Best Fries Forever

Best Fries Forever

8 Grange Road

#B1-06 Cathay Cineleisure Orchard (Singapore)

252 North Bridge Road
#B1-55 Raffles City Shopping Centre


http://www.bestfriesforever.com/

More Like Mediocre Fries Forever

(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)

Overall: 3

Ambience & Setting: 2

Food & Beverage: 5

Service: 5

Value for Money: 3

Spent about $4 per person.

.....

At Best Fries Forever, they charge $4 for a "regular" (relatively small) cup of fries. This is definitely pricey. In comparison, buying a pack of Fries from MacDonald's is both cheaper, and you get more quantity.

Taste-wise, these straight cut fries with skin on, are just average.

The accompanying sauces at Best Fries Forever, however, are pretty good, and really improve the overall taste.

Recommended if you're the kind of person who likes a variety of sauces, not recommended for anyone else.

Fries Wazabee - Wasabi & Crispy Seaweed

Fries Wow Wow West - Chilli Beef & Cheese

Fries Curry Favor - Rich Curry Gravy

Fries Ole Ole - Creamy Spanish Salsa

Fries Friendly Fire - Hot Chilli Blend

Fries Gusto Garlic - Garlic & Herbs

Fries Macho Cheese - Nacho Cheese

Coney Dog

Coney Dog

This however, is a must-try. Biting into one almost reminds you of the Coney Dogs once sold by A & W. Tasty and juicy, the (Beef) Chili Sauce and Onions topping is really good. At $3.50 each, it's also quite reasonable. If only they could add cheese.....

.....

IKEA Restaurant & Cafe

IKEA Restaurant & Cafe
317 Alexandra Road
2F IKEA Alexandra (Singapore)

60 Tampines North Drive 2
4F IKEA Tampines (Singapore)

http://www.ikea.com/sg/


A (Little) Taste of Sweden
(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)
Overall: 6
Ambience & Setting: 4
Food & Beverage: 7
Service: 3
Value for Money: 6
Spent about $14 per person.


.....


Best known for their Furniture, IKEA is also gaining fame for their food..... especially their Swedish Meatballs.

Coming by the IKEA Restaurant & Cafe at a pretty late 9pm, we still had to wait a good 20 minutes for a table, as the place was extremely packed.


Service
Cafeteria style: Self-serve. Join any of the (long) queues, and pick up the dish you want. 

However, be prepared for occasional shortages of utensils, plates, etc., due to the overwhelming crowds. 
Also, you might find yourself wondering how to pick up the desserts, as some don't come with their own plate. (eg: Punsch Roll). 

Staff don't take orders as well, as they mostly are concerned with preparing food. 

Clearing of tables - Supposed to be self-serve as well. Though IKEA has kindly provided a few cleaners, they normally are overwhelmed by the crowds. Be prepared to clear your own table.


Food

Swedish Meatballs, Potatoes & Lingoberry Sauce

The star of IKEA Restaurant & Cafe would have to be the Swedish Meatballs. Made from both beef and pork, they pack a lot of flavor, and go well with the brown sauce provided. They also provide a Lingoberry sauce, which tastes almost like cranberry sauce, just less sourish and with less acidity.

Chicken Wings

The chicken wings are good too..... Not as oily as you'd expect.

Mushroom Soup

The Mushroom Soup I tried was bland. Thumbs down.





The rest of the food items are pretty average, though they do rotate their menu on a daily basis. 
Their Kids menu and Halal menu also play it safe, the food is edible, and relatively tasty. Average, but not something I would travel here just to eat. 
IKEA Restaurant & Cafe also has a Breakfast menu, but I doubt I'll ever have the chance to come here so early just to try it..... Anyone got an opinion on the Breakfast?

Chicken Thigh, Mashed Potatoes & Coleslaw

Nuggets & Fries

A few Desserts stand out for being unique to Sweden.

Punsch Roll & Diam Cake

Punsch Roll is a kind of sweet pastry, covered with Marzipan and contains crushed cookies, cocao, and some sort of liqueur called "Punsch". Purposely colored Blue & Yellow to resemble the Swedish flag, it is quite tasty, but I thought it was a little too sweet.

Princess Cake

Princess Cake is a sort of sponge cake with whipped cream and custard, covered with Green Marzipan. Very nice, and again, extremely sweet, even more so than the Punsch Roll. Those with a sweet tooth will love it, for the rest, you might want to share.

