We passed by an interesting "authentic" Singaporean cuisine restaurant named "Food de Sentosa" and decided to dine-in. The name sounded familiar so we googled it and found out that it had another branch in B.F. homes with outstanding feedback. It seems that they just newly opened since they are at their soft opening.
As we entered, we were excited. The ambiance is modernistic and inviting. Chinese Video Karaoke is displayed in its LCD screen. A lot of people are dining and they all looked satisfied. As we sat, my mom was so happy and she even stated that we could invite relatives there for her birthday blowout.
Sentosa is a popular resort in Singapore. Sadly, so I can't reference their theme in uniform and menu...
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| Menu Cover |
For drinks we ordered
Bandung (70 php),
Barley with Pandan (55 php) and
Wintermelon Tea (55 php)
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| Bandung |
Bandung is my favorite Singaporean beverage. I always order this whenever this is available at Singaporean or Malaysian Restaurants. It is milk with rose syrup and sometimes with grass jelly. Their version of Bandung is pretty good but not the best. I could taste the rose flavor and it was not too sweet.
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| Wintermelon Tea |
The
Wintermelon Tea was the worst among the three kinds of beverage we ordered. It tasted like concentrated syrup. We had to request a lot of ice just to neutralize the strong sweet taste.
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| Barley with Pandan |
My sister order the
Barley with Pandan. She was quite satisfied with it.
For appetizer, we ordered the
Chai Tow Kway (280 php). It was spicy with sesame seeds, pineapple, raddish, turnips and I'm not sure what the rest are. This is deliciously spicy. Although it gets too spicy if you eat too much so we found it difficult to finish.
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| Chai Tow Kway |
We ordered
Fried Buns (120 php). We love these! We always order them whenever we can. Its similar to Steamed buns (siopao) except it has has a crunchy other layer because of the frying process. Their
Fried Buns are the same as rest. Good but nothing distinct.
For soup we had Fish Noodle Soup (280 php). This is our best order for the night. I loved how soft and tasty the fish ball was. It is probably the one of the best fish ball I have ever had.
For main course we ordered a
Hainanese Chicken Half (600 php).
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| Hainanese Chicken Half |
To pair of the Hainanese Chicken Half, they ordered Hainanese Chicken Rice (35 php/cup). This is when my family got disappointed. As they ate their Hainanese Chicken Rice, it was still uncooked. It was hard and short. My siblings thought that how it was and did not bother complaining. When my mom noticed, she complained. They offered to replace it though. But my mom was no longer in the mood to eat.
They checked the take home Hainanese Chicken Rice for my little sister was also uncooked and they replaced it. As they say there is always a first time, it was our first time to dine and be served with uncooked rice.=p
Hainanese Chicken Rice
Compare the
Hainanese Chicken Half (600 php) with the
Hainanese Chicken Rice Value Meal (95 php) with FREE
Hainanese Chicken Rice we ordered for take home for my little sister. Based on the pricing, everyone was expecting that our
Hainanese Chicken Half would be at least six times the value meal. But I guess we should have ordered the value meal instead.=( We also found out only when we opened my sister's take home package that their version of
Hainanese Chicken was suppose to be served with four types of sauces because we were not given any.=(
Take a look at how long grained the cooked rice should have been as compared to the one above.
The
Chicken Satay (200 php) was pretty good. The chicken was tender and it was tasty.
So I got some of the
Hainanese Chicken and ate it together with my
Vegetable Curry Value Meal (95 php). I was still eating happily unlike my family who were disappointed when they found out that their rice were uncooked until I saw something lingering in my
Hainanese Chicken. It was a white curly hair with a bit blackish tip. The waitress immediately took my plate back to the kitchen. She also took the strand of hair back to the kitchen for inspection.
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| Hair (Sorry for the crappy photo caused my own shadow) |
They offered to replace my
Vegetable Curry Value Meal and a 20% off on our Hainanese Chicken Rice.
My first Vegetable Curry Value Meal
It took some time before the replacement came but when I got it, I was quite satisfied since it was upgraded. It had broccoli and mushrooms now and the peanuts and anchovies have turned into "achara". It was also hot so I knew it was freshly cooked. The taste was a typical Chinese curry. With the added mushroom and broccoli, it tasted sweeter and better than the first one.
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| My second Vegetable Curry Value Meal |
The owner was there so my mom talked to him in Chinese and told him about her disappointment over the rice. Perhaps, she was expecting an apology. Instead, the owner replied in Chinese too and said "you know how employees are" and walked away.
Even though I was eating, my mom was indicating that she wanted to go out of their as soon as possible. She was asking for the bill but it took them almost an hour just to have it ready.
As she settled the bill, we left in a hurry. I tried the "achara" a bit before going.
When we got home, my sister opened her take home and she said the achara was spoiled. Now, I am wondering whether I ate spoiled achara or not since I was in a hurry then. =/
The sad part is that we didn't have a chance to order dessert. They had two interesting desserts.=(
Overall, it not a satisfying meal because of the series of unfortunate events and a lack of positive reinforcement. We would have been comforted by mere apology. But instead we heard the waitress mutter "ang dami naman reklamo" (they have many complaints). The service was slow. In fact, the
Hainanese Chicken Half,
Fried Buns and the
Satay was served first. Then the appetizer,
Chai Tow Kway followed. After a very long time, the
Hainanese Chicken Rice came and the
Fish Noodle Soup came last. So the
Hainanese Chicken was already cold and dry when we ate it. The price was high above average based on the quality of the food. We were billed a net of 1,600 php (20% of the Hainanese Chicken already deducted). I could suggest better Singaporean restaurants for the same price range such as Tao Yuan, Wee Nam Kee and more. On the other hand, their ambiance is good. It is also one of the few restaurants that serve food without MSG. Since its still on its soft opening phase, I hope incidents like ours won't happen to anyone ever again.
