The donut craze in Singapore was kick-start by the emergent of the rivalry between Donut factory at raffles city, and Dippin’ Donut (of former Vinco fame) at Vivocity a few years back.
I remember when Donut factory and Dippin’ just started out, people will queue one two hours just to get that dozen of donuts. Now many more others have jumped into the wagon which includes the likes of Missy donut, Donut & Donuts, Munchy Donut, Summer house donut.
And of course, the latest and by far the one with the cafe concept to be found in our local shores, J Co Donut.
J Co Donut chooses Raffles city basement as their entrance to the Singapore market, of course where other than the battleground with Donut Factory. Since the opening of the donut cafe at Raffles city, the sales of Donut Factory has pale in comparison. And Donut factory isn’t really giving up the fight, with the cafe concept at Velocity@Novena, and Suntec city.
A couple of weeks ago, i wanted to try J Co Donut but the seats were all fully taken up, so we ended up at Cedele. This time when we go there was quite a lot of seats available, so i guess the timing must be right.
We were rather confuse because there are two counters inside J Co, one on the left which are where all the folks are queuing up for their donuts, and there’s another one on the right which we thought that its where the drinks counter is. We buy from the normal queue, but after that we saw people getting a menu from the drinks counter and ordering from there.
Furthermore, as we were having the donuts there, we were wondering whether will it be serve on plates or boxes, we saw people having it on plates, but ours are given in box. So i guess these are really some parts where J Co can do better to let us know, or perhaps the problem are just occurring to us and not ours.
Nonetheless, all the donuts look really really nice, and they are the sort that you know eating them will mean lots of calories, but you cant stop yourself from having them. O well, eat and exercise more!
Just for your info, I tried Dunkin Donuts when i were in KL last time, and i think i’ll preferred J Co Donut to Dunkin’s
I were rather surprised because they offer box for 3 donuts, and even when there are boxes for minimum of 2 donuts. If my memory didn’t fail me, it was at least half a dozen donuts for box last time.
Don Mochino ($1.30) Dark Belgian chocolate topping perfected with light cappucino cream filling. Pleasure you shouldn’t feel gulity about.
One thing i really like about J Co donut’s is that they come up with really fanciful descriptions for all their donuts.
Anyway, the Don Mochino looks really nice with the beautiful chocolate toppings, but somehow the cappuccino cream fillings are a tad too light to the tongue.
Choco Cavier Strawberry ($1.30) Sprinkle Premium chocolate with strawberry that will tickle your mouth.
The small chocolate balls on the choco cavier strawberry donut are quite nice, brings back a certain childhood memory.
Hazel Dazzle ($1.30) Be sexy with dazzling hazelnut chocolate and get surprised with coffee cream.
The Hazel Dazzle donut is one of the new additions to the J Co donuts. I always like hazelnut, so this always work for me.
Ice chocolate ($5) The ice chocolate comes in two sizes, $4.50 for the medium, and $5 for regular. We were discussing whether the regular is really a bigger size than the medium, because regular just sounds, regular. Smaller in size you know?
Tira Miss U ($1.30) Dear Tira, it’s been so long i haven’t meet you. Now, i really miss you.
The tiramisu donut is really nice, i come to love tiramisu and this one is definitely the one i’ll try again when i revisit J Co. Because we brought 3 donuts at first, when i go and get one more, this tiramisu, i tell the manager i want one, he stared at me, giving me the nobody-buy-one-donut look!
It was so funny, i guess, nobody really go in and buy one donut. But i guess i’ll do it often, just to get to see that expression on their face. You all should try also yeah! Alright, i’m joking, we shouldn’t do doing such things to the service staff who work so hard selling our favourite donuts.
Total bill for 4 donuts and one ice chocolate is $10.20. J Co Donut is certainly very impressive, their first outlet in Indonesia was open on 26 June 2005, and within three years of operations they have 39 outlets throughout Asia with presence in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.
