Mado

We chanced upon this quaint little cafe whilst exploring jem and decided to give it a try. The sandwich board advertised a Mix n Match set menu which included a 3-in-1 meal of Rack of Lamb, Pan-seared Dory and Black Pepper Sausage Pasta, served with soup-of-the-day and a glass of Iced Apple Tea for $14.90 nett. The hostess enthusiastically exclaimed that it was three meals in one, good value!

Ambience: The dining room is bright, done up in white. Booths line one side, with kitchen-type tables laid out in the centre. A more casual outside dining area is available.

Soup: The cream of chicken was nothing more than half a bowl of starchy chicken-flavoured broth which needed seasoning badly. Pepper and salt couldn't help very much. The chicken consisted of miniscule pieces of what looked like minced chicken. My bowl had exactly two such pieces.

Meal: The sandwich board should have included the important words "sampling plate". The portion was pretty small, compared to the way the hostess had described the meal.

The "rack of lamb" was actually one rib, but it was beautifully done, slightly crispy and well-seasoned. Even the lamb fat was well rendered. Nice, and really should feature this on their ala carte menu.

The "pan-seared dory" was a little piece of pale fish which sat sadly in the middle of the plate. Again, it was under-seasoned and uninspired.

The "black-pepper sausage pasta" did not fare much better. The sausage consisted of thinly-sliced wieners tossed into over-cooked soggy spaghetti strands. We could not figure out what the pasta was tossed in, but later found out that it was supposed to be presented "aglio olio". No hint of olive oil at all!

Service: Service staff consisted of a team of young servers who were very courteous and eager to please. One of them, observing us struggling to cut the lamb, came forward to offer a steak knife. However, they positioned themselves too close to the tables to offer any privacy to diners conversations.

Desserts: Mado offers a pricey assortment of ice-cream based desserts which seemed to be quite popular. The Anatolia was a delightful sundae of coffee, chocolate and berry ice-cream and fruits (strawberry, kiwi, mango, blueberry and raspberry) which was very sweet but thoroughly enjoyable.