Hot Dog Plain

Hot Dog With Chili & Mustard

Don't forget to grab a Hot Dog before you leave, at $1 each, it's a steal.

Herring Plate

Roast Beef With Mushroom Sauce, Broccoli & Chips

Apple Cinnamon Pie

Swedish Meatballs Pasta

Swedish Meatballs, Potatoes & Lingoberry Sauce

Chicken Wings

Smoked Salmon Plate

Forest Mushroom Soup

Calamari, Nuggets & Fries

Almond Pie

.....

Charcos

Charcos

Blk 89 Marine Parade Central

Multi-Storey Carpark Food Court

Blk 603 Clementi West Street 1 #01-43


http://www.charcos.com.sg/

Skip the Mains, Go for the Salad Bar

(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)

Overall: 6

Ambience & Setting: N.A.

Food & Beverage: 7

Service: N.A.

Value for Money: 6

Spent about $8 per person.

.....

Heard about Charcos through an acquaintance, and having been here a few times and tried nearly everything on the menu, thought I'll put some suggestions down.



Must Tries!

Most of the Salads in the Salad Bar. Made fresh daily, it's served in pretty big portions, whether you order it alone, or with a Main. 

Charcos is unusual in that the Salads and Sides far outweigh its Mains in both taste and quality. My favorites in order would be:

- Egg Salad

- Potato Salad

- Caesar Salad

- Greek Salad

- Tuna Pasta Salad

- Potato Creme

- Chicken Avocado Salad

- Coleslaw

The only main at Charcos which I feel is a Must-Try would be the Rack of Lamb Ribs. Covered in excellent BBQ sauce, its slightly spicy, tangy and tasty enough that you would lick your fingers when done. However, the meat doesn't fall off the bone.

So-So.....

Close behind are the Chicken Schnitzel and Kebab Meat (Lamb / Chicken). Passable as mains, not too oily, cooked just nicely, with good taste. 

The Chicken Schnitzel is a little bit better than your average coffee shop chicken cutlet due to the extra seasoning that goes in. Not something I would travel all the way here for though. 

Their Seafood Salad and Pineapple Fritter is OK as well.

Don't Try!

In my opinion, it would be best to miss these completely:

- Roast Chicken: Horrible. Dry, and overcooked. Accompanying sauce is sour.

- Portuguese Chicken: Nice spices, but dry just like the Roast Chicken.

- Roast Peas: Overcooked, and not really fresh.

- Roast Potatoes Cubes: Hard, overcooked..... Terrible.

Quarter Roast Chicken With Peas & Potato Creme

Quarter Portuguese Chicken With Tuna Pasta Salad, Caesar Salad & Seafood Salad

Rack Of Lamb Ribs With Potato Salad, Egg Salad & Greek Salad

Schnitzel With Chicken Avocado, Roast Potato & Coleslaw

Pineapple Fritter

Lamb Kebab With Potato Creme, Egg Salad & Caesar Salad

---

Service: Self-Service. Do help yourself to the BBQ Sauce!

Oddly enough, the Charcos franchise overseas actually specializes in Chicken, but this stall in Singapore seems to have got it the other way around. 

It's Halal, so you can bring your Muslim friends here. 

I would definitely recommend this place for the salads, but not anything else.



.....

Nando's

Nando's

163 Tanglin Road

#01-14/15 Tanglin Mall (Singapore)

200 Victoria Street

#01-85 Bugis Junction (Singapore)

http://www.nandos.com.sg/

Great Sauce, Good Chicken, Forgettable Sides

(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)

Overall: 7

Ambience & Setting: 8

Food & Beverage: 8

Service: 4

Value for Money: 6

Spent about $27 per person.

.....

I have good memories of Nando's Chicken and its accompanying flaming hot peri-peri sauce from my time in Australia, so I was pretty excited to hear about its opening in Singapore.

Wanted to avoid the crowds and infamous queues in Bugis, so brought the family over to Nando's Tanglin outlet. 

Even though we arrived quite late (around 9pm) on a Tuesday night, there was still a queue outside the outlet, and we had to wait for around 10 minutes. I do have to compliment them on providing cute little booklets with information about Nando's to while away the time while queuing. (Interesting Reading Material!)

