I need to declare that this is a feedback on the hotel's service, not the rooms etc.
I called this week to want to make a reservation for 14 rooms for a large group of overseas friends coming in this weekend, and I thought Gallery hotel would be a good choice because of the location and unique branding. So I called the room reservation number, and the moment the lady heard I wanted to book 14 rooms, she asked me to wait while she transfers me to the sales department, so I thought, great, there's someone dedicated and trained to handle large bookings.
The lady from the sales department first asked me if I am from a company, so I said no. Then she started telling me without a corporate account she cannot make the booking for the rooms. I told her its strange because I was transferred to her after I've made my intention clear, I don't see the point of being transferred to a department which can't help. She reiterated again that she cannot do large bookings for an individual, and said if I want to make large bookings without the corporate account, the only way I can do it is to book via the website. I was already on the website during the phone call and so tried to click on it, but realised the maximum number of rooms I can book is only 3 rooms.
I told her so, and her response was for me to click and book 3 rooms, then wait for a while, then go to the website again to book another 3 rooms etc. I was actually amused by her suggestion, and told her this would mean I have to go back and do the same thing 3-4 times! She just maintained her stand and said sorry, that's the only way.
I find it ridiculous that neither the room reservations department nor the sales department can accept my booking, just because I am not calling from a company. I can still provide my credit card details to guarantee the booking and names of the guests for the rooms, so I don't see a reason why I was turned away. If the sales department policy is ONLY to attend to valued corporate clients, fine. But why is then the room reservation not able to do it then? It shouldn't be called the "room reservation" at all if so. And I was furious to hear the lady from sales suggest I book through the website and re book 3-4 times, that would have been an absolute waste of my time.
The only conclusion I can come to is, simply, that the hotel does not entertain big bookings from individuals. In this case, I think the hotel should declare that publicly so we don't end up wasting our time and breath.
This is an outdated review, but I though better now than never??
Stayed at the Swissotel during their Xmas 2006 weekend promotion for SGD238 per night and found the stay only so-so. Not too much to scream about for a highly acclaimed 5-star hotel.
Time seems to be taking its toll on the hotel. I got a room on the 55th floor; the furniture are dated and looks worn out, with the wood peeling in some areas. Disappointed, I called room reservations and kudos to them, they offered me another room on the 61st floor. A porter promptly arrived to transfer our luggages to the new room, which was much better. View was excellent though.
There was complimentary high tea included in the package, but I went away disappointed. We had to wait 1 hour for our food, and it was just sad limp sandwiches and oily left-out-for-too-long puff pastries.
Cute of them to leave 2 gingerbread cookies on Xmas Day itself though.
I probably wouldn't choose to go back there again although the view was excellent. For a little more, conrad and raffles the plaza will be a much better bet.
I chose the Pan Pac Singapore for a short getaway, and turned out to be better than my experience at Swissotel the Stamford. I got a Paranomic Balcony room on the 29th floor, and it was accessible by the glass elevator facing the Marina, which offered a great view everytime we went up to the room.
The room was smaller than expected, but being recently reburbished, had a more classy feel and modern elements, evident in the mounted swivle plasma TV and hidden compartments in the counter which hides the mini bar, cups etc (a very nice change from the normal counter tops).
Very clean, and nice, with efficient room service and house keeping. Breakfast at Global Kitchen was only so-so...I had expected a bigger spread for the price (SGD82 for 2 persons!).
Also recieved a complimentary bottle of wine and chocolate cake as I had informed it was my birthday cum anniversary celebrations.
Heard that a friend loved the thai food here so decided to pop by this tiny eatery in the Kovan heartlands. The chef is Thai or so we heard so had high hopes for the quality.
A few tables indoors and outdoors, all tightly packed together leaving just enough space for the staff to walk through. I reckon the max seating capacity would be about 50-60pax. For 4 hungry people, we decided to order abit more as we saw the portions wasn't really big.
Green curry prawn ($6) - I usually don't like anything coconut milk including green curry, but this is really good! Very enticing blend of fresh oconut milk and spices, and just nicely spicy for me. They could have been more generous with the prawns though. Goes really well with the rice.
Belachan Kang Kong ($5) - Not your usual sambal kang kong, was a lot less spicy but means it is also a lot less oily too :D I'd rather it this way than spicy and terribly oily.
