (yes, biased, because of the yummy chicken rice)
- you got one life, you better TRY THIS.
Read other reviews / information on As-Shifaa at:
- Openrice: As-Shifaa Café - OpenRice Singapore
- The halal food blog: the-chicken-rice-chronicles
Find it at:
- #06-52 Lucky Plaza, Orchard Road Singapore 238863, HP: 9383 0329. Opening hours (based on observation: weekdays 11am to 3pm++, if you are lucky)
Labels:
*Asian,
*Chicken Rice,
*Malay,
*Rice,
$0-$8 per pax,
As-Shifaa Cafe
Went to Vivocity yesterday and was seriously craving for some ice cream blended goodies but unfortunately it was already 10+pm and most shops were already closing. But thank goodness my favourite Coffee Bean cafe was still open.
Then I suddenly remembered that Coffee Bean has introduced its new yogurt range so I thought I'll give it a shot! (of coz I also have that Coffee Bean loyalty card too!).
For you ignorant souls out there, there are VERY VERY few halal-certified established cafes in Singapore. And coffee bean made history by becoming Halal-certified in the past few years. (other cafes include Cafe Galilee in national libraries, and hmm, is that it?).
This post is solely a review on its yogurt (the have great frappes and mouthwatering cakes too, but ill review them nx time!). There are many yogurt outlets in Singapore but none of them bothered getting a halal-certification probably because of the view that it is just 'dessert', so Coffee Bean should be given credit for coming up with yogurt in its menu, making it the first halal-certified yogurt in Singapore :)
Unlike most of the yogurt chains, Coffee Bean offers limited toppings, namely almonds, dried cranberries, and coffee-ish toppings. No fruits and other unhealthy goodies tho! But who cares, their yogurt is EXTREMELY delicious!
They have 2 main flavours: Classic Tart (sour) and Classic Vanilla (sweet). The former carries the flavour of original yogurt, while the latter tastes smooth and yummy like sweet vanilla ice cream minus the calories (yumyum)!
Unable to decide for myself, I asked the friendly cashier at the Vivocity outlet what the difference was, and which she would recommend. After explaining the sour and sweet difference, she told me to try it out for myself - and handed me 2 small cups of a few teaspoons of yogurt from each flavour! How generous! I was delightful over the pleasant surprise. :)
I prefer the sour, while my boyfriend prefers the sweet one.
Then there were other options of having the basic flavour swirled with syrup such as peach, chocolate, coffee etc for a few cents more. Then the option of extra topping at 80cents each. I chose the almonds. :)
Here it is! Small cup but satisfying!
I must say it is one of the best yogurt I have ever tasted. And being in coffee bean, the security that it is halal, i can use my bean card for payments (and get points!) and the prospects of having a nice frappe/meal along with it makes me wayyy happier.
OOHH best part, it is much cheaper than other yogurt places out there! $3.70 for a small cup (it is not that small you know), and $4.50 for a big one.
The only drawback was that the topping was too little. More would be nicer!
With my almond topping, I paid $4.50 in total, take away. :) :) :)
I am SOOO coming back for more.
My ratings:
- Food / Drinks: 9.5/10
- Ambience: NA for this review
- Service: 9/10
Overall: 9.5/10
- try it or regret it
Read other reviews / information on Coffee Bean (Yogurt) at:
- try it or regret it
Read other reviews / information on Coffee Bean (Yogurt) at:
- Dish with Vivien: Coffee Bean Yogurt (KL, Msia)
Find it at:
- Airport - T1 Transit
- Airport - T2 Departure
- Airport - T3 Departure and Transit
- Ang Mo Kio Hub
- Bishan - Junction 8
- Bugis - Iluma
- Bugis - Raffles Hospital
- Bukit Timah - The Rail Mall
- Changi Expo
- Chinatown Point
- City Square Mall
- City Hall - One Fullerton
- City Hall (Bras Basah) - Plaza By the Park
- City Hall - Suntec city 2
- City Hall - Millenia Walk
- East Coast Park
- Guthrie House
- Holland Village
- Jurong Point
- Kallang - Leisure Park
- Marina - The Sail
- Novena Square
- Orchard Road - 313 Somerset
- Orchard Road - Ion Orchard
- Orchard Road - Paragon
- Orchard Road - Forum
- Orchard Road - Great World City
- Orchard Road - Orchard Central
- Paya Lebar - Singapore Post
- Parkway Parada
- Pasir Ris - Downtown East (E!hub)
- Raffles Place - CPF Building
- Raffles Place - Fuji Xerox Tower
- Raffles Place - Republic Plaza
- Raffles Place - International Plaza
- Raffles Place - The Ogilvy Centre
- Sentosa Island - Cable Car Plaza
- Sentosa Island - Resort World Sentosa
- Sentosa Island - Pahlawan Beach
- Sembawang - Sun Plaza
- Tampines - Century Square
- Tiong Bahru Plaza
- Toa Payoh Hub
- West Coast Plaza
- West Mall
- Vivo City
- www.coffeebean.com
Labels:
*Cafe,
*Dessert,
*Yogurt,
$0-$8 per pax,
Coffee Bean
[update - 2015: Barcelos have officially CLOSED in Singapore (refer to update on foursquare here). For a other halal Portuguese dining options, you can go to either Nandos Restaurant or Charcos. Official reviews on these two will be up soon]
[update: 17/4/2010: I just went over to Barcelos again yesterday 16/04/10 at Vivocity and found out that the Halal certificate is no longer displayed at the counter. Hence, it is best to assume that Barcelos is not Halal-certified at the moment, until otherwise stated.]
