Food Review: Handlebar @ Ulu Sembawang Area

Alright, this was from very long ago. My friends brought me to this place at Sembawang. It is called Handlebar. It is basically a chill out bar opened with a biker theme in mind. Anyone who rides there can practically park your bike beside your table.

The place was beautiful. The ride in was extremely dark and scary, but once you reach the place, it is nice. The view is pleasant. It was not very windy that day, so it was kind of humid. But I can imagine chilling there on a very windy day and I think it would be great. There was a good number of seats outdoors. They had indoor bar seats with very beautiful decor, all related to bikes. It was kind of awesome, but sadly, I did not take any photos. They also had a pool table there you could use. And also a Ducati bike up on a platform for display. It was really nice.

So we chilled and ordered some food and drinks. My girlfriend and I ordered fish and chips. It was quite good. I did not expect much, but I was pleasantly surprised. The others order burgers and stuff and they felt it was good as well.

The only problem here was the staff. The staff were just ok. They were not very friendly. They did not wear any form of uniform so you had to carefully look and wonder who was working there. It was really difficult to catch their attention and many times, they simply forget your orders. It was quite sickening with such useless service, but it is good that none of us got angry.

So overall, awesome place with really lousy service.

I'm extremely sorry but I only have one ugly photo. I'll go again to take more soon.

SimpleMakan

Food review: Mee Pok from Meng Kitchen @ Thomson Road

It was my younger brother's birthday and we were supposed to have dinner as a family but sadly, my brother was still in camp and had to stay in, while the birthday boy had stuff in school and only returned home after 9.30pm. Mum and dad were waiting to have dinner with him and were hungry and quite disappointed but were fine with just having instant noodles. I was totally not in the mood for instant noodles at 10pm, so I rushed them to shower and get changed so that I can bring them to this Mee Pok stall located at Thomson Road area.

This place was first introduced to me by my army friends. We were having a gathering and came here for dinner. Them moment I tried the food, I knew this was the best. I loved it! And my mum is crazy for good Mee Pok. And I always wanted to bring my family here.

So yup, my brother's birthday dinner was here. My family seemed apprehensive. They did not think it would be that good. They ordered one bowl of met pok each. I ordered the pork ball soup. And again, I loved it. The thing about the pork balls here are that they are hand-made. Or at least I THINK they are hand-made. The pork balls are extremely soft and chewy and nice. Totally nothing like what you get from the packets in supermarkets or those that you buy from other mee pok stalls. These pork balls are totally different. And the soup is extremely awesome. One of the best! I have eaten here more than 4 times and the food has tasted the same all the time. Consistent and lovely.

The place is open 24 hours. It is quite cramp and usually crowded at night. But it is not difficult to get a seat because people eat and leave quite quickly due to the various ice cream parlors nearby. The workers are nice but there is this once guy who has no patience. He will come to you to take your order, the moment you keep quiet and do not know what you want to eat, he will walk away. It seems kind of rude to me but I got used to it. That is the way he works and this is not a 5 star restaurant. We come here for good, cheap and delicious mee pok and that is what we get.

So remember, the name is, MENG KITCHEN. They have one of the best Mee Pok ever.

And I only have one pathetic and ugly photo to show you. Sorry about it, will try to go again and get better photos. Thank you.

SimpleMakan

Food review: Sushi Tei @ I12 Katong

Brought my girlfriend to Sushi Tei on her birthday. Was nothing special. Just wanted to have a nice quiet meal with her. It had been quite some time since I had Sushi Tei and I realized I have not reviewed them, so here it is.

Sushi Tei was one of the first few Japanese restaurants I had known but never got a chance to try before. I know they are known for the good food and good service but nowadays, they is just so much competition.

So we ordered an Udon with Fried Chicken cutlet and sashimi. Needless to say, the sashimi was fresh and good, but somehow, it did not taste as good as the ones I have had at Shin Kushiya. The Udon was definitely good, but again, Shin Kushiya's is better. And lastly, the Fried Chicken Cutlet. To me, fried food is one of the food which can be destroyed in the kitchen within seconds. It is either the best or the worst and to me, this was bad. It was over-fried in my opinion. My mum likes it this way, but it was way too hard and crispy for me. The cutlet was dark brown instead of golden brown and the breading was really too thick for that thin piece of chicken. It was definitely not good in my standards but I do hope they realize that and make changes soon. The staff were very friendly and nice.

Overall, a very neat restaurant with good food and staff.

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Food review: The Banana Leaf Apollo @ Little India

My girlfriend and I were not supposed to have lunch. We were supposed to head home. But somehow, I do not remember how, we ended up at The Banana Leaf Apollo. This is an indian restaurant located at Little India. They have been in business for quite a number of years. They are one of the few indian restaurants who serve very consistent food, meaning the taste and quality is good and nice every time I eat there. They are kind of expensive but well, it is one of the cleaner and better indian restaurants you can find here.