Deep fried pork with garlic ($6) - I don't eat pork when I'm outside but made an exception for the birthday girl. Surprisingly enough, I liked it. Lean strips of pork deep fried topped with fried garlic pieces. The garlic wasn't too overwhelming, coz some places tend to over-fry theirs and ended up too bitter for my liking.
Fried chicken with cashew nuts ($6) - this is like your kong pao chicken minus the spicyness. Nice and fresh as well, and I like it that they cut the chicken into more easily eaten thinner pieces than chunks.
Thai fishcake ($5) - came with a thai garlic chilli sauce. 4 pieces in total, and very good. Just enough scent of the spices without being overwhelming.
Thai ice tea ($3) - This is the only 'dish' I was disappointed at. It basically tastes like teh-coloured chin chow (grass jelly). Not enough milk in it too. I think Tuk Tuk do theirs better.
Thai rice ($1) - Normal white rice but just needed to let you guys know that they charge $1 per for a normal portion.
No ambience to speak of, and groups of people waiting for seats started forming around 730pm or so. Service was okay but I gave higher ratings than usual because we didnt see any grouchy faces altho they were extremely busy.
Its definitely value for money for good thai food. I'll be back :D
Of all the places to eat in T3, my friends chose this. So fine, okay...wasn't feeling very fast food-ish but since I haven't tried it before either, I thought I'll give it a shot.
For $6.90, I got the chicken strips meal which was 3 pieces of chicken strips, a small pack of cajun fries, 1 of their famous biscuits, and regular size ice tea (they didnt have coke light...bah).
The chicken strips came looking very small and pale, like those cooked-but-not-really-cooked-properly kind of colour. Not too oily to their credit but taste wise was rather bland, even the batter wasn't as crunchy as expected.
The cajun fries was bad. Limp cold fries seasoned with something which made it look like cajun but definitely has no taste in it.
Their infamous biscuit...I kind of like it. Slightly crispy and saltish crust on the outside but soft on the inside, abit like the cheese bun from Provence like of texture. Some people may find it bland though. And it sticks to your teeth so be prepared.
Their main dish, the chicken, and fries which is an essetially component of fast food, failed miserably. Should have busted my calorie count on Carls Junior instead. If I have to return next time, i'd probably grab 2 biscuits 1 drink.
My 1st meal at St Regis with 8 other foodies :D A good start to the evening was realizing that they had given us a semi-private corner with a large table and cushy Cheena seats. Located on level 1U, the entrance I find is a little too hidden, so much so you'd probably not notice it unless you've been there before.
The place was surprisingly empty for a Friday evening, but then it means we have the attention of the wait staff and not too many clink-clangs of china ware distracting us from the food and conversation.
10 dishes for 9 people was a feat I've not experienced before, but well, that's probably just sufficient to satisfy 9 foodies. The dishes were served really fast, leaving us no time for a breather between taking photos and eating, so I'd try to remember what all of them tastes like. Here goes:
Peking Duck ($60) - What we call 'instant duck' as it appeared like 10 mins after we placed our order. At least they carved it in front of us. The bun that came with it tasted a little dough-y but I believed they make it in-house, which I rather have instead of those standard buns I usually see. For me personally, the sauce was too little but other than that it was quite good.
2nd Serving of the duck meat ($27) - we can have it either fried with rice, noodle, or minced served in lettuce. We chose the last option, which came nicely flavoured in crispy lettuce. Nothing to complain about.
San Bei (3 cups) Chicken ($20) - I like claypot anything, so this was a winner for me. Came with a few leaves of basil and very aromatic pieces of tender chicken :D
Shi Chuan (loosely translated as "long lost") Chicken ($28) - Sorely disappointed at how normal this tasted despite the name, which hinted of a long lost recipe which should have been spectacular, no? Just another baked chicken for me.
Dou Bei ($26) - supposedly a better breed of dou miao, but erm honestly tasted like normal dou miao.
Mango Prawns ($36) - Deep fried prawns encasing the meat and mango strips. While the dish was quite nice, I couldn't quite get used to the combination. Plus the mango was sour.