With 91 outlets in 6 countries worldwide, Singapore can be considered lucky to have 2 of them here - one in Vivocity and another in Holland Village. What is more exciting is to find out that the restaurant specialising in Portuguese chicken here is Halal-certified!
The selling point of the food chain is the way the chicken is cooked - flame grilled and marinated with its special 'Marinade Recipe' as mentioned on its website. Another specialty of the restaurant is with its different type of signature sauces aimed to satisfy different tastebuds! This is one thing i like about the place. Actually, that's about the only thing i like.
pic taken from website
There are 4 sauces on each table, each differing in spiciness/hot levels. The non-hot sauce is the Tangy lemon, then comes the Mild Peri, Veri Peri and the most hot one is the Supa Peri sauce.
I personally recommend the Tangy Lemon and Veri Peri. The Supa Peri was too hot and salty - the taste seems a lil 'different'. And of course, in Singapore, no one can really live without the essential 'chili sauce' and 'tomato ketchup'. :)
The selling points of the restaurant bear such a resemblance to the famous restaurant Nandos (famous and halal-certified in Malaysia, from S.Africa) even to the names of the sauces that my friends and I thought that it was a subsidiary of it in Singapore. But apparently we don't think it is. And since we are fans of Nandos, we decided to try it. (sidepoint: Nandos is opening in Singapore soon, but whether it will be halal-certified is another question. Read here and Hardware zone forum here).
The place looks pretty nice. The woody interiors make the restaurant feels pretty authentic and comfortable for dine in.
The chicken was just okay. It was not extremely delicious nor was it horrible, and it can taste a bit bland, hence the need for the sauces (i wonder if it is on purpose?). We found that the meals seem extremely overpriced (1/4 chicken + 1 side combo costs $14.95!) Although they say that you can buy get a free flow drink per pax, the ala carte was already too pricey that you probably think you can do without the drink (we can always get another drink after the meal).
But the problem with such deals is that they will always 'remind' you that you cant share the drink, and seem to seriously monitor you during your meal. When I was there with my boyfriend, he got a drink, and I didn't want to get one since I have my own bottled water (plus their drinks are already quite expensive). But like any normal couples, it is usual to sip a little of his drink, take a little of his food and vice versa. It is not like I am drinking it, even if it is just a few sips. But no matter what, you can tell that they still keep eyeing on you, like it is such a big deal. I have read other reviews that the staff make customers pay for another drink because the guy wanted to refill the drink after they saw him sharing it with his girlfriend. I understand it makes certain business sense to make drinks free flow, but the need for constant monitoring, the possible sharing of cups by non-paying customers and of course destroying the experience of dining, Barcelos should stop making the drinks free flow. Just charge per cup! Couples and friends do share their meals and drinks most of the time. The experience eating there becomes horribly annoying for this reason.
Service wasn't very good by Singapore's standards. The restaurant tread between fast food and a service restaurant. You are expected to queue up and pay upfront, then the food will be served - which is fine except that the staff are not very helpful to attend to any of your queries, whether at or off the counter.
I have only been there once, and I don't think I would like to come back again, unless my friends want me to, or unless they have some promotional prices. As a halal-food place, there are only 2 places in Singapore selling Portuguese chicken, and Barcelos is the only accessible one thus far. And for sure, similarities aside, it cannot match up to Nandos.
My ratings:
- Food / Drinks: 4.5/10
- Ambience: 8/10
- Service: 2/10
Overall: 5/10
- only if you are craving for accessible Portuguese chicken
Read other reviews / information on Barcelos at:
- HungryGoWhere.com: Barcelos (Vivocity)
- HungryGoWhere.com: Barcelos (Holland Village)
- Putri Berendam.com: Barcelos (Vivocity)
- Simple Aphrodisiac.com: Barcelos (Vivocity)
- Reviews at Sparklette.net: Nandos (Msia) and Barcelos (Spore)
- ilovelookinggood.com: Barcelos (Vivocity)
- Travelling Hungry Boy Blog: Barcelos (Vivocity)
- Singapore Daily Makan Photo: Barcelos (Holland Village)
- am11 wordpress: Barcelos (Vivocity)
Find it at:
- 17E Lorong Liput, Holland Village, S(277731) Tel: +65 621 994 08
- Vivo City, Level 2 Unit 91-93 S(098585 ) Tel: +65 637 695 32
- www.barcelos.com.sg
Labels:
*Chicken,
*Portuguese,
$15-$25 per pax,
Barcelos
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