Ambience

Nice design and layout, place was a bit noisy though, so by just speaking to the person next to you, you would have to raise your voice slightly or lean over.

Service

Had to wave a couple of times to attract their attention, and we were even told to wait by one waiter. (And he wasn't polite about it. Didn't even say anything, just held out his hands in a "wait, I'm busy now" gesture.) They looked really busy and stressed, rushing around the place. Seemed really hectic in there. Perhaps because its a new outlet? 

Food didn't take long though, we only waited around 7-8 minutes before the appetizer was served. 

Had a minor problem with billing, at first they gave us the wrong bill. Luckily we checked, and the second time around, they gave us the correct bill. 

Tip: Do check your bills as well in case this happens to you.

Food

Petisco

Petisco

A sampler dish, consisting of 2 types of Dips (Peri-Peri Salsa & Hummus), Olives, Pita Bread, mini Peri-Peri Chicken Thighs and Peri-Peri Chicken Wings. Thought it was a great starter for sharing, and the Dips were fresh and tasty. The Pita Bread was warm and fluffy, tasted great together with the dips. Olives were fresh and came in Green & Black varieties. And the Peri-Peri Sauce on the chicken was exactly as I remembered, spicy, slightly salty, with a sourish kick. Really Good!

Peri-Peri Chicken (Quarter)

Quarter Chicken With Old Style Chips & Peri Corn

Nice char-grill, tender, juicy, and with little fat. Great! This is their signature dish, so it can't really go wrong. You can douse it with even more Peri-Peri sauce provided at each table.

Cataplana

Cataplana

This was something new.... didn't see it in Australia. Basically a huge pan bed of spiced rice, covered with peri-peri chicken thighs and grilled vegetables. I thought it was a bit underwhelming. The grilled vegetables were good, but the rice was just average, couldn't really taste much of the spices. The portion of chicken thighs was a bit too little, felt they could have put in 1 or 2 more pieces. Not value for money.

Espetada

Espetada

I ordered this very frequently in Nando's Australia, as I like its unique presentation style. Didn't disappoint. 4 peri-peri chicken thighs and grilled vegetables served on a skewer. Good as usual.

Sides - Old Style Chips, Peri Corn, Peri 3 Bean Salad, Potato Lime Leaves Skewer

All the sides were average. Not particularly tasty or memorable, and not disastrous. In fact, if you give them a miss, your dining experience wouldn't be worse off. 

The Peri 3 Bean Salad looks good when presented due to its many colors from the different beans. 

The Potato Lime Leaves Skewer has good potatoes, but I couldn't taste the lime. Also couldn't figure out if the lime leaves were for display, or were supposed to be eaten..... In the end, just left them aside.

Peri 3 Bean Salad


 

Potato Lime Leaves Skewer

Crimson Cola

Try the Crimson Cola, I thought it had a unique taste. Expected it to taste like Cherry Coke, but the fruit taste was a lot stronger, and slightly more sourish. Good.

Overall, would come back to Nando's for the food, but the service needs work.

.....

Roma's Deli

Roma's Deli

100 Beach Road

#01-23 Shaw Towers (Singapore)

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=53984046817

Go for the Mushroom Soup & Pasta, Skip the Baked Rice

(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)

Overall: 7

Ambience & Setting: 6

Food & Beverage: 7

Service: 7

Value for Money: 9

Spent about $7 per person.

.....

Eaten at Roma's Deli a couple of times, first came upon this hidden gem by recommendation of a friend.

At first sight, you wouldn't be able to tell Roma's Deli serves Vegetarian food, it looks more like a cosy Italian cafe.

Prices are very affordable, though their set lunch ($6.90) is more value for money than their set dinner ($10.90), because the $4 difference only gets you 1 drink.

Mushroom Soup

The highlight for me at Roma's Deli would definitely be their Mushroom Soup. Tasty, with a thick consistency and succulent mushrooms, it's served on a large plate, and enough for 2. Could almost be a meal in itself. The only drawback would be the Toast it's served with. Looks like garlic bread, but isn't, it's hard and not particularly tasty either. Order their Bread Bowl for a more satisfying experience.

Toast

Vegetarian Cheese Bolognese Spaghetti

Their pasta comes with great tasting sauce, and is very filling too. However, they have only a few options of toppings to choose from, and it's all served with Spaghetti. Would have preferred a few more options of pasta to choose from.