Scallops with shrimp mousse ($32) - We were all wondering what's shrimp mousse when we saw the menu. Turned out to be something like prawn paste on top of pan fried scallops. I quite liked it, but tasted like fishcake according to LIC haha~
Cereal Cod Fillet ($28) - One of the better dish. A different take on your cereal prawns. Very nicely deep fried chunks of very fresh fish coated with cereal. Hmmm~~
Garlic pork ribs ($28) - I don't usually take pork outside but this was quite good too. Simple, tender pieces of pork deep fried with fried garlic.
French Beans ($20) - A common dish but very easy to flop at it too. Luckily they did well, with crunchy beans and very savoury minced meat . Not too oily too, which is a big plus for me.
Herbal Jelly, Mango Pamelo, Almond Tea, Honey Dew Melon ($6 each) - These were what we ordered for desserts, and mine was almond tea. Too watery for my liking and the price. Avoid.
Char Siew Pastry ($3.60) - Came highly recommended and the chef had to make it especially for us because it is usually available during lunch time, haha. The pastry was very freshly-buttered, and nice lean filling. But a little too ex for me for 1 piece though.
Chinese Tea ($5 per pax) - normal Chinese Tea but I have to include this just so to inform that its priced per pax.
Service was very good, and I think it was one of the captains who served us throughout the evening. Courtesy of the 25% discount we got, it came up to $40 per person which I find very reasonable for the variety we got to try. Plus they have this cute way of displaying their individual sauces and cashew nuts for a snack.
But still am not sure if I'd return because it is quite expensive without the discount. But it was a good experience for me :D
Food here was surprisingly similar to Crystal Jade's La Mian Xiao Long Bao. Went for my brother's birthday, and we decided to try 2 kinds of la mian with several dishes with the 4 of us. The onion oil la mian didn't taste like there was any onion in it, just salty. My mum's seafood fried la mian was better (according to them).
Our salt fried french beans turned out to be deep fried instead of stir fry, which I feel they should mention in the menu! The wasabi prawns was okay, but a little expensive with 5 pieces for $18. Their supposedly stuffed chicken wing with diced abalone and glutinous rice didn't awe us either, plus we couldn't find the abalone!
Overall, I'd thought the food would be better. Ambience was nice though, with the plushy black sofa seats to sink in. If you are like me, who was dying to try it after spotting the very cool decor, you can try your luck at the other dishes I suppose. Maybe it was just my choice of dishes huh.
And if you are intending to surprise a birthday boy / girl with an after-meal cake, please make it explicit to the staff that it is supposed to be a surprise, as the over zealous supervisor demonstrated by bringing my cake out on his own and then asking the whole table if he should starting placing the candles already.
Had lunch there with my colleagues today as we needed a quiet place for lunch. The first time few weeks back we wanted to go there, but a less-than-enthusiatic wait staff curtly told us:"we don't have set lunches. If you want set lunches, you can go next door", which was Jerry's BBQ and Grill.
Today the service was much better, although they still don't have set lunches. For a place with such a reputation, I actually find it quite unforgiving for them to serve cold run-of-the-mill plain crusty bread.
The main courses we had were so-so, with the spinach pasta and baked seafood pasta in tomato sauce tasting only so-so. The vongole was better as it was cooked just al dente with fresh clams. But alas, the mushroom risotto I had was just plain bland. Perhaps they meant to showcase the taste of the mushrooms, but the mushrooms needed to be r-e-a-l-l-y outstanding for that to happen. Sadly, they were not. Bland rice bland mushrooms with parsley = bland bland lunch. My colleague kept topping hers with salt just to liven up her tastebuds abit. Didn't stay for any dessert or coffee / tea in the end.
I went away disappointed, because I thought the food would match its reputation. Or maybe I was expecting too much huh. Probably won't be going back anytime soon.
Read about Aerin's and decided to pop by to have a taste. And it was the right choice after all!
Was feeling greedy and oredered two starters, two mains, and 1 dessert for the two of us. The spinach salad was probably one of the best in town: tangy balsamic dressing over a generous heap of baby spinach with pine nuts as crunchy twist. I normally do not take bacon, but eveything tastes so good together that I actually did not mind the bits. The pumpkin soup was good stuff, especially when you are hungry: a swirl of warm gooey orangey comfort food.
For mains, my boyfriend's ribeye steak was done just right (i took a bite okay) with the sides of wedges and asparagus as its highlights while my spaghetti prawns was acutally just okay, but kudos to the fresh prawns and sun dried tomatos that added a nice contrast to the pasta.