They serve all sorts of dishes. From chicken to mutton to fish head curry. All the good stuff, they have. And the staff are definitely much more well-versed and friendly than the other restaurants. They cater a lot to foreigners and I witnessed the waiter speaking to a Japanese couple and telling them more about the dish and how they should eat it. That was good.

We ordered one chicken briyani set and one set of fried chicken. Ok, here is the thing about indian restaurants. Most of them have the free-flow rice system. So when you buy a chicken briyani set or chicken and rice set, you will be served the rice with some simple side dishes and the chicken will be served on the side. The rice and simple side dishes are free-flow. You can ask for refill of the rice and side dishes as many times as you want. So I did not want to eat any rice. When I ordered one chicken masala briyani set for my girlfriend and 1 set of fried chicken only for me, the waiter said that was not possible. I think they say it is not allowed because they do not want people to order just one set and share, which will be kind of a loss to them. So I told him it is fine, if that is the case, just cancel the briyani; just get me one chicken masala and fried chicken without any rice set. Then he immediately said, it is ok, I can have one briyani set with one fried chicken. Haha! So yup, just sharing with you guys because you might not understand why they do certain things in these restaurants and you might be confused.

Overall, the food is good. The food is spicy. And my girlfriend LOVES the food here. We should be going there again soon.

SimpleMakan

Food review: 328 Katong Laksa @ East Coast Road

After having there kaya toast, we walked past this 328 Katong Laksa stall. It was not crowded yet. So girlfriend said she wanted to try and see what was the hype all about with regards to this laksa. We ordered just one bowl to try. I ordered water simply because the kaya toast I just had was soooooooo sweet. The laksa was served very quickly. It was fine. It wasn't the best. It was creamy but I felt the coconut milk was not really enough. The dish itself was not served hot enough. The prawns were fresh. But overall, it is definitely not a must-try. You can live without trying this.

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Food review: Chin Mee Chin Confectionery @ East Coast Road

My girlfriend obviously knows I am a kaya toast freak. She is not so much of a kaya fan but she knows for sure that I loveeeeeee kaya. So she made the effort to look for the best kaya toast that people claim to be the best. And she found out about this place at East Coast Road. Chin Mee Chin Confectionery.

We went there one morning during my holidays. It was quiet and peaceful and super retro. That place looked so old. The tables and chairs were wooden with marble tops. The ambience was really old-fashioned and you feel as if you travelled back in time. The person who took our order was an old lady who spoke good english. We ordered 2 drinks and the legendary kaya toast. It looked really good when it came. It was fresh and sweet smelling. The bun they used was very soft and fragrant. But, I totally felt that the kaya was super sweet. It did taste good. It had a nice aroma. It wasn't as smooth as I personally like, but still good. So go ahead and try it, but let me warn you again, it is really very sweet.

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Food Review: Spices Cafe @ Concorde Hotel

Recently, I went to Spices Cafe for a dinner buffet with my family. It was for my birthday. I did not really want to have buffet but my dad insisted so I just went to spend quality time with my family. When you reach the hotel, you will feel it is kind of old and shabby. There are pubs outside, lots of shops and it really does not look clean or class at all. But once you enter the lift and arrive at the lobby level, you will feel as if you just travelled through time. The lobby area was totally different from the place you take the lift from. The place is really clean and classy.

So I looked around for Spices Cafe and searched for my family who were already there. Dad told me there was one serving of lobster and free-flow of crabs. I was shocked! I thought that was quite good but of course, if it wasn't fresh then it defeats the purpose because stale seafood is always horrible.

I was actually quite surprised that the one serving of lobster came in several different styles, like sambal, cheese, black pepper and so on. The free-flow crab was the same. They served it steamed, fried, black pepper, chilli and I think there is one more which I can't remember.

Let me recall some of the food they served. They had a salad station, pasta station where pasta was cooked on the spot, fondue station with fresh fruits, traditional "potong" ice cream in like 4 or 5 flavors, cold dishes, yam paste, sushi, local and international cooked food. I know this is not much of a help but I seriously can't remember. Very sorry about it. But the food was good.

Overall, the restaurant itself was clean and the ambience was good. It felt a little squeezy but still ok. The lighting was quite bad at my area and I think that could be improved. The food was good. Taste was very good. I only took a few photos, very sorry about it. The staff were friendly and nice. The manager was amazing, he was really a very serious and professional person. There was once we needed a spoon and milk for the coffee which was just served. It just happens that he was walking by so we asked him for it. He immediately requested to know who served us the coffee because he felt it was not acceptable to be served without the spoon and milk. I enjoyed my entire dinner even though I was totally not in the mood for buffet.

Here are the photos.

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