kormmandos's Reviews
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I finally managed to dine in this branch after countless attempts during peak hours.
How? By going during off-peak hours and joining friends who had made reservations.
The service is quite responsive (at least during off-peak hours) and the food gets served quite quickly.
You get to see a lot of stuff here in the menu which you don't in other chains. Particularly, items like lobster sashimi and uni (sea urchin). So at least the task of going through the menu will be rather interesting, especially when looking at the prices.
I ordered the rice with salmon sashimi and salmon roe and was impressed by the freshness of the ingredients, thick, firm slices of salmon and salmon roe that goes "pop" at your bite. But at $16 a serving I thought it was really a case of paying for quality. Friends who had ordered other items though, only looked at mine with a tinge of regret.
Word of caution though, the pricing in general is higher than the other chains. But you are really paying for the quality and freshness. So how much you pay really depends on how much you order. On the first occasion with friends (with large appetites), the bill for 4 came up to $130 whereas the second occasion, the bill for 2 (small appetites) only amounted to $29.
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Dining out with a group of friends means I can sample many dishes and take many pictures.
But before that, some general thoughts on the quality of food, service and ambience.
Quality of Food
I would say slightly better, since each item does come in larger portions and the presentation is better thought out, compared to other restaurants serving the same fare. Though I don't really understand why the long queue.
Taste-wise is pretty much like the standard Hong Kong fare of baked rice, overpriced instant noodles, Hong Kong-styled western food and extra thick toast.
Brownie points for using hot plates to serve their western food and bamboo steamer baskets for baked rice.
Service
The thing about being there with a group of friends is that we find humour in any possible manner. It was quite amusing that the waitress taking our order got confused. But being a helpful bunch, we always pro-actively help to clarify any confusion. I think they are improving though. My friend had ordered the some baked rice with "twin sauce" but the meat in it tasted stale. After informing the waitress, the manager came by to explain the taste meant to be that way, but gladly cancelled that order from the bill since he didn't like it.
Ambience
Noisy, much like those Hong Kong restaurants seen on TV. Great for a lively crowd, no volume restriction. Rather cramped though, but it's really the same anywhere else.
And now, pictures of the food my friends and I ordered.
Almond Tea and Longan Aloe Vera
Nice fragrant Almond Tea. Longan Aloe Vera Drink was enjoyable as well.
Korean Noodle with Fried Egg
My friend didn't like this one. It is once again the instant noodle shock.
Roasted Spare Ribs with Honey Glaze
Pretty good as well, but the meat doesn't come off the bone like good ribs should.
Pork Chop Cutlet with Red Sauce
Baked Rice
Comes in red or white. Red one is tomato based and has a sweetness from tomatoes. White one is very rich in cheese and butter. Comes with fish or chicken or maybe something else as well.
Herb Lamb Chop with Garlic Sauce
That lamb taste is very strong in this one and the cuts are very fatty with chunks of bone. Pretty challenging to deal with. Had to resort to using hands to eat it cleanly.
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Opening Hours: 11.30am - 10pm (Closed on Mondays)
The girlfriend and I finally managed to try out Botak Jones at Clementi and we were quite pleasantly surprised by the quality of food. The cajun chicken we ordered was a surprisingly tasty piece of chicken breast. It was well-marinated and not dry. Every bite was bursting with flavor. The best part was it wasn't oily as it was grilled. It is has how good food should be.
On a separate occasion, I ordered their Botak Burger. I was served with a generous beef patty that is well-marinated and juicy. Personally, I thought the beef may have been too finely ground. I would have liked chunks of beef within the patty for a more interesting texture.
I would also like to make special mention for their fries, which is crispy and well-flavored with their spicy seasoning. It is a welcome change from the usual salt. I wiped the mountain of fries when I had the cajun chicken, but was unable to do the same at the sitting for the Botak Burger, but that's because I didn't have them with a drink.
So far, I have to say that the food I've gotten at the Clementi outlet has been good. The fries do well to make one full while their mains left a good impression on me.Service-wise, I appreciate their efforts to ask customers for feedback, though I think that was probably the stakeholder. Waiting time still needs to be improved. The wait during peak and off-peak hours is still around 30 minutes. I suspect this is due to the processes in the kitchen.
Then there are other areas I hope they could improve.
For one thing, they brought in a restaurant system which does not really work for a kopitiam setting. It basically gets customers to see the flaws of their process because people have to queue up before the system to order.
The menu contains too much text of the same size and too much narratives. I had a bit of a problem identifying the items. Yes, it is visually irritating.
So if you do go down to Botak Jones, be mentally prepared for the wait. I guess I was ok, thanks to the "training" I had been through at The Donut Factory. After you've been through that kind of a queue, this is just a walk in the park.
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The girlfriend and I were here on a Sunday evening for a look-see but we ended up really impressed. I have to say this is one of the best chill out places I've come across.
As it was quite a walk, we opted to go to the air-conditioned area. It was dimly-lit with candlelight with sihoulettes of trees painted on the white walls.
The seating area to the left as we stepped into the place had really nice day bed-like sofas which are really conducive to get into the mood.
Being a Sunday, we actually had the whole place to ourselves.
One thing I do wish they could improve on was the DJ-ing for the music as there were awkward moments where ther wasn't any music playing.
Menu items were plentiful, and we had a hard time figuring out what we wanted. I would recommend ordering anything from their specialties.
While the drinks were considerably pricier, a lot more effort is apparently put into them. There are morsels of actual fruits in the drinks and of course, most importantly, they are really much more potent. For that, the girlfriend and I ended up really happy from our drinks.
We got really good and attentive service from the staff. But maybe it was also because we were the only patrons on Sunday evening. Upon leaving, we were bid a genuinely friendly good bye, which was really nice.
I'm definitely returning here soon.
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I was quite pleased with the beer mixes and drafts respectively. The girlfriend had the former, which was their fizzy draft beer with banana. It had a refreshing taste with a hint of the fruit which did not over power the beer. The dark, chestnut coloured draft I ordered (which was the last item on the draft beer page) had a strong nutty and malty flavour which was, well, very yummy. There was no hiding of the ingredients and processing that went into the brew, which is good, because you will know that you pay for quality.
The Finger food was good, but only if there's beer. I say this because the finger food on its own tasted bland. But my guess is that the restaurant wanted the food and drinks to compliment each other and to bring out the taste of each other. Though I wished it was in bigger portion. I thought it was exceptionally odd since they would serve beers by the litre but half their portions of finger food.
As for service, I thought the waitress who attended to my table was pretty professional. I had asked about the difference in their drafts was provided with concise descriptions on taste for each of them. I was able to decide quickly from her comments and as fore-mentioned, was satisfied with my orders.
According to the girlfriend, the ambience was quite similar to those in Germany. But the music did seem un-German.
As for the title, the superstition about toasting with German beers is that you got to look into the eyes of each other and say the German version of "Yam Seng" or "Cheers". Failing which, 7 years of bod sex. So toast with a single-minded conviction here!
Admittedly, I gave Brotzeit a high rating because I was pretty disappointed with Café Del Mar's service just before coming here. The girlfriend and I were there for an hour and a half but was unable to find drinks. More details about the atrocious service on their opening day later.
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