Our dessert was the star of the dinner: the apple and rhubarb pie. It was superb! Apples, rhubarbs (don't ask me what is is...I don't know~~), and raisins cooked to perfection encrusted in a fresh-from-the-oven, soft, and buttery pastry shell. I always steer away from puff pastry as they are typically too oily and left out too long, resulting in a bad aftertaste. I prefer apple pie with short crust pastry too usually. But Aerin's is really very good!
Was stuffed, so didn't manage to try their coffee. But this is a place I'd definitely patronize again, even if its just to have dessert. With the nice natural lighting from the glass roofing above, it makes for a nice 'alfresco' feeling too :)
Decided to have my birthday dinner at Mezza9 since I've not been there for a while. I still like their ambience and service, which was still good since my last visit.
For 4 of us, we ordered the Vietnamese paper springrolls and the yakitori for starters; then crispy noodle lobster, a meat platter for 2, and grilled prawns for mains. The springrolls was good, but yakitori was disappointing, the standard has dropped tremendously since I last had it.
For the mains, the noodle was HUGE... it could have fed 3 of my mum. Presentation was good,but I have to say the taste was nothing to scream about, and possibly correct to say that it was not worth the price. For $73, think you might be better off trying their other starters. Grilled prawns was fresh but normal, which was the case with most of the meats in the platter. One thing worth mentioning though was their sausage which came with the platter..it was absolutely amazing, probably the best sausage I have had so far :)
We were too full to have their dessert platter which was quite a pity. Some may find it pricey at $16 per person (and min. of 2 pax per order, which will cost u $32 for the platter). But I believe it will be much worth it than the mains. An excellent cure for dessert fanatics.
If you let the staff know you are celebrating your birthday, they'll kindly present you with a complimentary slice, brought to your table by staff singing their very own (and rather strange) version of "Happy Birthday".
Overall, I do think that the quality of food does not really justify the price tag. Probably will be better off coming here for desserts than food.
1=SGD 0.0587
Worst ever service~
I need to declare that this is a feedback on the hotel's service, not the rooms etc.
I called this week to want to make a reservation for 14 rooms for a large group of overseas friends coming in this weekend, and I thought Gallery hotel would be a good choice because of the location and unique branding. So I called the room reservation number, and the moment the lady heard I wanted to book 14 rooms, she asked me to wait while she transfers me to the sales department, so I thought, great, there's someone dedicated and trained to handle large bookings.
The lady from the sales department first asked me if I am from a company, so I said no. Then she started telling me without a corporate account she cannot make the booking for the rooms. I told her its strange because I was transferred to her after I've made my intention clear, I don't see the point of being transferred to a department which can't help. She reiterated again that she cannot do large bookings for an individual, and said if I want to make large bookings without the corporate account, the only way I can do it is to book via the website. I was already on the website during the phone call and so tried to click on it, but realised the maximum number of rooms I can book is only 3 rooms.
I told her so, and her response was for me to click and book 3 rooms, then wait for a while, then go to the website again to book another 3 rooms etc. I was actually amused by her suggestion, and told her this would mean I have to go back and do the same thing 3-4 times! She just maintained her stand and said sorry, that's the only way.
I find it ridiculous that neither the room reservations department nor the sales department can accept my booking, just because I am not calling from a company. I can still provide my credit card details to guarantee the booking and names of the guests for the rooms, so I don't see a reason why I was turned away. If the sales department policy is ONLY to attend to valued corporate clients, fine. But why is then the room reservation not able to do it then? It shouldn't be called the "room reservation" at all if so. And I was furious to hear the lady from sales suggest I book through the website and re book 3-4 times, that would have been an absolute waste of my time.
The only conclusion I can come to is, simply, that the hotel does not entertain big bookings from individuals. In this case, I think the hotel should declare that publicly so we don't end up wasting our time and breath.
I really needed to vent :D AVOID AT ALL COSTS
Rating given:
Time has taken a toll on Swissotel
This is an outdated review, but I though better now than never??
Stayed at the Swissotel during their Xmas 2006 weekend promotion for SGD238 per night and found the stay only so-so. Not too much to scream about for a highly acclaimed 5-star hotel.
Time seems to be taking its toll on the hotel. I got a room on the 55th floor; the furniture are dated and looks worn out, with the wood peeling in some areas. Disappointed, I called room reservations and kudos to them, they offered me another room on the 61st floor. A porter promptly arrived to transfer our luggages to the new room, which was much better. View was excellent though.
There was complimentary high tea included in the package, but I went away disappointed. We had to wait 1 hour for our food, and it was just sad limp sandwiches and oily left-out-for-too-long puff pastries.
Cute of them to leave 2 gingerbread cookies on Xmas Day itself though.
I probably wouldn't choose to go back there again although the view was excellent. For a little more, conrad and raffles the plaza will be a much better bet.
Rating given:
Great experience marred by room reservation staff
I chose the Pan Pac Singapore for a short getaway, and turned out to be better than my experience at Swissotel the Stamford. I got a Paranomic Balcony room on the 29th floor, and it was accessible by the glass elevator facing the Marina, which offered a great view everytime we went up to the room.
The room was smaller than expected, but being recently reburbished, had a more classy feel and modern elements, evident in the mounted swivle plasma TV and hidden compartments in the counter which hides the mini bar, cups etc (a very nice change from the normal counter tops).
Very clean, and nice, with efficient room service and house keeping. Breakfast at Global Kitchen was only so-so...I had expected a bigger spread for the price (SGD82 for 2 persons!).
Also recieved a complimentary bottle of wine and chocolate cake as I had informed it was my birthday cum anniversary celebrations.
Rating given:
Good Thai Food~
Heard that a friend loved the thai food here so decided to pop by this tiny eatery in the Kovan heartlands. The chef is Thai or so we heard so had high hopes for the quality.
A few tables indoors and outdoors, all tightly packed together leaving just enough space for the staff to walk through. I reckon the max seating capacity would be about 50-60pax. For 4 hungry people, we decided to order abit more as we saw the portions wasn't really big.
Green curry prawn ($6) - I usually don't like anything coconut milk including green curry, but this is really good! Very enticing blend of fresh oconut milk and spices, and just nicely spicy for me. They could have been more generous with the prawns though. Goes really well with the rice.
Belachan Kang Kong ($5) - Not your usual sambal kang kong, was a lot less spicy but means it is also a lot less oily too :D I'd rather it this way than spicy and terribly oily.
Deep fried pork with garlic ($6) - I don't eat pork when I'm outside but made an exception for the birthday girl. Surprisingly enough, I liked it. Lean strips of pork deep fried topped with fried garlic pieces. The garlic wasn't too overwhelming, coz some places tend to over-fry theirs and ended up too bitter for my liking.
Fried chicken with cashew nuts ($6) - this is like your kong pao chicken minus the spicyness. Nice and fresh as well, and I like it that they cut the chicken into more easily eaten thinner pieces than chunks.
Thai fishcake ($5) - came with a thai garlic chilli sauce. 4 pieces in total, and very good. Just enough scent of the spices without being overwhelming.
Thai ice tea ($3) - This is the only 'dish' I was disappointed at. It basically tastes like teh-coloured chin chow (grass jelly). Not enough milk in it too. I think Tuk Tuk do theirs better.
Thai rice ($1) - Normal white rice but just needed to let you guys know that they charge $1 per for a normal portion.
No ambience to speak of, and groups of people waiting for seats started forming around 730pm or so. Service was okay but I gave higher ratings than usual because we didnt see any grouchy faces altho they were extremely busy.
Its definitely value for money for good thai food. I'll be back :D
Rating given:
Disappointing...
Of all the places to eat in T3, my friends chose this. So fine, okay...wasn't feeling very fast food-ish but since I haven't tried it before either, I thought I'll give it a shot.
For $6.90, I got the chicken strips meal which was 3 pieces of chicken strips, a small pack of cajun fries, 1 of their famous biscuits, and regular size ice tea (they didnt have coke light...bah).
The chicken strips came looking very small and pale, like those cooked-but-not-really-cooked-properly kind of colour. Not too oily to their credit but taste wise was rather bland, even the batter wasn't as crunchy as expected.
The cajun fries was bad. Limp cold fries seasoned with something which made it look like cajun but definitely has no taste in it.
Their infamous biscuit...I kind of like it. Slightly crispy and saltish crust on the outside but soft on the inside, abit like the cheese bun from Provence like of texture. Some people may find it bland though. And it sticks to your teeth so be prepared.
