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Food & Beverage
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1=SGD 0.0587
Noted Fresh Sashimi
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.
Rating given:
Yet another Hong Kong Cuisine Restaurant, just a little better
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.
Rating given:
Great food, but just some tweaks in processes
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.
Rating given:
Potent Drinks and Great Service!
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.
Rating given:
Look each other in the eye when you toast, or experience 7 years of bad sex!
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.
Rating given:
This is the way fish should be served!
Here's a new place the girlfriend and I found that's a joy to visit.
My recommendations
The girlfriend and I had ordered the lovers' platter for 2 where there were very nice grilled scallops, but I thought it was spoiled by their fried stuff. So I think it is better to order individual main courses.Their side dishes are really good too, especially their potatoes and linguine, only 80 cents each.
Few things that I love about this place.
Their method of preparing their fish.
Usually steamed, poached or grilled, the fish retains its flavor and is light on the palate. When you have fresh fish, this is the way to go because the freshness is a huge factor for the taste and texture. Of course, these methods are healthier, though it also means it's easier to make room for more food.
Variety of fish
The main difference here is a more local variety of fish. Think grouper, sea bass, salmon, pomfret. Yes, I think this is the main reason why this restaurant chose to steam, poach and grill.
Options of side dishes
I thought this is a good idea, especially when other seafood restaurants like Manhattan Fish Market and Fish & Co always load tons of rice and fries.You get to to add side dishes at 80 cents and onwards per dish so that you can concentrate on the taste of the main attraction.
Family friendly - Spacious and relaxed
There is this empty space right after the entrance that is really good for children to move around in. Another honorable mention goes to the smiley fries, which the girlfriend and I dubbed "smelly flies", thanks to our local accent (Singlish lah). I think they owners didn't want to fill up the place with tables for profit and instead chose to keep it spacious for less staff to serve the customers more effectively. I didn't feel rushed in this place and I like that. The Girlfriend also mentioned that the choice of colors (yellow and blue) was very effective in setting th relaxed mood. Best of all, the customers were all in really relaxed attire - t-shirts, bermudas and sandals. Very cozy.
Rating given:
Huh? Instant noodles as a dish?
One thing I can never come to terms with is the fact that Restaurants/Cafes serving Hong Kong cuisine prices instant noodles at a premium. Xin Wang is no exception. It is funny in a way, because instant noodles sold in Hong Kong has an iconic status, but if you sold instant noodles as a Uniquely Singapore dish, it is called a rip-off.
Also, it is pretty disappointing that there is only baked rice, baked rice and more baked rice. Otherwise, it is thick toast, thick toast and more thick toast. And then you get something mildly interesting like, pineapple buns, ordinary bread buns with some pineapple filling, probably similar to that of pineapple tarts sold at about $2 each.
Wah. Lao. Eh. It. Is. So. Exciting. Hor?
Not. Even. One. Bit.
While Xin Wang does serve up some specialities (some crab dish, I think) it is as I like to say, nothing inspiring.
This place is a rip-off, I tell you.
Rating given:
Be the Lunchtime Envy of your colleagues
I have never failed to become the lunchtime envy of my colleagues whenever I bring a Don's pie back to office.
This is for chicken pie lovers who always thought something was missing in the pies you have eaten, DON's pies probably have the answer, be it the large portions, the hard-boiled egg or black peppercorns.
The small pie is a complete meal in itself while a large one feed 4.
As for the hard-boiled egg, I thought it completes the pie.
Contrary to Joanne's blurb on the pies, my colleagues and I love the pies.
I for one love the peppery taste of the pies. I think it is something to do with the local obsession with black pepper. Somehow anything and everything with black peppercorns just work, like black pepper crabs, stir-fried black pepper beef and black pepper steak just appeals to Singaporeans.
Of course, I have to admit I haven't tried Aussie and British pies to compare.
Singapore probably gave the pie a local twist to it to make our own.
So for the familiar chicken pie, DON's pies are still the best for me.
They have recently also expanded to selling claypot crab bee hoon.
I haven't tried it, but I'm sure I will be soon.
Rating given:
The perfect place to chill out without the crowd up on the "highest" peak in Singapore....actually not so high. But the couch view by the window is good. The floor to ceiling glass window allows you to get a good view of the cable car paths as well as Sentosa and the Singapore Harbour. So just sit back, relax and enjoy the views.
Serve standard drinks and cocktails. One plus point is that this place is frequented by both local and foreign celebrities, so you might just catch a glimpse of them or hear the staffs talking about it...that's if you are in to celebrities. Otherwise the glass atmosphere and cozy surroundings might just be what you can enjoy here.
You might like to make a reservation if you are going in larger groups. Have seen many larger groups of about 5-6 people coming in and going out because of not being able to find a place here.
Parking in Mount Faber can be a problem if you come later in the night. But then you can always use the valet service at $5 if you like. Saves you all the walking and trouble.
Rating given:
Ice cream like you have never had before. This is what we found at Tom's Palette. The perfect place for a stopover after dinner. It used to be Swensens but now, it is Tom's Palette! For some reason, Swensens does not seem to appeal to us, but then again that is another story.
So what is good at Tom's Palette?
The local flavours that you will not find at Swensens and Hagen D. The following is a list of flavours you can find there:-
- Tau Sar Piah!!??
- Chrysanthemum
- Lavender
- Apple Pie
- Oreo Cheese
- Blue Berry Cheese
- Hazelnut
- Logan and Red Dates
- Chocolate
- Coffee
- Real Strawberries
- Horlicks (if you just love it)
- and more to come...perhaps we should just give them some suggestions for new flavours! Why not have kiwi, chicken!!??, guava, and maybe some sorbets!!
If you are confused and not certain which one to try, just request to sample them. Try not to take it too far by sampling all the flavours....but it might just happen! Portions are generous and comes in 3 different servings. If you go by after dinner, perhaps the smallest portion would be the right serving. You get 2 scoops in the serving and that will allow you to savour your favourite flavours! All that at less than $3 per cup...it is reasonably priced.
Staffs are friendly and patient. Perhaps they like to see the look on your face in wondering what in the world does it taste like! But jokes aside they always have a smile even though you cannot decide which flavour you would like.
We specially make the trip there to eat their ice creams and also bring our friends there for a short stopover....to try Singapore ice cream. Highly recommended!!
Rating given: