Eighteen Chefs

An entry long overdue. Had lunch at Eighteen Chefs with a few friends one weekday afternoon. What's interesting and noble (to a certain extent) about Eighteen Chefs is that it takes in ex convicts and delinquents and helps them turn over a new leaf by training them in the food business. Its owner and head chef, Benny Se Teo, who was a former drug addict, trained at Jamie Oliver's London restaurant, Fifteen.

Located at a corner of Eastpoint just next to the POSB, Eighteen Chefs has a rather simple interior which can seat up to about 50 pax. This place runs on a self service system hence no service charge is levied. To order your food, simply fill up a form and bring it to the counter to make payment. Your orders will then be served to you shortly.

Baked Rice with Creamy White Sauce & Chicken Slices ($8.90) - You get to choose what kind of sauce you want for your baked rice as well as the ingredients that go into it. Honestly, the baked rice I had (see above) was decent but nothing to shout about. While the cheese was nice and thick, I found the rice a little too bland for my liking and the cream sauce did little to help. But at $8.90, its relatively cheaper and quality is slightly better than the ones they serve at Swensens.

Eighteen Funky Strawberry ($5.80) - $5.80 for 4 scoops of ice cream served with strawberries, hazelnuts and oreo biscuits - now that should be excellent value for money really. It would have been better if the strawberries had been fresher and if the ice cream had been been richer. My guess is that they gave us tub ice cream from the supermarket.

A decent lunch for 3 inclusive of a dessert to share cost just over $35, which is still pretty acceptable for the quality. Service was excellent and even though the food wasn't exactly stellar, I'll be back to try other stuff. After all, life is all about second chances isn't it?

See all my pictures here

Eighteen Chefs takes after Brit Celebrity Jamie Oliver's Restaurant Fifteen in the sense that the concept is very much alike. Both offer jobs for juvenile delinquents and both are supposed serve up great tasting Western/Italian cuisine. This is more than a coincidence however, since executive chef Benny Se Teo did go through a month-long internship with the said British lad for pointers. Did it pay off though?

This huge, colorful and eye-catching mural is painted by ex offenders and serves as the basis to the spirit of the cafe. Good food from people you wouldn't have thought much about. Its a heart warming testament to the fact that all people can be good as long as you give them a chance. I'm not complaining, in fact i like what they are doing by giving people a second chance.

Over here, you choose your meal and pay your bills first. The meal comes later. Cold water is free but you'll have to get it yourself. The overall atmosphere of the place is relaxed and very easy to get into. The bill was $35.10.

Daily Specials Soup and Garlic Bread - The humble cream of mushroom soup and garlic bread comes with the daily specials meal. Cream of mushroom is pretty standard fare, which is to say there isn't anything about it that distinguishes itself as being extraordinary or overly exciting about it. The garlic bread, on the other hand, was done nicely with it being crispy, lightly buttered and soft at the same time. The serving size was also respectable but still had us craving for more bread after we were done with it.

Half Baby Lobster with Seafood Linguine ($18.90) - This was my first visit and i was attracted to his daily special. As you can see, it comes with a fresh half baby lobster, a handful of prawns, mushrooms, garlic and quite a bit of olive oil sprinkled over a bed of linguine. What you don't see is that this is a spicy dish, possibly due to a generous dose of tobasco sauce. Its difficult to go wrong when ingredients used are fresh and this is what is provided here. Crunchy prawns, juicy mushrooms, sweet lobster meat. Its difficult not to like this dish. The serving wasn't the least bit scrimped on as well, being enough for a big sized guy like myself. Even the olive oil used was minimal enough to keep the linguine suitably moist without seeming to overflow like other restaurants i've tried. (Recommended)

Cheese baked mussels and black pepper fries, onion and calamari rings ($13.90)- Black pepper fries, onion and calamari rings? Thats a first for me. Either way, interesting as it is, i found it a tad soggy and would have liked it better if it was crispier. Still, no denying that the black pepper did introduce an interesting dimension to the tired formula. It was strangely sweet too. There was a grand total of 6 cheese baked mussels of the male and female variety. It was different, the cheese made the dish fragrant and the mussels were sweet and fresh but the serving is a little too small for my tastes. This could have been a side dish, not a main meal. Could be improved upon by adding a little more items into the mix.

Yam Ice Cream - Looks can be deceiving. Despite the small size and lack of garnishing whatsoever, this ice cream is creamy, bursting with yam taste and very refreshing after a meal. A good end to a generally good meal.

On my second visit, we ordered the crab and his normal baked rice offering. Benny also offered the soup of the day this time and we got an additional bowl for free. Personalized service is always good. The meal this time cost us $33.50.

Cheese and Chili Baked Crab Claw ($15.90 only on Wednesdays) - The soup is as per normal, simple but gets the taste buds moving. Benny offered his Wednesday special this time around because reservations are needed to enjoy this dish. Seeing that he's such a sport and good host, we took his offer to try out the chili crab. The meal comes with 5 fried buns and 1 crab claw, albeit a huge one. Maybe my love for crabs are waning or i'm just getting lazy, i simply don't like to get my hands dirty breaking crab shells anymore. The buns went very well with the cheese and chili, which was moderately spicy. The crab was sweet and firm but it wasn't enough to get me full and i was expecting the entire crab, not a claw. Interesting dish though i won't order it in future.

Black Pepper Seafood Pasta ($12.90) - My gf had this dish and i found it much better then the crab actually. Generous servings of mussels, prawn and calamari on a bed of black pepper baked rice. As with anything cooked in black pepper, the rice was fragrant and a little spicy with a tinge of sweetness. The ingredients are still fresh and crunchy and overall taste is very good. I did find the rice insufficient this time round though. For the price, i'd like to have a bigger serving of rice and food. Presentation for baked rice is secondary, serving size and taste should come first.

Benny was trained in Zhi Ca before opening this quaint little establishment and it shows in the way he melds classic crab cooking techniques in his renditions of baked rice. The results are refreshing dishes which somehow taste familiar. My take is that the daily specials meal are more bang for the buck as opposed to the normal offerings of baked rice. A quick research shows that he has a few other tricks up his sleeve i've yet to try like the black pepper crab baked rice. If he shells it for me, i'll probably try it, but if not, i'm sticking with the daily specials. The spirit of the restaurant is good, the food is decent, the price can be improved upon though.