Earle Swensen’s

For a start, I looked forward to this lunch meetup with Claudia and Bobo very much. Feizhu's arrival was a pleasant surprise, but one more friend is never too much.

I was pretty surprised that Earle Swensen’s was pretty empty when Bobo and I stepped in. Hey, it's a Sunday... we see plenty of people... it's lunchtime! Why shouldn't it be packed? As we made our way to the table, it's pretty evident of the spacious floor area, and the scenery overlooking the Sentosa was great. Like I was telling the rest, it would be absolutely stunning to have outdoor seats after the sun sets. I wouldn't mind bringing my own candles.

Let me leave the other food reviews to the individual rapists. (The criminals know what they did...)

Let me touch on my first order, the cappuccino... lousy! It tasted just like any coffee I can rip off in food courts, to the point I feel stupid trying to have my coffee fix there. Why on earth did I even spend more than what I paid for in CoffeeBean, and yet get a cup half the size of CoffeeBean's serving? Secondly, the cappuccino was almost cold. There is air-con but I doubt the air-con is that powerful? You can never bluff your way through with a coffee addict!

My main dish was Sirloin Steak with mashed potato. I have other options to go along with like french fries, but I always thought mashed potato is more appropriate to go along with steaks. For steaks, I often swear by Swensen@Orchard. Therefore, my obvious choice was to try their Sirloin Steak. One word - HORRIBLE!

To put it simply, it was small. I had wanted my steak done medium-rare, and any steak enthusiast should know how bloodied it should be. The very second my knife sunk into the steak, I know I'm in for a big disappointment. The feel of slicing into medium-rare steak just wasn't there. In fact, it took me quite some strength to slice it open for everyone to see. No kidding! Everyone could see that the steak was cooked right down to the center. Not a trace of blood and I'm sorry, that is not medium-rare! For a while, I thought I ordered Lamb Chop.

If you know it's a thin slice of steak, control the cooking time. This is really dependent on the chef and his experience.

However, the sauce was tasting good but too bad the steak spoilt the entire dish totally. Salvaging the dish was the mash potato, or so I thought. Tasted good, but it wasn't mashed properly. I could still bite little chunks of potato. My last hope for some form of compensation just got cruxified.

I'm convinced of my preference of Swensen steak outlet. Earle Swensen @ Vivocity definitely does not make the mark for my tastebuds.

My verdict? I'm sorry, but this place is not worth the money they charged. And I think it's slightly higher than other Swensen's branches? Avoid at all cost if you can, there are plenty more eateries along the whole stretch to satisfy your hunger. 2 stars for the generally friendly staffs, comfortable seats, clean environment and great scenery, that's about it.

Like the rest of them, if not for the great company I would have walked out of that place frowning. You just can't bluff your way through with sub-standard (if not horrendous) food, can you?