The food here is generally cheaper so it loses out on variety. But I think it is a fair trade-off.
For the service, do note that most of them are Mainland Chinese and are not very good at English. They do, however, make an effort to speak English and provide good service. So do them a favour by either making your order in Mandarin or pointing to the items you want.
I have not been having pizza at your outlets nor ordered delivery for a very long time. One reason that I have stopped eating at Pizza Hut is that the cheese-in-crust creations just comes across as a rip off.
Every time I walk by your restaurant, I see patrons with those cheese-in-crust abominations. I would always notice a circular race track wide enough for F1. That race track incidentally takes up half the surface area of the pizza, meaning the remaining half is occupied by toppings.
Referencing good pizzas from other pizza places, the average ratio of edge crust area to toppings area should be something like 1:12 or better. However, Pizza Hut pizzas have an atrocious ratio of 1:1 for your stuffed-crust abominations and 1:3 for your regular crust-without-stuffing pizzas.
Also referencing the same good pizzas from other pizza places, the average density of toppings per square inch, excluding cheese and tomato sauce is 4, compared to Pizza Hut's 0.8, with cheese and tomato sauce. This kind of standard is absolutely unacceptable.
Lastly, the price of your pizza is extremely unacceptable by global standards. You may argue that comparison should not be made at a grober level. But hey, that's how the the government likes to compare Singapore to the rest of the world. Back to the pricing. Pizzas in our western counterparts are sold at half the price and taste twice as good because there is double the toppings.
As a consumer, I am concerned that the future generations will never get to taste truly good pizzas because of the sub-standard food Pizza Hut makes. As such, I urge Pizza Hut to:
1. stop thinking about those stuffed-crust rip-offs 2. stop cutting costs on toppings 3. start slashing prices for their pizzas to be competitive groberly
Thank you for reading. I hope the management will seriously reconsider their strategies for Pizza Hut while finding humour in this letter.
For those who still don't get it: The numbers and statistics are a joke, but the lack of quality is real. This is how my mockery letter to Pizza Hut might look like, if I ever send it.
First of all, I really like the food from the Ya Kun fanchise. It is probably the only franchise that is consistent in the quality of food. Set A always makes my day with the soft-boiled eggs always done up perfectly by the server along with the crispy, wafer-thin toast and the aromatic Hainanese coffee.
And I want to share the way I have them. Though it may irk some readers, I find that I enjoy Set A the best this way.
Step 1: Break one yolk of the sof-boiled eggs and mix with the rest of the egg whites. Add pepper and dark soy sauce to taste.
Step 2: Dip the kaya toast in the soft-boiled eggs before eating.
Step 3: Sip some coffee. Then have the items on their own.
Step 4: Add some coffee to the second egg yolk to rinse the saucer of the egg clinging to the surface.
Step 5: Slurp the coffee and egg yolk down in one fluid motion.
But to end this entry, I must complain! The price hike just sucks and the press release just looked like a templated write-up with vague excuses. And now that Set A costs 20 cents more, I will patronize it less often.
This is one of those really high-class Japanese restaurants that shows you how real Japanese food should be like. But be warned, everything here comes at a premium.
The chawanmushi here is in a league of it own. It has plenty of ingredients that you never see in those of franchise chains. On top of the steamed egg, this one even has a layer of a clear broth for an extra oomph.
Also, the sushi and sashimi you get here taste and look different too. Ingredients are exceptionally fresh, probably air-flown over from its origins. This, of course, is on top of the fact that everything is arranged in exquisite detail. It is not everywhere the carcass of a sea urchin can look so darn good on top of a bed of ice.
But probably the best thing here is the beef that you cook by yourself on a hot stone. Ordered by weight, you get choice between those exclusive beef from Japan (where cows are fed beer and given massages, resulting in those beautifully marbled meat) and tenderloin (which is just, well, tender). I definitely recommend the Japanese beef after comparison as it is firmer, juicier and taster.
So if there is a need to make an impression, come to this restaurant. With lots of money, that is.
For a complete Indian meal, get a rice (plain or briyani) with vegetables set along with a meat dish. My personal favourite is the masala chicken, which doesn't hold back on the spiciness. I sort of get a kick out of the red hot masala.