Their main dish, the chicken, and fries which is an essetially component of fast food, failed miserably. Should have busted my calorie count on Carls Junior instead. If I have to return next time, i'd probably grab 2 biscuits 1 drink.
I wonder what's the hype about it?
Rating given:
My 1st meal at St Regis with 8 other foodies :D A good start to the evening was realizing that they had given us a semi-private corner with a large table and cushy Cheena seats. Located on level 1U, the entrance I find is a little too hidden, so much so you'd probably not notice it unless you've been there before.
The place was surprisingly empty for a Friday evening, but then it means we have the attention of the wait staff and not too many clink-clangs of china ware distracting us from the food and conversation.
10 dishes for 9 people was a feat I've not experienced before, but well, that's probably just sufficient to satisfy 9 foodies. The dishes were served really fast, leaving us no time for a breather between taking photos and eating, so I'd try to remember what all of them tastes like. Here goes:
Peking Duck ($60) - What we call 'instant duck' as it appeared like 10 mins after we placed our order. At least they carved it in front of us. The bun that came with it tasted a little dough-y but I believed they make it in-house, which I rather have instead of those standard buns I usually see. For me personally, the sauce was too little but other than that it was quite good.
2nd Serving of the duck meat ($27) - we can have it either fried with rice, noodle, or minced served in lettuce. We chose the last option, which came nicely flavoured in crispy lettuce. Nothing to complain about.
San Bei (3 cups) Chicken ($20) - I like claypot anything, so this was a winner for me. Came with a few leaves of basil and very aromatic pieces of tender chicken :D
Shi Chuan (loosely translated as "long lost") Chicken ($28) - Sorely disappointed at how normal this tasted despite the name, which hinted of a long lost recipe which should have been spectacular, no? Just another baked chicken for me.
Dou Bei ($26) - supposedly a better breed of dou miao, but erm honestly tasted like normal dou miao.
Mango Prawns ($36) - Deep fried prawns encasing the meat and mango strips. While the dish was quite nice, I couldn't quite get used to the combination. Plus the mango was sour.
Scallops with shrimp mousse ($32) - We were all wondering what's shrimp mousse when we saw the menu. Turned out to be something like prawn paste on top of pan fried scallops. I quite liked it, but tasted like fishcake according to LIC haha~
Cereal Cod Fillet ($28) - One of the better dish. A different take on your cereal prawns. Very nicely deep fried chunks of very fresh fish coated with cereal. Hmmm~~
Garlic pork ribs ($28) - I don't usually take pork outside but this was quite good too. Simple, tender pieces of pork deep fried with fried garlic.
French Beans ($20) - A common dish but very easy to flop at it too. Luckily they did well, with crunchy beans and very savoury minced meat . Not too oily too, which is a big plus for me.
Herbal Jelly, Mango Pamelo, Almond Tea, Honey Dew Melon ($6 each) - These were what we ordered for desserts, and mine was almond tea. Too watery for my liking and the price. Avoid.
Char Siew Pastry ($3.60) - Came highly recommended and the chef had to make it especially for us because it is usually available during lunch time, haha. The pastry was very freshly-buttered, and nice lean filling. But a little too ex for me for 1 piece though.
Chinese Tea ($5 per pax) - normal Chinese Tea but I have to include this just so to inform that its priced per pax.
Service was very good, and I think it was one of the captains who served us throughout the evening. Courtesy of the 25% discount we got, it came up to $40 per person which I find very reasonable for the variety we got to try. Plus they have this cute way of displaying their individual sauces and cashew nuts for a snack.
But still am not sure if I'd return because it is quite expensive without the discount. But it was a good experience for me :D
Rating given:
Bosses = Hei She Hui!
Food here was surprisingly similar to Crystal Jade's La Mian Xiao Long Bao. Went for my brother's birthday, and we decided to try 2 kinds of la mian with several dishes with the 4 of us. The onion oil la mian didn't taste like there was any onion in it, just salty. My mum's seafood fried la mian was better (according to them).
Our salt fried french beans turned out to be deep fried instead of stir fry, which I feel they should mention in the menu! The wasabi prawns was okay, but a little expensive with 5 pieces for $18. Their supposedly stuffed chicken wing with diced abalone and glutinous rice didn't awe us either, plus we couldn't find the abalone!
Overall, I'd thought the food would be better. Ambience was nice though, with the plushy black sofa seats to sink in. If you are like me, who was dying to try it after spotting the very cool decor, you can try your luck at the other dishes I suppose. Maybe it was just my choice of dishes huh.