I think despite the sinful and guilty feeling after eating donuts, i think i will be back to try other donuts at J Co. It’ll be quite a good place to chill out with your friends, munching donuts and sipping a cup of coffee, while sitting down at the cozy couch.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
I walked past Manhattan Fish Market a lot of times. It’s always long queue. My frenz who tried it before said its very nice. I dun really like Fish & chips, but my Dear Dear loves it.
So by chance, there was no queue at Plaza Singapura’s branch, we went in to have lunch.
Appetizers: Mushroom soup - not too bad. Can still bite the blended mushrooms bits. White Baits with Mayo & Coleslaw - GOOD. Crispy. I love the coleslaw below.
3 kinds of Dippers - Sour Cream, Chilli, and Garlic.
Main Dish: Grilled Norwegian King Salmon Fillet - My Dear Dear skip his fave and ordered this. I m not a fan of Salmon, but my Dear Dear is. I like the fries. It’s fresh as in they fried in clean oil. & I think crispy not soggy fries.
Fettuccine with Fish & Squid - I like fettuccine and LOVE Squid, but not a fan of panfried fish, so I gave the fish to my Dear dear. I like the cream sauce. Thick and flavourful. The ingredients are fresh. :D
Price wise is the standard resturants range. So….. I will love to go there but I need to feel rich then I will go. :p
Looking at this topic and review, the question undoubtedly in your mind is how can you differentiate between branches in a fast food chain?
Well, its basically done through the serving of the chicken, service, speed and the taste of the chicken of course.
Regardless, this branch managed to uphold the regular standards without going above board. Though the crowd is huge, the food is still prepared and served with speed even when the current batch of chicken is exhausted.
Seats are plentiful and you'll find many people clad in swim wear patronizing the food joint.
Service is decent and to the point while extra requests are taken with a smile and request to be patient while they process the request. The special order is then served to the residual table.
Located in Downtown east, i patronized this place some time ago with my gf to have a swim, get a tan and basically get some relaxation into the system from the daily grind.
Ticket charges are at $13.80 for the public and $10.80 for NTUC club members and basically, its a good place to remain half naked for half a day with no weird looks thrown your way.
The attractions include a suspended bicycle, an extremely fast and long slide, a shared 5 person float, a jucuzzi, a meandering pool and a wave simulated pool.
Overall, it wasn't a bad experience at the place but its definitely not enough to spend an entire day in just for the rides.
For what its worth though, the place is well maintained and relaxing with the exception of the floor which is strangely made of prickly stone designs when the majority of the people there are supposed to be walking bare feet. Its rather precarious and dangerous.
Singtel or Singapore telecom has been THE service to turn to since its inception in the beginning of Singapore itself. Started out with the use of land lines only, the service has evolved with time, faced competition and ushered in an era of the mobile phone. Thats what we'll be talking about.
Recently, i've been recommissioned to national service due to this program called Reservist and i was stationed at places so close to the sea and on the fringes of Singapore that its basically a test of how good the service of our "red umbrella" really is.
Well, sad to report, it didn't stand up to the test at all.. Service was intermittent and basically non existent where i stood (Still in Singapore). The service simply kept dislodging itself and even switched to roaming for Malaysia's service instead, which was ridiculous.
General consensus is that the quality of sound is also compromised as compared to the like of M1 service. Seems like it isn't as good as i thought.
Plaza Singapura is a wonderfully located shopping mall being close to orchard road and neighbors to The Cathay. Its central location allows it to be a easy pit stop regardless of which side you are prone to visit and having the Dhouby Ghaut MRT with the north east line converging on it is a godsend for the retailers housed within.
Talking about retailers, the place is packed with them. Carrefour, Giordana, Baleno, Marks and Spencer, Lee Hwa Jewelry, Burger King, Levis, Starhub, Singtel, San Bookshop, Apple Retailers and even Bose. Its a shoppers easy to access location with a huge and extensive selection.