If you are dining in a group, try their fish head curry served in a claypot. Hot and spicy, perfect for communial eating.
You will find this place in Food Loft at Marina Square.
I used to lunch at Samy's quite often as it serves up generous portions of rice, vegetables, papadum and curry gravy. There was also a great service champion by the name of Kumar. Unfortunately, he left, and I feel is a great loss for regular customers.
I had to cut down because the good meals kept me from staying awake in office and of course, I was developing a spare tire.
Anyway, to get your money's worth here, take a seat in their dining area. When you do that, you get better service, food is served at your table. Out of the dining area is the rest of the food court, so everything becomes self-service. Inside, you can request for extras for the vegetables, rice, papadum and gravy. Or at least that was the case in the past, when Kumar was around. As for their "mains", i.e. meat dishes, well, the portions are large enough for you not to ask for more.
One quirky thing that probably came from its restaurant origins: Samy's serve beer and wine.
Lastly, to forewarn any of you interested to give Samy's a try - DO NOT wear white or any light coloured clothing. The gravy will stain and stay. DO bring an empty stomach DO prepare for very hot stuff DO be patient with the Indian uncle with grey hair. He is loud (which consequently perceived as rude) only because he is a bit deaf and does not understand English very well. If the situation is hopeless for you, ask another person at the counter.
I found this the ambience pretty nice and cosy. It had those private dining areas with low tables and leg cavities similar to Sakae Sushi at Marina Square but better because you will probably only zao geng to the wall. The privacy also gives the customer a sense of exclusiveness.
For service, I have to say Waraku scores well as they take initiative and are very responsive. A friend had made special requests for certain orders and were not disappointed.
Call me picky if you want. While Waraku's menu is quite extensive, it is quite a task to find an item that screams, "Eat me!" Also, there isn't anything that's value for money. Plus, I had a hard time deciding what I should order. I ended up with this beef paper steamboat listed in the lunch set meals menu.
I have to say that the quality of food isn't what you would describe as fantastic. Compounded it with the fact that there wasn't anything inspiring in the menu to begin with, Waraku really left a bad flavour in my mouth. The beef paper steamboat only came with 4 pathetic slices of beef. When I sampled a friend's teriyaki chicken, my immediate response was a my best constipated expression. The chicken was tough and dry like it was microwaved.
Can somebody recommend exactly what is actually good at Waraku? Or is it just me being luckless?
Spageddies probably came about when someone thought that it would be a great idea to put premium main courses like steak, lobster, crayfish, etc together with the humble pasta. That pretty much sums up what they serve. And the estimation of the price of their food goes something like this:
Price of steak with spaghetti at Spageddies = price of steak at ordinary restaurant price of spaghetti at ordinary restaurant
Sort of like paying for 2 dishes combined in one plate. Once you can convince yourself that you are really paying for 2 main courses served on one plate, you probably won't have any problems picking the item you want.
Anyway, that is not to say that food is abysmal. On the contrary, food is good. It is mainly due to the use of fresh ingredients, which you can easily taste.
But be prepared to part with a good part of your money though.
It is a well-known fact that the owner of Bollywood Veggies is "high society lady", Mrs Ivy Singh-Lim. This consequently impacted on the image of the organic farm. Everything is very manicured here, and it is a far cry from its neighbour, Green Circle, another organic farm.
For the same reason, Bollywood Veggies isn't a farm that shies away from attention. And since everything here is all extra nice, extra proper, it makes a viable tourist attraction. And with visitors, there's Poison Ivy, a café probably named after the owner.
Poison Ivy serves up just about everything its farm produces. There's a wide variety of curry, vegetables, cakes, drinks and bananas. It wasn't meal time, so the Girlfriend and I ordered just the banana bread, jackfruit cake, lemon cake, lemon tea and fig tea.
Fig Tea and Banana Bread Jackfruit cake Lemon Cake
While the portions were small, at $2 a piece, it was an opportunity to sample the menu.
The lemon cake was pretty refreshing with a unique spiciness to it. However, it did seem a little coarse on the palate. The banana bread was made with the bananas harvested from the farm. It was fragrant, moist and spongy. I liked the jackfruit cake best. While the portions were really miserable, the cake was more like a sticky kueh with lots of jackfruit bits in it. Plus it was served warm, which only enhanced the texture and taste.
