Showing posts with label $15-$25 per pax. Show all posts
Showing posts with label $15-$25 per pax. Show all posts
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.
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.
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| 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)
[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
[at time when this article was first written in 2010, Fish & Co. was not yet halal certified as they were serving alcohol. they later received a halal certificate but lost it in Aug 2018]
F.I.S.H is a halal subsidiary of the famous Fish & Co. restaurant in Singapore. And there is only one of it in Singapore - in the east, specifically at the 4th level at the relatively new Tampines One shopping centre, and it a two-storey restaurant serving western seafood, specialising in fish dishes.
One of the main reasons why Fish & Co. in Singapore cannot be granted halal certification is that they serve alcoholic drinks, and would still like to continue to do so. Their signature serving of food is serving of seafood in a pan. But since it is not halal-certified, sadly, Muslims are not able to experience such dining at Fish & Co.
However due to the increasing demand for Fish & Co to be made halal, Fish & Co. decided to create a new subsidiary called F.I.S.H. in 2009. While the food and recipe seems quite similar to that of Fish & Co, based on my experiences (I have been there a couple of times), the portions are quite small, and the ambiance seems more classy -nice architecture- and definitely more higher-end that the Fish & Co (which seems more crowd-friendly and a little more fast-food-ish). Plus, they don't keep the signature serve-in-a-pan serving method, probably staying true to the concept of finer dining. However one interesting addition to the restaurant is the variety of salads served at the buffet-style salad bar.
I have tried several dishes, they can be quite nice if you happen to make a good choice. A few of my friends happen to like them, but i personally found some of the dishes a little too oily for my liking, and really, the portion seem really small (and im a female!). while some fish do taste nice (the white fish) the rest are just average tasting. and since they specialise in fish dishes, there are limited choices for those who prefer non-fish dishes.
one of fish that i ate. not sure which, -cant remember- but i believe it was a cod fish
the cheapest on the main course. at $9.90, the fish and chips. bearing similarity to the fish and chip at fish and co i heard, but pretty small. abit too oily for me!
a close up view of the fish and chips
But i think the squids are really delicious. you can find them in the seafood platter or in the side dish. that is one of the very few dishes that you will find really nice in the restaurant.
The prices range from $15 - $50 if you get the couple meals. I think it is abit too pricey for the average taste. Probably you are paying more for the ambience. And there were pictures of citibank cards that says 'ask for your citibank privileges' on the table (where they put the day's specials) but if you inquire, they will say 'sorry, there are no tie-in promotions with citibank, making you wonder why the hell the ad is there in the first place.
The salad buffet, although i feel is the highlight of the restaurant since there are indeed a variety of salads that you never thought existed and taste pretty good, fetches quite a hefty price per pax. Like almost all salad buffet, it is exclusive only for the person ordering and there is a 'strictly no sharing of salad' disclaimer. While i never liked such disclaimer, of course there is business sense in making such rules - but at the expense of happy dining. Say u are in a group of 3-4 person, and one decides to buy the salad. somehow you feel that the waiters are keeping a watchful eye on you so that you wont share your plate. While this may or may not be true, it is natural that when close friends dine together, they will pick their friends' food to taste. With such a regulation, you will feel this unnecessary pressure of not sharing, making dining less convenient. of course, some will still share since they are dining together, there is no harm in sharing a little food. in any case, such regulation does cause a certain amount of pressure and i really dont like it. so i avoid ordering the salad.
(picture of the salad bar, taken from Mall Blog @ Tampines 1)
Service is reasonable. However if you sit on the second storey, you will find yourself abit stranded whenever you wish to ask for a waiter for whatever reason as they dont come up often - except when one of you orders the salad. heh. i have been there a few times and that's what i notice.
Well, i have to say that F.I.S.H is a restaurant for those who like to eat fish and seafood, and would like a halal-certified alternative to Fish & Co. if you are not Muslim, i rather you go to fish & co since the prices in are lower, and the portions bigger. if you looking for nice fish food that are halal-certified, there are better places out there where the chances of disappointment are alot less. but then again, there is no harm in trying this restaurant since there are people who like it, and a few dishes are really actually delicious. i recommend the squid definitely.