Add to that a movie cinema, a videogames arcade and a Yamaha school for further entertainment and diversity and basically, its easy to see why PS is an acronym alot of youngsters are saying when they go out.
As for myself, the reason i go to PS is because of the location and ease if i take an MRT. There's nothing much to it. Its just easy to reach and hellishly simple to shop there. Thats my take.
Amk Hub is a new addition to the AMK central region and boasts a multitude of stores and parking lots for the main community.
In the beginning, the Hub was highly praised for its excellent melding of department stores, underground passages and most importantly, the synchronisation and incorporation of the bus interchange with a major department store. It still stands as a shining example of space maximization and the combination of various functions into one building.
The hub itself holds numerous restaurants which range from New York New York, Fish and Co to Mcdonald's, and Dian Xiao Er. Which is a great convenience along with a rather big NTUC outlet for groceries and lots of shopping outlets for clothes, computers, video, electronics and even houses 2 banks, DBS and UOB for easy cash withdrawal.
Parking lots are plenty and spacious while the Hub itself is generous with space such that it never feels too crowded.
A good place with all the necessary things you need and then some.
It was a weekday and i met up with my gf for a meal. Unsure of what to have, we proceeded down to Serangoon Garden in hope of having some nice western but the places were filled and thus, we settled for Sushi Tei instead.
The outlet was decorated simply with the conveyor belt that is all the rage with Japanese restaurants. Having had a prior bad experience with Sushi Tei at Big Splash, this was the second chance they needed to get back into my good books.
We ordered a Unagi Yanagawa and Ebi and Yasai Don to share.
The Unagi Yanagawa came in 6 rather big pieces and cost $12 which was a little steep. However, the fresh unagi and nicely done cooking which managed to retain the sweet and slightly springy taste managed to make the dish feel at least acceptable.
The Ebi and Yasai don on the other hand was value for money @ $8 since it came with 8 nicely fried prawns and plenty of fried vegetables as well. Rice is the usual japanese sticky sushi rice which tasted bland but was salvaged by the teriyaki sauce and the accompaniments.
We had a few sushi dishes as well which struck me as rather normal for the value plates of $1.60 and $1.80 plates. However, the more expensive plates served better items but were upwards of $4 to $6. So its really a personal preference for the sushi part. As for me, i'd rather return for the ala carte in future.
Service was respectable and decent.
All in all, this is definitely better then the Big Splash branch.
Having watched the television program "No Reservations" hosted by Anthony Bourdain, i was surprised to find a foreigner actually endorsing his name and effort on this one particular chicken rice stall which is meant to signify all chicken rice stalls in Singapore.
To say the least, the intrigue brought me to make the long trip down to visit the stall to verify if it is indeed THE best chicken rice stall around.
I was not disappointed. The chicken is tender, succulent and has a texture and taste all its own. Unlike the copycats and soothsayers around, the chicken had a gingerish taste which is difficult to discern and the chicken is not served hot. In fact, its a little cool when served, possibly due to dipping the chicken into cold water to retain the texture.
The rice is another matter which needs to be tried. Its fragrance is better then average and easy on the stomach. I'd recommend adding chili sauce to the rice, mixing it up and eating it with some chicken dipped in dark sauce but thats just me.
Living in the East side of Singapore has its perks, being close to the East Coast is one of them. Thus it was that it was another random day after work that me and my gf visited the coast in search for food. Our choices were aplenty as Mingles, Sushi Teh, OldTown White coffee and many more are located at within the vicinity. However, we settled for some fast food instead. And do forgive me if i sound utterly weird as this is the first time i've eaten at Carl's Junior. To say the least, it surprised me.
Located at the Big Splash, this branch is the newest of the bunch and boasts a rather nice, quiet and relaxed atmosphere that is easy to appreciate. The relative lack of being totally packed during dinner time helped alot since squeezing and waiting for food is not something i can grow accustom to in a jiffy. Service was fast and friendly while the place looked spic and span.