The Girlfriend and I then "goondu-ly" walked into the farm area. Unbeknown to us, there was actually a price to pay to enter ($2). We only realized our boo-boo when we looked at the map and promptly returned to Poison Ivy. I doubt it would be fun to face a dagger brandishing Ivy.
Goodness, the counter staff coughed into my donuts...
I had queued up from 11am to 1pm to get my dozen of donuts. It seemed more logical compared to queuing for a record 4 hours after the shop opens.
Anyway, I realised that the despite the 2 dozen limit, a fat lady still managed to get away with 6 dozens. Yet another Intrepid Ninja Van Reseller Alert. Thankfully, it was one off, but hey, I think it says plenty of the integrity (lack of) of their rules.
Just before my turn, the counter staff took off with a orange chocolate flavoured donut, re-dunked it into the white chocolate vat, slowly re-decorated it with orange jam and slowly savoured it before happily returning to the counter. So that's probably another reason why we need to wait so long for their donuts.
Finally my turn, the same counter staff served me. After my box was filled, she started coughing uncontrollably. Problem was she didn't really turn away, plus my box of donuts was wide open, catching all the airborne cough germs. Neither was she wearing any protective mask.
Oh my...
Then she managed to stop to turn around to key the orders into the register. And, she started coughing again. For anyone who knows, their cash register is just beside the stash of donuts. Coughing from that distance won't affect those donuts which will eventually be sold, right?
1=SGD 0.0587
Honest and affordable
It irritates me tremendously when a restaurant decides to substitute an ingredient in the dish with something inferior. So I am quite pleased that Suki Sushi isn't the case. When you see ikura in the picture on the menu, you get ikura in the order.
The food here is generally cheaper so it loses out on variety. But I think it is a fair trade-off.
For the service, do note that most of them are Mainland Chinese and are not very good at English. They do, however, make an effort to speak English and provide good service. So do them a favour by either making your order in Mandarin or pointing to the items you want.
Rating given:
Only dry chicken from here
This is a franchise I love to hate.
It is supposed to carry the best of Shih Lin in Taiwan, but all I got was dry, stale and powdery chicken.
I hate it.
Here's a tip to the Shih Lin Franchise:
Go and see how those chicken chops are sold in the pasar malams.
Rating given:
Dear Pizza Hut,
I have not been having pizza at your outlets nor ordered delivery for a very long time. One reason that I have stopped eating at Pizza Hut is that the cheese-in-crust creations just comes across as a rip off.
Every time I walk by your restaurant, I see patrons with those cheese-in-crust abominations. I would always notice a circular race track wide enough for F1. That race track incidentally takes up half the surface area of the pizza, meaning the remaining half is occupied by toppings.
Referencing good pizzas from other pizza places, the average ratio of edge crust area to toppings area should be something like 1:12 or better. However, Pizza Hut pizzas have an atrocious ratio of 1:1 for your stuffed-crust abominations and 1:3 for your regular crust-without-stuffing pizzas.
Also referencing the same good pizzas from other pizza places, the average density of toppings per square inch, excluding cheese and tomato sauce is 4, compared to Pizza Hut's 0.8, with cheese and tomato sauce. This kind of standard is absolutely unacceptable.
Lastly, the price of your pizza is extremely unacceptable by global standards.
You may argue that comparison should not be made at a grober level. But hey, that's how the the government likes to compare Singapore to the rest of the world.
Back to the pricing. Pizzas in our western counterparts are sold at half the price and taste twice as good because there is double the toppings.
As a consumer, I am concerned that the future generations will never get to taste truly good pizzas because of the sub-standard food Pizza Hut makes. As such, I urge Pizza Hut to:
1. stop thinking about those stuffed-crust rip-offs
2. stop cutting costs on toppings
3. start slashing prices for their pizzas to be competitive groberly
Thank you for reading.
I hope the management will seriously reconsider their strategies for Pizza Hut while finding humour in this letter.
For those who still don't get it:
The numbers and statistics are a joke, but the lack of quality is real.