And if you are intending to surprise a birthday boy / girl with an after-meal cake, please make it explicit to the staff that it is supposed to be a surprise, as the over zealous supervisor demonstrated by bringing my cake out on his own and then asking the whole table if he should starting placing the candles already.
Rating given:
Quiet lunch place..but food so-so
Had lunch there with my colleagues today as we needed a quiet place for lunch. The first time few weeks back we wanted to go there, but a less-than-enthusiatic wait staff curtly told us:"we don't have set lunches. If you want set lunches, you can go next door", which was Jerry's BBQ and Grill.
Today the service was much better, although they still don't have set lunches. For a place with such a reputation, I actually find it quite unforgiving for them to serve cold run-of-the-mill plain crusty bread.
The main courses we had were so-so, with the spinach pasta and baked seafood pasta in tomato sauce tasting only so-so. The vongole was better as it was cooked just al dente with fresh clams. But alas, the mushroom risotto I had was just plain bland. Perhaps they meant to showcase the taste of the mushrooms, but the mushrooms needed to be r-e-a-l-l-y outstanding for that to happen. Sadly, they were not. Bland rice bland mushrooms with parsley = bland bland lunch. My colleague kept topping hers with salt just to liven up her tastebuds abit. Didn't stay for any dessert or coffee / tea in the end.
I went away disappointed, because I thought the food would match its reputation. Or maybe I was expecting too much huh. Probably won't be going back anytime soon.
Rating given:
Attention Apple Pie Lovers!!
Read about Aerin's and decided to pop by to have a taste. And it was the right choice after all!
Was feeling greedy and oredered two starters, two mains, and 1 dessert for the two of us. The spinach salad was probably one of the best in town: tangy balsamic dressing over a generous heap of baby spinach with pine nuts as crunchy twist. I normally do not take bacon, but eveything tastes so good together that I actually did not mind the bits. The pumpkin soup was good stuff, especially when you are hungry: a swirl of warm gooey orangey comfort food.
For mains, my boyfriend's ribeye steak was done just right (i took a bite okay) with the sides of wedges and asparagus as its highlights while my spaghetti prawns was acutally just okay, but kudos to the fresh prawns and sun dried tomatos that added a nice contrast to the pasta.
Our dessert was the star of the dinner: the apple and rhubarb pie. It was superb! Apples, rhubarbs (don't ask me what is is...I don't know~~), and raisins cooked to perfection encrusted in a fresh-from-the-oven, soft, and buttery pastry shell. I always steer away from puff pastry as they are typically too oily and left out too long, resulting in a bad aftertaste. I prefer apple pie with short crust pastry too usually. But Aerin's is really very good!
Was stuffed, so didn't manage to try their coffee. But this is a place I'd definitely patronize again, even if its just to have dessert. With the nice natural lighting from the glass roofing above, it makes for a nice 'alfresco' feeling too :)
Go try!
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Dinner @ Mezza9
Decided to have my birthday dinner at Mezza9 since I've not been there for a while. I still like their ambience and service, which was still good since my last visit.
For 4 of us, we ordered the Vietnamese paper springrolls and the yakitori for starters; then crispy noodle lobster, a meat platter for 2, and grilled prawns for mains. The springrolls was good, but yakitori was disappointing, the standard has dropped tremendously since I last had it.
For the mains, the noodle was HUGE... it could have fed 3 of my mum. Presentation was good,but I have to say the taste was nothing to scream about, and possibly correct to say that it was not worth the price. For $73, think you might be better off trying their other starters. Grilled prawns was fresh but normal, which was the case with most of the meats in the platter. One thing worth mentioning though was their sausage which came with the platter..it was absolutely amazing, probably the best sausage I have had so far :)
We were too full to have their dessert platter which was quite a pity. Some may find it pricey at $16 per person (and min. of 2 pax per order, which will cost u $32 for the platter). But I believe it will be much worth it than the mains. An excellent cure for dessert fanatics.
If you let the staff know you are celebrating your birthday, they'll kindly present you with a complimentary slice, brought to your table by staff singing their very own (and rather strange) version of "Happy Birthday".
Overall, I do think that the quality of food does not really justify the price tag. Probably will be better off coming here for desserts than food.
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