The advertising campaign for Carl's Jr is totally hit or miss in my opinion. The tagline of "Its Gonna Get Messy" carries a pun which they have ran with to signify everything from sex to murder whereby the burger sauce is splattered across different mediums. Now that i've tried the burger, well, i must say, they aren't too far off the mark.
I had a Western Bacon Double Cheeseburger meal with my fries exchanged for onion rings. Now, the onion rings were huge compared to Burger Kings rendition and that's not supposed to be a good thing by the way. Why is that so? Because the upsize only gave me 6 onion rings in all. The rings themselves also felt overfried because it was way too dry and didn't have the same moist and fragrant onion ring taste from BK. The burger however, managed to redeem the situation because its definitely huge. Size wise, this is pretty much on par or bigger then BK's double whopper. The beef taste is extremely strong as well, thus you might either like it or hate it with a passion. Fillings were also generous as bacon slices, cucumbers, cheese and meat fight to gain control of your taste buds. And sooner or later, something will spill from the burger whether you like it or not.
My gf had the Portebello Mushroom Burger with cross cut fries. Her order was much better since the fries were infinitely better then my onion rings. The fries were thick, nicely fried till golden brown while still remaining moist inside. The only gripe is that you can practically see the oil you are consuming. Her burger also had a char broiled beef patty within which is accompanied by greens, cream, tomatoes and mushroom. She enjoyed it but wasn't a fan of the strong beef taste. I had a go and found it a little too salty due to the soaked mushrooms but otherwise, its decent as well.
The bill came to about $18 or $20.
Fast food is something that has permeated everyday life to the point that if a brainless food decision is needed. Any fast food joint will simply pop into mind. Carl's is more or less vying for the niche market that is currently dominated by BK and i must say, it is a pretty strong contender in that field. Price wise, its quite steep for fast food but the burger more or less blows away doubt of what you are paying for. Give it a go at least once to see for yourself.
1=SGD 0.0587
The donut craze in Singapore was kick-start by the emergent of the rivalry between Donut factory at raffles city, and Dippin’ Donut (of former Vinco fame) at Vivocity a few years back.
I remember when Donut factory and Dippin’ just started out, people will queue one two hours just to get that dozen of donuts. Now many more others have jumped into the wagon which includes the likes of Missy donut, Donut & Donuts, Munchy Donut, Summer house donut.
And of course, the latest and by far the one with the cafe concept to be found in our local shores, J Co Donut.
J Co Donut chooses Raffles city basement as their entrance to the Singapore market, of course where other than the battleground with Donut Factory. Since the opening of the donut cafe at Raffles city, the sales of Donut Factory has pale in comparison. And Donut factory isn’t really giving up the fight, with the cafe concept at Velocity@Novena, and Suntec city.
A couple of weeks ago, i wanted to try J Co Donut but the seats were all fully taken up, so we ended up at Cedele. This time when we go there was quite a lot of seats available, so i guess the timing must be right.
We were rather confuse because there are two counters inside J Co, one on the left which are where all the folks are queuing up for their donuts, and there’s another one on the right which we thought that its where the drinks counter is. We buy from the normal queue, but after that we saw people getting a menu from the drinks counter and ordering from there.
Furthermore, as we were having the donuts there, we were wondering whether will it be serve on plates or boxes, we saw people having it on plates, but ours are given in box. So i guess these are really some parts where J Co can do better to let us know, or perhaps the problem are just occurring to us and not ours.
Nonetheless, all the donuts look really really nice, and they are the sort that you know eating them will mean lots of calories, but you cant stop yourself from having them. O well, eat and exercise more!
Just for your info, I tried Dunkin Donuts when i were in KL last time, and i think i’ll preferred J Co Donut to Dunkin’s
I were rather surprised because they offer box for 3 donuts, and even when there are boxes for minimum of 2 donuts. If my memory didn’t fail me, it was at least half a dozen donuts for box last time.
Don Mochino ($1.30)
Dark Belgian chocolate topping perfected with light cappucino cream filling. Pleasure you shouldn’t feel gulity about.