This is how my mockery letter to Pizza Hut might look like, if I ever send it.
Rating given:
But really pissed with price hike
First of all, I really like the food from the Ya Kun fanchise. It is probably the only franchise that is consistent in the quality of food. Set A always makes my day with the soft-boiled eggs always done up perfectly by the server along with the crispy, wafer-thin toast and the aromatic Hainanese coffee.
And I want to share the way I have them. Though it may irk some readers, I find that I enjoy Set A the best this way.
Step 1:
Break one yolk of the sof-boiled eggs and mix with the rest of the egg whites.
Add pepper and dark soy sauce to taste.
Step 2:
Dip the kaya toast in the soft-boiled eggs before eating.
Step 3:
Sip some coffee. Then have the items on their own.
Step 4:
Add some coffee to the second egg yolk to rinse the saucer of the egg clinging to the surface.
Step 5:
Slurp the coffee and egg yolk down in one fluid motion.
But to end this entry, I must complain!
The price hike just sucks and the press release just looked like a templated write-up with vague excuses. And now that Set A costs 20 cents more, I will patronize it less often.
Rating given:
Exquisite Japanese Fine Dining
This is one of those really high-class Japanese restaurants that shows you how real Japanese food should be like. But be warned, everything here comes at a premium.
The chawanmushi here is in a league of it own. It has plenty of ingredients that you never see in those of franchise chains. On top of the steamed egg, this one even has a layer of a clear broth for an extra oomph.
Also, the sushi and sashimi you get here taste and look different too. Ingredients are exceptionally fresh, probably air-flown over from its origins. This, of course, is on top of the fact that everything is arranged in exquisite detail. It is not everywhere the carcass of a sea urchin can look so darn good on top of a bed of ice.
But probably the best thing here is the beef that you cook by yourself on a hot stone. Ordered by weight, you get choice between those exclusive beef from Japan (where cows are fed beer and given massages, resulting in those beautifully marbled meat) and tenderloin (which is just, well, tender).
I definitely recommend the Japanese beef after comparison as it is firmer, juicier and taster.
So if there is a need to make an impression, come to this restaurant. With lots of money, that is.
Rating given:
Got Kick!
For a complete Indian meal, get a rice (plain or briyani) with vegetables set along with a meat dish. My personal favourite is the masala chicken, which doesn't hold back on the spiciness. I sort of get a kick out of the red hot masala.
If you are dining in a group, try their fish head curry served in a claypot. Hot and spicy, perfect for communial eating.
You will find this place in Food Loft at Marina Square.
I used to lunch at Samy's quite often as it serves up generous portions of rice, vegetables, papadum and curry gravy. There was also a great service champion by the name of Kumar. Unfortunately, he left, and I feel is a great loss for regular customers.
I had to cut down because the good meals kept me from staying awake in office and of course, I was developing a spare tire.
Anyway, to get your money's worth here, take a seat in their dining area. When you do that, you get better service, food is served at your table. Out of the dining area is the rest of the food court, so everything becomes self-service. Inside, you can request for extras for the vegetables, rice, papadum and gravy. Or at least that was the case in the past, when Kumar was around. As for their "mains", i.e. meat dishes, well, the portions are large enough for you not to ask for more.
One quirky thing that probably came from its restaurant origins: Samy's serve beer and wine.
Lastly, to forewarn any of you interested to give Samy's a try -
DO NOT wear white or any light coloured clothing. The gravy will stain and stay.
DO bring an empty stomach
DO prepare for very hot stuff
DO be patient with the Indian uncle with grey hair. He is loud (which consequently perceived as rude) only because he is a bit deaf and does not understand English very well. If the situation is hopeless for you, ask another person at the counter.
Rating given:
好看不好吃 (looks good, but doesn't taste good)
I found this the ambience pretty nice and cosy. It had those private dining areas with low tables and leg cavities similar to Sakae Sushi at Marina Square but better because you will probably only zao geng to the wall. The privacy also gives the customer a sense of exclusiveness.
For service, I have to say Waraku scores well as they take initiative and are very responsive. A friend had made special requests for certain orders and were not disappointed.
Call me picky if you want. While Waraku's menu is quite extensive, it is quite a task to find an item that screams, "Eat me!"
Also, there isn't anything that's value for money. Plus, I had a hard time deciding what I should order. I ended up with this beef paper steamboat listed in the lunch set meals menu.
I have to say that the quality of food isn't what you would describe as fantastic. Compounded it with the fact that there wasn't anything inspiring in the menu to begin with, Waraku really left a bad flavour in my mouth. The beef paper steamboat only came with 4 pathetic slices of beef. When I sampled a friend's teriyaki chicken, my immediate response was a my best constipated expression. The chicken was tough and dry like it was microwaved.
Can somebody recommend exactly what is actually good at Waraku?
Or is it just me being luckless?
Rating given:
Stylo-mylo Spaggetti
Spageddies probably came about when someone thought that it would be a great idea to put premium main courses like steak, lobster, crayfish, etc together with the humble pasta. That pretty much sums up what they serve.
And the estimation of the price of their food goes something like this:
Price of steak with spaghetti at Spageddies = price of steak at ordinary restaurant price of spaghetti at ordinary restaurant
Sort of like paying for 2 dishes combined in one plate.
Once you can convince yourself that you are really paying for 2 main courses served on one plate, you probably won't have any problems picking the item you want.
Anyway, that is not to say that food is abysmal. On the contrary, food is good. It is mainly due to the use of fresh ingredients, which you can easily taste.
But be prepared to part with a good part of your money though.
Rating given:
Organic Haven
It is a well-known fact that the owner of Bollywood Veggies is "high society lady", Mrs Ivy Singh-Lim. This consequently impacted on the image of the organic farm. Everything is very manicured here, and it is a far cry from its neighbour, Green Circle, another organic farm.
For the same reason, Bollywood Veggies isn't a farm that shies away from attention. And since everything here is all extra nice, extra proper, it makes a viable tourist attraction. And with visitors, there's Poison Ivy, a café probably named after the owner.
Poison Ivy serves up just about everything its farm produces. There's a wide variety of curry, vegetables, cakes, drinks and bananas. It wasn't meal time, so the Girlfriend and I ordered just the banana bread, jackfruit cake, lemon cake, lemon tea and fig tea.
Fig Tea and Banana Bread Jackfruit cake Lemon Cake
While the portions were small, at $2 a piece, it was an opportunity to sample the menu.
The lemon cake was pretty refreshing with a unique spiciness to it. However, it did seem a little coarse on the palate.
The banana bread was made with the bananas harvested from the farm. It was fragrant, moist and spongy.
I liked the jackfruit cake best. While the portions were really miserable, the cake was more like a sticky kueh with lots of jackfruit bits in it. Plus it was served warm, which only enhanced the texture and taste.
The Girlfriend and I then "goondu-ly" walked into the farm area. Unbeknown to us, there was actually a price to pay to enter ($2). We only realized our boo-boo when we looked at the map and promptly returned to Poison Ivy. I doubt it would be fun to face a dagger brandishing Ivy.
Rating given:
Served by Unhygienic Staff
Goodness, the counter staff coughed into my donuts...
I had queued up from 11am to 1pm to get my dozen of donuts. It seemed more logical compared to queuing for a record 4 hours after the shop opens.
Anyway, I realised that the despite the 2 dozen limit, a fat lady still managed to get away with 6 dozens. Yet another Intrepid Ninja Van Reseller Alert. Thankfully, it was one off, but hey, I think it says plenty of the integrity (lack of) of their rules.
Just before my turn, the counter staff took off with a orange chocolate flavoured donut, re-dunked it into the white chocolate vat, slowly re-decorated it with orange jam and slowly savoured it before happily returning to the counter. So that's probably another reason why we need to wait so long for their donuts.
Finally my turn, the same counter staff served me. After my box was filled, she started coughing uncontrollably. Problem was she didn't really turn away, plus my box of donuts was wide open, catching all the airborne cough germs. Neither was she wearing any protective mask.
Oh my...
Then she managed to stop to turn around to key the orders into the register. And, she started coughing again. For anyone who knows, their cash register is just beside the stash of donuts. Coughing from that distance won't affect those donuts which will eventually be sold, right?
Rating given: