It has been ages since I last stepped into Vivo City to have a meal, but today, I decided to dine in there since I had a movie to catch later on. Searching around the restaurants available on the first floor, we decided on Aoba Hokkaido Ramen since the menu (and the crowd and the ambient) looked the best out of the whole lot.
Shio Seafood Ramen Our food were readily served within a few minutes from our orders and I am really amazed by their speed. The seafood ramen was fresh, especially the prawns, which were springy and not overcooked. The base soup was nice, but I found that it was a bit on the salty side.
Shoyu Tontoro Ramen I am not sure what kind of meat they use, but it indeed tasted very nice. The meat was soft, the kind that will disintegrate in your mouth. Serving wise was just nice, but I still find that the base soup was a bit too salty for my liking.
This appreciation dinner for the committee members really came as a total surprise. For their hard work throughout the year, we were treated to a dinner at Swensen. Breaking new ground, this was a first, according to the old bird in the company, and I hope that this tradition will still continue even after the change of command on october 20. =p
As we get to choose our own main course, I decided on the Beef Stroganoff Baked Rice for 3 reasons below:
1) I am sick and tired of the popular Fish and Chips from Swensen as I have eaten that countless times.
2) From my experience, the steaks they offer are small in portion and not filling, plus they are not that good tasting anyway.
3) The Beef Stroganoff are the latest addition on their menu and from the pictures, they look appealing. =p
Well, to be truthful, the beef itself are good. They have almost everything you wish for: soft and tender, juicy, and with each chew, there is a faint stint of BBQ taste. The let down for this dish, in my opinion, lies in their baked rice. The cheese they put was plentiful, and I have no issue with that, but serving just plain white rice under the cheese, I think they could do better. The least they could do is to put some seasoning to the rice to make them smoother and better flavored, and one suggestion from me could be black pepper (idea copied from NYDC). =)
Filling not very satisfied, and since there is still cash to spare in the budget, the organizer decided to order the Swensen Earthquake to share for each table. This must be the best invention by Swensen thus far and I simply love their earthquake. Be it fulfilling to your taste bud (ice-cream) or visual (seeing the dry ice flowing out of the container like a volcano erupting), they have it all. With the excellent blending of their caramel and sticky chocolate syrup, together with the nice, tasty and smooth ice-cream, eating it can really send your emotion sky high!
Rate:7/10
Beef Stew
Beef Stew is what the dish is called, going at around $15 a dish. Coupled with their 1 for 1 lunch treat promotion, this seems like a good catch. There is always a risk involved trying out the new dish of the outlet, and today, I wish I had try another dish instead. Overall, the meal is not that horrible, but I feel that there are better beef stew elsewhere. Given the small amount that they are serving, it seems not justifiable for the price I had paid. Besides, I feel the dish is a bit on the salty side and the beef chunks given in the stew is pathetic, with most of the contents making up of carrots and celery. I wish Swenson should just try and stick to serving its fish and chip!
Ding Tai Fung is famous for their 小笼包. Up till now, they are the best I have ever eaten in Singapore. Their dumpling are juicy, rich in favor, and one bite into them, together with the ginger slices will certainly sent you high up into the sky.
For this branch though, I find that their 小笼包 is actually smaller in size. The stuffing, in my opinion is smaller, but nevertheless, still as good as ever. For the Dan Dan Mian, it feels like eating satay noodles, except that this time, the sauce is well blended. I had an enjoyable experience there.
The only complain that I can think of is probably their seat sizes. I always feels that their tables and chairs are so cramp that I always do not have enough leg spaces. I understand that they are trying to pack as many diners as possible, but still, I will like a more enjoyable eating experience.
Delifrance, in my opinion, is probably better stayed known for their bakery items. I had a unsatisfying experience (their food is simply off the mark) there while eating my dinner and finishing up an assignment that was to be used later. Choosing the Baked Fish Fillet set meal was a huge mistake!
Don't assume that the food in the picture are nice and tasty. Looks can be deceiving. The fish meat was small and hard, the soup was watery, the garlic bread was cold and extremely hard as well. The best thing for their whole dinner package was probably their coffee. But, I remembered asking them to serve it later after the dessert, but instead, it was the first item to be served. How worse can my simple dinner get?
Billy Bombers, a restaurant where it will really cost you a bomb to dine in. Normally, I would have shun away from the place, but as I happened to lay my hands on some privileges lately, it would be unforgivable not to try out the brand. I am really curious why the pricing on their menu just refused to come down after all these years? Well, their quality of the food served says it all......
Calm Chowder Real huge chunks of meat mixed with mushrooms. This is the real stuff. Rarely had I eaten the chowder that served such generous portions of meat. Absolutely tasty that left you wanting for more.
Mocktail Quite an interesting taste at first, but the server had not mixed the drink well. There was a huge concentration of the syrup at the bottom of the glass that left it disgustingly sweet as you were finishing the drink. Not a good review for this mocktail served.
Fish and Chips Huge American style chunky fries, but I found them a bit dry in my opinion. If only they can fried it to the McDonald's standards. Hmph. But for the butter dolly, they gave you 2 huge portions of the fillet and both were beautifully done. I could have enjoyed the meal more if the fishy smell was not so overwhelming.
Seafood Paradise Though the name sounds nice, but they were not quite at the paradise level yet. I found that the spaghetti was just average. With the exception of the 2 huge mussels, this dish was not worth the price to pay. Overall, Billy Bombers still have room for improvements.
1=SGD 0.0587
Shio Seafood Ramen
Our food were readily served within a few minutes from our orders and I am really amazed by their speed. The seafood ramen was fresh, especially the prawns, which were springy and not overcooked. The base soup was nice, but I found that it was a bit on the salty side.
Shoyu Tontoro Ramen
I am not sure what kind of meat they use, but it indeed tasted very nice. The meat was soft, the kind that will disintegrate in your mouth. Serving wise was just nice, but I still find that the base soup was a bit too salty for my liking.
Overall: 6.5/10
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As we get to choose our own main course, I decided on the Beef Stroganoff Baked Rice for 3 reasons below:
1) I am sick and tired of the popular Fish and Chips from Swensen as I have eaten that countless times.
2) From my experience, the steaks they offer are small in portion and not filling, plus they are not that good tasting anyway.
3) The Beef Stroganoff are the latest addition on their menu and from the pictures, they look appealing. =p
Well, to be truthful, the beef itself are good. They have almost everything you wish for: soft and tender, juicy, and with each chew, there is a faint stint of BBQ taste. The let down for this dish, in my opinion, lies in their baked rice. The cheese they put was plentiful, and I have no issue with that, but serving just plain white rice under the cheese, I think they could do better. The least they could do is to put some seasoning to the rice to make them smoother and better flavored, and one suggestion from me could be black pepper (idea copied from NYDC). =)
Filling not very satisfied, and since there is still cash to spare in the budget, the organizer decided to order the Swensen Earthquake to share for each table. This must be the best invention by Swensen thus far and I simply love their earthquake. Be it fulfilling to your taste bud (ice-cream) or visual (seeing the dry ice flowing out of the container like a volcano erupting), they have it all. With the excellent blending of their caramel and sticky chocolate syrup, together with the nice, tasty and smooth ice-cream, eating it can really send your emotion sky high!
Rate:7/10
Beef Stew
Beef Stew is what the dish is called, going at around $15 a dish. Coupled with their 1 for 1 lunch treat promotion, this seems like a good catch. There is always a risk involved trying out the new dish of the outlet, and today, I wish I had try another dish instead. Overall, the meal is not that horrible, but I feel that there are better beef stew elsewhere. Given the small amount that they are serving, it seems not justifiable for the price I had paid. Besides, I feel the dish is a bit on the salty side and the beef chunks given in the stew is pathetic, with most of the contents making up of carrots and celery. I wish Swenson should just try and stick to serving its fish and chip!
Rate: 5/10
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For this branch though, I find that their 小笼包 is actually smaller in size. The stuffing, in my opinion is smaller, but nevertheless, still as good as ever. For the Dan Dan Mian, it feels like eating satay noodles, except that this time, the sauce is well blended. I had an enjoyable experience there.
The only complain that I can think of is probably their seat sizes. I always feels that their tables and chairs are so cramp that I always do not have enough leg spaces. I understand that they are trying to pack as many diners as possible, but still, I will like a more enjoyable eating experience.
Rate: 8/10
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Don't assume that the food in the picture are nice and tasty. Looks can be deceiving. The fish meat was small and hard, the soup was watery, the garlic bread was cold and extremely hard as well. The best thing for their whole dinner package was probably their coffee. But, I remembered asking them to serve it later after the dessert, but instead, it was the first item to be served. How worse can my simple dinner get?
Probably will never ordered their set meal again
3/10
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Calm Chowder
Real huge chunks of meat mixed with mushrooms. This is the real stuff. Rarely had I eaten the chowder that served such generous portions of meat. Absolutely tasty that left you wanting for more.
Mocktail
Quite an interesting taste at first, but the server had not mixed the drink well. There was a huge concentration of the syrup at the bottom of the glass that left it disgustingly sweet as you were finishing the drink. Not a good review for this mocktail served.
Fish and Chips
Huge American style chunky fries, but I found them a bit dry in my opinion. If only they can fried it to the McDonald's standards. Hmph. But for the butter dolly, they gave you 2 huge portions of the fillet and both were beautifully done. I could have enjoyed the meal more if the fishy smell was not so overwhelming.
Seafood Paradise
Though the name sounds nice, but they were not quite at the paradise level yet. I found that the spaghetti was just average. With the exception of the 2 huge mussels, this dish was not worth the price to pay. Overall, Billy Bombers still have room for improvements.
Rate: 6/10
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