One thing i really like about J Co donut’s is that they come up with really fanciful descriptions for all their donuts.
Anyway, the Don Mochino looks really nice with the beautiful chocolate toppings, but somehow the cappuccino cream fillings are a tad too light to the tongue.
Choco Cavier Strawberry ($1.30)
Sprinkle Premium chocolate with strawberry that will tickle your mouth.
The small chocolate balls on the choco cavier strawberry donut are quite nice, brings back a certain childhood memory.
Hazel Dazzle ($1.30)
Be sexy with dazzling hazelnut chocolate and get surprised with coffee cream.
The Hazel Dazzle donut is one of the new additions to the J Co donuts. I always like hazelnut, so this always work for me.
Ice chocolate ($5)
The ice chocolate comes in two sizes, $4.50 for the medium, and $5 for regular. We were discussing whether the regular is really a bigger size than the medium, because regular just sounds, regular. Smaller in size you know?
Tira Miss U ($1.30)
Dear Tira, it’s been so long i haven’t meet you. Now, i really miss you.
The tiramisu donut is really nice, i come to love tiramisu and this one is definitely the one i’ll try again when i revisit J Co. Because we brought 3 donuts at first, when i go and get one more, this tiramisu, i tell the manager i want one, he stared at me, giving me the nobody-buy-one-donut look!
It was so funny, i guess, nobody really go in and buy one donut. But i guess i’ll do it often, just to get to see that expression on their face. You all should try also yeah! Alright, i’m joking, we shouldn’t do doing such things to the service staff who work so hard selling our favourite donuts.
Total bill for 4 donuts and one ice chocolate is $10.20. J Co Donut is certainly very impressive, their first outlet in Indonesia was open on 26 June 2005, and within three years of operations they have 39 outlets throughout Asia with presence in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.
I think despite the sinful and guilty feeling after eating donuts, i think i will be back to try other donuts at J Co. It’ll be quite a good place to chill out with your friends, munching donuts and sipping a cup of coffee, while sitting down at the cozy couch.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )
” Munching donuts & sipping coffee - perfect! “
Rating given:
I walked past Manhattan Fish Market a lot of times. It’s always long queue. My frenz who tried it before said its very nice. I dun really like Fish & chips, but my Dear Dear loves it.
So by chance, there was no queue at Plaza Singapura’s branch, we went in to have lunch.
Appetizers:
Mushroom soup - not too bad. Can still bite the blended mushrooms bits.
White Baits with Mayo & Coleslaw - GOOD. Crispy. I love the coleslaw below.
3 kinds of Dippers - Sour Cream, Chilli, and Garlic.
Main Dish:
Grilled Norwegian King Salmon Fillet - My Dear Dear skip his fave and ordered this. I m not a fan of Salmon, but my Dear Dear is. I like the fries. It’s fresh as in they fried in clean oil. & I think crispy not soggy fries.
Fettuccine with Fish & Squid - I like fettuccine and LOVE Squid, but not a fan of panfried fish, so I gave the fish to my Dear dear. I like the cream sauce. Thick and flavourful. The ingredients are fresh. :D
Price wise is the standard resturants range. So….. I will love to go there but I need to feel rich then I will go. :p
Rating given:
Looking at this topic and review, the question undoubtedly in your mind is how can you differentiate between branches in a fast food chain?
Well, its basically done through the serving of the chicken, service, speed and the taste of the chicken of course.
Regardless, this branch managed to uphold the regular standards without going above board. Though the crowd is huge, the food is still prepared and served with speed even when the current batch of chicken is exhausted.
Seats are plentiful and you'll find many people clad in swim wear patronizing the food joint.
Service is decent and to the point while extra requests are taken with a smile and request to be patient while they process the request. The special order is then served to the residual table.
More or less the whole KFC experience here.
Rating given:
Located in Downtown east, i patronized this place some time ago with my gf to have a swim, get a tan and basically get some relaxation into the system from the daily grind.