My ratings:
- go only if you are made to go
Read other reviews / information on F.I.S.H at:
Find it at:
One of the main reasons why Fish & Co. in Singapore cannot be granted halal certification is that they serve alcoholic drinks, and would still like to continue to do so. Their signature serving of food is serving of seafood in a pan. But since it is not halal-certified, sadly, Muslims are not able to experience such dining at Fish & Co.
However due to the increasing demand for Fish & Co to be made halal, Fish & Co. decided to create a new subsidiary called F.I.S.H. in 2009. While the food and recipe seems quite similar to that of Fish & Co, based on my experiences (I have been there a couple of times), the portions are quite small, and the ambiance seems more classy -nice architecture- and definitely more higher-end that the Fish & Co (which seems more crowd-friendly and a little more fast-food-ish). Plus, they don't keep the signature serve-in-a-pan serving method, probably staying true to the concept of finer dining. However one interesting addition to the restaurant is the variety of salads served at the buffet-style salad bar.
I have tried several dishes, they can be quite nice if you happen to make a good choice. A few of my friends happen to like them, but i personally found some of the dishes a little too oily for my liking, and really, the portion seem really small (and im a female!). while some fish do taste nice (the white fish) the rest are just average tasting. and since they specialise in fish dishes, there are limited choices for those who prefer non-fish dishes.
But i think the squids are really delicious. you can find them in the seafood platter or in the side dish. that is one of the very few dishes that you will find really nice in the restaurant.
The prices range from $15 - $50 if you get the couple meals. I think it is abit too pricey for the average taste. Probably you are paying more for the ambience. And there were pictures of citibank cards that says 'ask for your citibank privileges' on the table (where they put the day's specials) but if you inquire, they will say 'sorry, there are no tie-in promotions with citibank, making you wonder why the hell the ad is there in the first place.
The salad buffet, although i feel is the highlight of the restaurant since there are indeed a variety of salads that you never thought existed and taste pretty good, fetches quite a hefty price per pax. Like almost all salad buffet, it is exclusive only for the person ordering and there is a 'strictly no sharing of salad' disclaimer. While i never liked such disclaimer, of course there is business sense in making such rules - but at the expense of happy dining. Say u are in a group of 3-4 person, and one decides to buy the salad. somehow you feel that the waiters are keeping a watchful eye on you so that you wont share your plate. While this may or may not be true, it is natural that when close friends dine together, they will pick their friends' food to taste. With such a regulation, you will feel this unnecessary pressure of not sharing, making dining less convenient. of course, some will still share since they are dining together, there is no harm in sharing a little food. in any case, such regulation does cause a certain amount of pressure and i really dont like it. so i avoid ordering the salad.
Service is reasonable. However if you sit on the second storey, you will find yourself abit stranded whenever you wish to ask for a waiter for whatever reason as they dont come up often - except when one of you orders the salad. heh. i have been there a few times and that's what i notice.
Well, i have to say that F.I.S.H is a restaurant for those who like to eat fish and seafood, and would like a halal-certified alternative to Fish & Co. if you are not Muslim, i rather you go to fish & co since the prices in are lower, and the portions bigger. if you looking for nice fish food that are halal-certified, there are better places out there where the chances of disappointment are alot less. but then again, there is no harm in trying this restaurant since there are people who like it, and a few dishes are really actually delicious. i recommend the squid definitely.
My ratings:
- Food / Drinks: 5/10
- Ambience: 8/10
- Service: 5.5/10
- go only if you are made to go
Read other reviews / information on F.I.S.H at:
- Hungrygowhere.com F.I.S.H at Tampines 1
- Mall Blog @ Tampines 1 It's more than a FISHY meal
Find it at:
- #04-11, 10 Tampines Central 1 S(529536)
- www.fish-co.com
Labels:
*Fish,
*Seafood,
*Western,
$15-$25 per pax,
F.I.S.H
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