Vegetarian Baked Chicken Mushroom Rice

Roma's Deli's baked rice is average..... have eaten better. The baked rice doesn't come with much ingredients, so eating it feels to me like eating just rice and cheese. It's also not as cheesy as most baked rice.

The food is served fast, and the service staff and owners are friendly.

Pretty unique experience, especially for vegetarians.

.....

Zac's Cafe

Zac's Cafe

17 Jalan Pinang (Singapore)

Decent Food, Decent Atmosphere, Weird Service

(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)

Overall: 6

Ambience & Setting: 6

Food & Beverage: 6

Service: 5

Value for Money: 5 

Spent about $13 per person.

.....

We were looking around for a Halal Cafe for a casual dinner, as we had a few Muslim friends with us, when we stumbled upon Zac's Cafe, and decided to give it a try.

The indoor air-conditioning wasn't strong enough, which made the place seem stuffy. So we opted to sit outdoors instead, which in hindsight, was a better option, as it was actually cooler (We came at night around 9pm). The cafe wasn't crowded, and relatively peaceful, with only a few other families around. Overall decor of Zac's Cafe gave it a laid-back, rustic kind of feel.

Food - I had Harira Soup, Lamb Bamya, and a Latte. My friends ordered Doner Kebab, Pari-Pari Chicken, Banana Split, and a couple other dishes I can't recall. We also ordered Cheesecake (recommended by the waitress), and Chicken Wings to share.

Oddly enough, the Desserts (Banana Split & Cheesecake), arrived at the same time as our appetizers (Chicken Wings). First time I've ever been served desserts before the meal.....

The Chicken Wings and Banana Split were passable.... Nothing too special or disastrous about them.

Cheesecake: Weird. Didn't taste like your normal cheesecake would. It wasn't cheesy enough, and the consistency was more like a dense sponge cake. My friend took a bite and decided she wouldn't eat the rest of it. Actually, it was not bad as a cake, just that it failed as a cheesecake.

Harira Soup

Harira Soup: In my opinion, probably the best dish I had here. More like a stew than a soup, and filled with chucks of lamb, chickpeas, and other vegetables, it was both heartening and fortifying. (I was feeling a little under the weather, and this really hit the spot).

Pari-Pari Chicken: Tasted almost similar to Nando's Peri-Peri Chicken, tender, but not as juicy. The spicy kick from the chili did taste like Nando's, just less sourish.

Doner Kebab: A huge kebab roll stuffed with lamb meat and vegetables. Extremely filling and satisfying. The meat was juicy and succulent.

Lamb Bamya

Lamb Bamya: The arabic rice and grilled vegetables with vinaigrette were a nice accompaniment to the Lamb and Lady's Fingers smothered with gravy. The lamb meat was tender, and fell of the bone. My only complaint with this dish was that there was too little meat, and too much lamb fat on the bone. Weight-Conscious folks may want to stay away from this dish.

Note: They charge for water, at 20 cents a glass, so don't order water unless you're prepared to pay.

May come back again during lunch next time, as their lunch menu looks to be even more value for money.



.....

Lost Generation

Lost Generation

by Jonathan Reed

I am part of a lost generation

And I refuse to believe that

I can change the world 

I realize this may be a shock but

"Happiness comes from within"

Is a lie, and

"Money will make me happy"

So in 30 years I will tell my children

They are not the most important thing in my life

My employer will know that

I have my priorities straight because

Work

Is more important than

Family

I tell you this

Once upon a time

Families stayed together

But this will not be true in my era

This is a quick fix society

Experts tell me

30 years from now, I will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of my divorce

I do not concede that

I will live in a country of my own making

In the future

Environmental destruction will be the norm

No longer can it be said that

My peers and I care about this Earth

It will be evident that

My generation is apathetic and lethargic

It is foolish to presume that

There is hope

And all of this will come true unless we choose to reverse it. 

* Hint: Read each line, from the bottom up.  

.....

The Thing That Couldn't Be Done

The Thing That Couldn't Be Done

by Edgar Albert Guest

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,

But, he with a chuckle replied

That "maybe it couldn’t," but he would be one

Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.

So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin

...On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you’ll never do that;
At least no one has done it";
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.

With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.

But just buckle it in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing
That "couldn’t be done," and you’ll do it.

.....