Ticket charges are at $13.80 for the public and $10.80 for NTUC club members and basically, its a good place to remain half naked for half a day with no weird looks thrown your way.
The attractions include a suspended bicycle, an extremely fast and long slide, a shared 5 person float, a jucuzzi, a meandering pool and a wave simulated pool.
Overall, it wasn't a bad experience at the place but its definitely not enough to spend an entire day in just for the rides.
For what its worth though, the place is well maintained and relaxing with the exception of the floor which is strangely made of prickly stone designs when the majority of the people there are supposed to be walking bare feet. Its rather precarious and dangerous.
Still, not too bad for a visit.
Rating given:
Singtel or Singapore telecom has been THE service to turn to since its inception in the beginning of Singapore itself. Started out with the use of land lines only, the service has evolved with time, faced competition and ushered in an era of the mobile phone. Thats what we'll be talking about.
Recently, i've been recommissioned to national service due to this program called Reservist and i was stationed at places so close to the sea and on the fringes of Singapore that its basically a test of how good the service of our "red umbrella" really is.
Well, sad to report, it didn't stand up to the test at all.. Service was intermittent and basically non existent where i stood (Still in Singapore). The service simply kept dislodging itself and even switched to roaming for Malaysia's service instead, which was ridiculous.
General consensus is that the quality of sound is also compromised as compared to the like of M1 service. Seems like it isn't as good as i thought.
Rating given:
Plaza Singapura is a wonderfully located shopping mall being close to orchard road and neighbors to The Cathay. Its central location allows it to be a easy pit stop regardless of which side you are prone to visit and having the Dhouby Ghaut MRT with the north east line converging on it is a godsend for the retailers housed within.
Talking about retailers, the place is packed with them. Carrefour, Giordana, Baleno, Marks and Spencer, Lee Hwa Jewelry, Burger King, Levis, Starhub, Singtel, San Bookshop, Apple Retailers and even Bose. Its a shoppers easy to access location with a huge and extensive selection.
Add to that a movie cinema, a videogames arcade and a Yamaha school for further entertainment and diversity and basically, its easy to see why PS is an acronym alot of youngsters are saying when they go out.
As for myself, the reason i go to PS is because of the location and ease if i take an MRT. There's nothing much to it. Its just easy to reach and hellishly simple to shop there. Thats my take.
Rating given:
Amk Hub is a new addition to the AMK central region and boasts a multitude of stores and parking lots for the main community.
In the beginning, the Hub was highly praised for its excellent melding of department stores, underground passages and most importantly, the synchronisation and incorporation of the bus interchange with a major department store. It still stands as a shining example of space maximization and the combination of various functions into one building.
The hub itself holds numerous restaurants which range from New York New York, Fish and Co to Mcdonald's, and Dian Xiao Er. Which is a great convenience along with a rather big NTUC outlet for groceries and lots of shopping outlets for clothes, computers, video, electronics and even houses 2 banks, DBS and UOB for easy cash withdrawal.
Parking lots are plenty and spacious while the Hub itself is generous with space such that it never feels too crowded.
A good place with all the necessary things you need and then some.
Rating given:
It was a weekday and i met up with my gf for a meal. Unsure of what to have, we proceeded down to Serangoon Garden in hope of having some nice western but the places were filled and thus, we settled for Sushi Tei instead.
The outlet was decorated simply with the conveyor belt that is all the rage with Japanese restaurants. Having had a prior bad experience with Sushi Tei at Big Splash, this was the second chance they needed to get back into my good books.
We ordered a Unagi Yanagawa and Ebi and Yasai Don to share.
The Unagi Yanagawa came in 6 rather big pieces and cost $12 which was a little steep. However, the fresh unagi and nicely done cooking which managed to retain the sweet and slightly springy taste managed to make the dish feel at least acceptable.
The Ebi and Yasai don on the other hand was value for money @ $8 since it came with 8 nicely fried prawns and plenty of fried vegetables as well. Rice is the usual japanese sticky sushi rice which tasted bland but was salvaged by the teriyaki sauce and the accompaniments.
We had a few sushi dishes as well which struck me as rather normal for the value plates of $1.60 and $1.80 plates. However, the more expensive plates served better items but were upwards of $4 to $6. So its really a personal preference for the sushi part. As for me, i'd rather return for the ala carte in future.
Service was respectable and decent.
All in all, this is definitely better then the Big Splash branch.
Rating given:
Having watched the television program "No Reservations" hosted by Anthony Bourdain, i was surprised to find a foreigner actually endorsing his name and effort on this one particular chicken rice stall which is meant to signify all chicken rice stalls in Singapore.
To say the least, the intrigue brought me to make the long trip down to visit the stall to verify if it is indeed THE best chicken rice stall around.
I was not disappointed. The chicken is tender, succulent and has a texture and taste all its own. Unlike the copycats and soothsayers around, the chicken had a gingerish taste which is difficult to discern and the chicken is not served hot. In fact, its a little cool when served, possibly due to dipping the chicken into cold water to retain the texture.
The rice is another matter which needs to be tried. Its fragrance is better then average and easy on the stomach. I'd recommend adding chili sauce to the rice, mixing it up and eating it with some chicken dipped in dark sauce but thats just me.
Rating given:
Living in the East side of Singapore has its perks, being close to the East Coast is one of them. Thus it was that it was another random day after work that me and my gf visited the coast in search for food. Our choices were aplenty as Mingles, Sushi Teh, OldTown White coffee and many more are located at within the vicinity. However, we settled for some fast food instead. And do forgive me if i sound utterly weird as this is the first time i've eaten at Carl's Junior. To say the least, it surprised me.
Located at the Big Splash, this branch is the newest of the bunch and boasts a rather nice, quiet and relaxed atmosphere that is easy to appreciate. The relative lack of being totally packed during dinner time helped alot since squeezing and waiting for food is not something i can grow accustom to in a jiffy. Service was fast and friendly while the place looked spic and span.
The advertising campaign for Carl's Jr is totally hit or miss in my opinion. The tagline of "Its Gonna Get Messy" carries a pun which they have ran with to signify everything from sex to murder whereby the burger sauce is splattered across different mediums. Now that i've tried the burger, well, i must say, they aren't too far off the mark.
I had a Western Bacon Double Cheeseburger meal with my fries exchanged for onion rings. Now, the onion rings were huge compared to Burger Kings rendition and that's not supposed to be a good thing by the way. Why is that so? Because the upsize only gave me 6 onion rings in all. The rings themselves also felt overfried because it was way too dry and didn't have the same moist and fragrant onion ring taste from BK. The burger however, managed to redeem the situation because its definitely huge. Size wise, this is pretty much on par or bigger then BK's double whopper. The beef taste is extremely strong as well, thus you might either like it or hate it with a passion. Fillings were also generous as bacon slices, cucumbers, cheese and meat fight to gain control of your taste buds. And sooner or later, something will spill from the burger whether you like it or not.
My gf had the Portebello Mushroom Burger with cross cut fries. Her order was much better since the fries were infinitely better then my onion rings. The fries were thick, nicely fried till golden brown while still remaining moist inside. The only gripe is that you can practically see the oil you are consuming. Her burger also had a char broiled beef patty within which is accompanied by greens, cream, tomatoes and mushroom. She enjoyed it but wasn't a fan of the strong beef taste. I had a go and found it a little too salty due to the soaked mushrooms but otherwise, its decent as well.
The bill came to about $18 or $20.
Fast food is something that has permeated everyday life to the point that if a brainless food decision is needed. Any fast food joint will simply pop into mind. Carl's is more or less vying for the niche market that is currently dominated by BK and i must say, it is a pretty strong contender in that field. Price wise, its quite steep for fast food but the burger more or less blows away doubt of what you are paying for. Give it a go at least once to see for yourself.
Rating given: