Cafe Cartel (Tampines Mall)

I believe the cafe needs no introduction. Its penetration rate is pretty decent with a grand total of 10 outlets in Singapore located mostly in the friendly neighbourhood malls or chic city locales. Supposedly conceived by an Italian lady and a Jewish baker along the back streets of New York craving some home cooked meals, its said to offer fine pastries and equally fine main courses (at least thats what they planned in the first place!)

Anyway, i was there for many occasions so i thought i'd do this in one fell swoop. The mains of this blog was done with my colleagues at a farewell dinner held for a great friend, while the desserts were from my standalone visits.

Banana And Peach Waffle ($7.30) - I personally did not get to try this but it does look quite appetizing doesn't it? The reason its the first food picture? Well, we actually ordered this as a starter. =P

Blue Haven ($4.50) - Termed as a Spider in their menu (whatever that is), all i can say is that this drink tastes good at the upper portion but gets REALLY sweet near the bottom. I enjoyed it for its vanilla ice cream and really cold taste but couldn't quite take to the flavoring near the bottom. Tread with caution here.

Our orders were the Chicken Chef's Salad ($9.70), Texas Rodeo Ribs ($16.50), Hawaiian Pork Chops ($14.20), Spicy Thai Seafood Pasta ($14.60) and St Louis Pork Ribs ($15.20). The above are what my friends ordered. And some orders were repeated as so only single pictures were shown. I personally had a go at most of the items, albeit only in bite sized portions. The ribs were tender and fragrant but too drenched in sauce to be consumed by one person alone as it get overwhelming. I found the pork chops nothing special and a little too oily for my tastes. Finally, the salad was pretty good but i couldn't condone the price it comes at.

Crispy Jumbo Combo ($47.90) - Now this order i shared with everyone else. Its huge to say the least. It comes with a healthy dose of potato wedges and i must say it goes really well with the wasabi mayonnaise combination sauce and its more normal BBQ sauce. Also on the plate are chicken wings, 2 huge fish fillets, 2 fried chicken cutlets, fried prawns and mixed vegetables. Well, weight control and health concerns obviously go out the window with this order. Everything is fried to a friendly golden brown with batter which thankfully isn't too thick. Fish and chicken fillets were both nicely done, maintaining a crispy exterior with a tender and juicy interior. The rodeo wings i found weren't seasoned enough and tasted more like normal chicken wings to me. The prawns weren't too special either. Freshness of it mixed vegetables were also questionable but the wedges and fillets won this dish for me. Not to mention the "chef's special sauce", which is essentially wasabi with mayonnaise, simply went well with anything fried. Best part was that the portion was huge so everyone had a chance to dig in.

Desserts!! (All cakes go for half price after 9pm)

Bitter Chocolate Fudge Cake - I had a go at this cake with a friend @ cafe cartel in Hougang Mall. It was actually pretty good with its 3 layers of thick bitter chocolate. I like my chocolate strong and so this managed to do it for me. Of course, for the price and location, i wouldn't comment on the quality of the chocolate in this offering except say that it was decent enough to give it a second try.

EastSide Brownie Stack - My order almost always at cafe cartel. Who doesn't like hot and cold desserts anyway? Warm, thick oozing chocolate fudge atop oven warmed brownies with hazelnuts. Add in the winning combination of a decent vanilla ice cream and you have a winner. I would recommend telling the waiting staff your prefered amount of chocolate fudge beforehand though, as i got my brownie swimming in fudge once which kinda dampened the dessert a little.

Blueberry Cheese Cake - Blueberry cheese cakes are all the rage these days but honestly, this rendition didn't quite work out for me. The blueberry was a little too sour and the cheese cake wasn't very smooth either. Its quite easy to taste the sour cream in the cake which just doesn't do it for me. For a good blueberry cheese cake, i'd recommend paying a visit to Eden Cafe.

Bill came up to be $216 before discount for our group of 14 people.

In retrospect, i actually been to this place many times for meals. Its quite amazing really. The food is average honestly but is painless due to the fact that the price charged here is very affordable and its portion size is sufficient. In terms of taste, it may not be up there with the other places i've had, but in terms of ease of access and casual dining, this place certainly won't disappoint, just don't expect high level cuisine when you step in though.