When disappointment strikes...at the Orchard Road
I guess I've mentioned a dozen times before how much I love Singapore... both the country and their food. Nothing beats enjoy a plate of Hainanese Chicken Rice, some Char Kuay Teow and drinking a glass of cool Barley Juice.
It was another meatless Friday for me again and after attending two events today, I thought of stopping by the newly opened Orchard Road located at the Bridgeway of SM Megamall for a quick afternoon snack.
A couple of blogger friends have warned me about it... the food was not that good, they say. Still I wanted to try it out to see for myself.
Going around the open-kitchen area, I finally decided to get a plate of Carrot Cake, a roll of Popiah and a glass of Barley Juice.
The Barley Juice (Php. 45) came first and immediately on my first sip, I felt that it was very sweet. Not just a little more than the tolerable sweetness but this one could literally send kids bouncing off the walls all night with too much sugar and/or syrup. I pushed my glass aside and asked the server for a glass of filtered water.
Orchard Road's scrambled egg Carrot Cake
Next came my carrot cake (Php. 75), I first tried this during my recent trip to Singapore and I have been craving for it since. One look and my heart fell... this doesn't look anything like the authentic Singaporean carrot cake. Instead it tasted like scrambled egg with spring onions, something that we can easily whip up in less than 3 minutes at home. I also noticed that this is served plain, I had to request for some sweet soy sauce in order to add a little flavor to this dish. *sigh*
THIS is the authentic Singaporean Carrot Cake... Yum!
Last was the Popiah (Php. 45), I was really wishing and praying that this will save my afternoon snack from being a disaster. Ok, so I haven't tried Popiah before but I heard this is a delicious snack choice in Malaysia. It's like the Chinese fresh lumpia with veggies and shrimp. Orchard Road's Popiah was served already sliced into bite-size portions and drizzled with the sweet soy sauce. I took one small piece and took a careful bite. I felt that the wrapper was a bit dry and I had to struggle in every bite. I got so tired that I sadly just ate half of my Popiah and stood up a bit disheartened for having a not-so-good afternoon snack.
Orchard Road is barely a month old and I guess there's still a lot of improvement needed to be done.
Orchard Road is located at the Bridgeway of SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City.
It was another meatless Friday for me again and after attending two events today, I thought of stopping by the newly opened Orchard Road located at the Bridgeway of SM Megamall for a quick afternoon snack.A couple of blogger friends have warned me about it... the food was not that good, they say. Still I wanted to try it out to see for myself.
Going around the open-kitchen area, I finally decided to get a plate of Carrot Cake, a roll of Popiah and a glass of Barley Juice.
The Barley Juice (Php. 45) came first and immediately on my first sip, I felt that it was very sweet. Not just a little more than the tolerable sweetness but this one could literally send kids bouncing off the walls all night with too much sugar and/or syrup. I pushed my glass aside and asked the server for a glass of filtered water.
Next came my carrot cake (Php. 75), I first tried this during my recent trip to Singapore and I have been craving for it since. One look and my heart fell... this doesn't look anything like the authentic Singaporean carrot cake. Instead it tasted like scrambled egg with spring onions, something that we can easily whip up in less than 3 minutes at home. I also noticed that this is served plain, I had to request for some sweet soy sauce in order to add a little flavor to this dish. *sigh*
Last was the Popiah (Php. 45), I was really wishing and praying that this will save my afternoon snack from being a disaster. Ok, so I haven't tried Popiah before but I heard this is a delicious snack choice in Malaysia. It's like the Chinese fresh lumpia with veggies and shrimp. Orchard Road's Popiah was served already sliced into bite-size portions and drizzled with the sweet soy sauce. I took one small piece and took a careful bite. I felt that the wrapper was a bit dry and I had to struggle in every bite. I got so tired that I sadly just ate half of my Popiah and stood up a bit disheartened for having a not-so-good afternoon snack.Orchard Road is barely a month old and I guess there's still a lot of improvement needed to be done.
Orchard Road is located at the Bridgeway of SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City.
saw this in Megamall too. I thought it was good but I;ve read reviews that food was disappointing. I like Singaporean food pa naman...
ReplyDeleteThat's a disappointment nga. By the way, where do you suggest I go for good barley juice? I loved this in Singapore as well.
ReplyDelete@dea: i would still go for the canned barley juice, the brand is yeo's i think it's available in some supermarkets or chinese delis :)
ReplyDeleteCarrot cake yun??? Couldn't have even fooled my kids... looks like scrambled egg talaga, where are the carrots? O_o
ReplyDeletewell, on their defense, i think they are still on their dry run.
ReplyDeletebut when markie & i tried there, since we also oh so love singapore so much... we thought that their hainanese chicken & pepper beef we're okay. but yes we were so frustrated with their overly sweetened rose milk drink & bland milo drink.
i tried their kaya toast and kopi.
ReplyDeletei shouldn't have.
haha :)
rowena: couldnt really find the carrot cake..it was mostly eggs and spring onions ugh
ReplyDeletepunky: yes in fairness their service was ok but the food..which is the main reason why they opened and is considered a restaurant it should be good from the very beginning
toj: to be honest, for good kaya toast and kopi you can just hop over to j. escriva drive (behind ua&p) and try ya kun kaya toast! must try their cheezy french toast with kaya. yum!
http://www.frannywanny.com/2010/02/saturday-brunch-at-ya-kun-kaya-toast.html
Hey Fran,
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree more with this review.. I made one too..
http://philippinedining.blogspot.com/2010/03/orchard-road-sm-megamall-review-and.html
nag-reply pa yun owner. hahaha!
Try SHIOK in Bonifacio Global City! It's really good. Their char kway teow is only P120 but serving's good for 2 already. The chicken rice is yummy too. They have a lot of Singaporean/ Malay dishes to choose from. Don't forget to try their Milo Dinosaur too! :) Yummy food with affordable prices.
ReplyDeleteSUPER HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT, this "restaurant".
ReplyDeleteOrdered lemon chicken (excuse me, but where the hell was the lemon, the sauce is watery) and some pork dish which wasnt worth my money either.
NEVER going back, and telling my friends the same.
Soft opening or whatever -- they are hell not Singaporean.
@u8mypinkcookies: yes ive heard raves about shiok! its definitely on my list of places to try
ReplyDelete@anonymous: i guess a lot of us here shares the same sentiments :P thanks for dropping by
Had lunch in Shiok yesterday and today it was Orchard Road, so here are my observations.
ReplyDeleteShiok had no chicken rice yesterday so that was a bummer. I ordered crispy pork, kangkong, char kway teow and fish filet. The pork was okay except for the fact that the skin was burnt. I liked the bagoong in the kangkong. The fish was bland and the char kway had no shrimp, and neither did it have that "wok" flavor.
Needing a chicken rice fix, we went to Orchard Road today. Got the chicken rice, char kway again, and oyster omelette. Chicken was dry and the rice wasn't great and had bits of fibrous ginger. Char kway had some wok flavor and some shrimp, but was unexceptional. Oyster omelette was tasteless, just scrambled eggs with some oysters. This place suffers from lost in translation syndrome. Owners need to check food quality.
That said, I don't think you can make a good chicken rice with a small chicken, since it usually turns out dry when boiled. I heard Chef Stevie uses at least a 1.4kg bird. I just wish Singaporean restaurants here didn't have to skimp on the chicken since it does affect what people think about their product.
Chicken rice was served with some grains half cooked. Carrot cake was a waste of money. I gave them back my Hok kien mee, too salty, I was half way thru my Milk tea and still can't take the saltiness out. they replaced this but the taste was really off, saucy, no brothy taste, and the noodles they used was not original. The Milk Tea has left a lot to be desired. Chowking has better tasting Nai Cha at half the price. Chicken Curry lousy!
ReplyDeleteThe carrot cake here has 2 kinds, black or white. Pero with the pic that I just saw mukha nga cyang scrambled egg not even white carrot cake hahaha. The one you posted below with the dark colour is the dark carrot cake :D
ReplyDelete