Monday, July 26, 2010

Nabins - Arabian Night of great cuisine?

I have to be honest: I’ve heard unending proclamations from friends about how the Arab Street area is a cornucopia of great eats, interesting buys and an “Indie cool” feel but I’ve never actually been to the region, my prior experience to Bugis limited to Bugis Junction, Bugis Village and the National Library. Thus, when a friend suggested eating at a restaurant of certain repute on Bali Lane serving Middle-Eastern cuisine, I leapt at the chance to soak up the “oriental” vibe. 

Alas, while my dining experience at Nabins was perfunctory, it was nowhere near as stellar as I had hoped.

The first thing that strikes one about the outlet (other than the rows of Shisha apparatus adorning a side of the upper floor) is the cosy interior. The soft lighting and layer of throw cushions and mattresses, embroidered Middle Eastern style, lining the floor (the restaurant has no chairs, per se, and the tables are all low coffee tables), together with the fact that all customers have to remove their footwear before proceeding into the dining area, lends a relaxed, comfortable air to the ambience. The dim lights, however, make for arduous photo-taking sessions and the decor, while “authentic” looking, have a distinct unwashed feel to them (plus, there were several insect carcasses trapped in the lights!).

The food was decent, with an equal number of hits and misses (although admittedly the “misses” weren’t all that bad either and could just be chalked to an unfamiliarity with foreign cuisine).

My friends and I shared two huge platters - a plate of their best appetisers as well as a roasted chicken dish.

The appetiser dish comprised Mushroom Olivia, Bitingan Mali (which is apparently some sort of fried eggplant with minced meat and rice dish), Kofta Kebabs (which I understand contain ground meat) as well as drumlets and fish bites. The mushrooms were salty and tasty despite being a tad dry (and sometimes harboured a hint of burnt taste) and the Mali was flavourful and packed with all sorts of herbs and spices that left a long-lingering aftertaste. The drumlets and fish bites, however, tasted like cheap Western fare while the kebabs were dry and hard to swallow, with a bland forgettable taste.

The roasted chicken was better overall. The chicken meat was unbelievably tender (without being overly crumbly), and the gravy was fantastically herbal and elevated the hard rice to a great staple side. Beware, though, that the gravy had a strong lamb taste and is not advisable for those adverse to strong meat tastes.

To top off the shared dishes, we also had two dessert dishes, one of which proved to be the best part of the meal. The umali, a bread pudding specialty, was absolutely divine, with an incredibly sweet and rich milk and almond taste that was amazingly strong off the bat but somehow did not leave too cloying or sticky and aftertaste.

For washing down the meal, I ordered a red apple granitas, a blend of grated ice, fruit juice and sugar syrup. The drink was refreshing and sweet (without tasting too artificial) but it had a decidedly cheap taste that likened it to a concoction one can get from a fancier bubbletea stall.

Just like the granitas, most of the food at Nabins was a good but not great. At about S$23 per person for the above mentioned menu (which was really filling), the outlet is a decent choice for those looking for a chill-out place but I’m sure there are other better choices around the area.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Nabins
Address: 27 Bali Lane Singapore
Tel: +65 6299 3267
Opening Hours
Weekdays: 10am – 11pm
Weekends: 10am – 5am

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Yum Yum Thai - is it all that Yummy?

I’ve been hearing from friends for ages that Sunset Way, a little enclave of eating outlets (amongst other shops) at the Clementi area, is a treasure trove of good, albeit slightly pricier, food. Thus, having recently moved to West Coast (not that my previous residence at Bukit Gombak was all that far away, though), I decided to celebrate the move with some friends.

Of course, we had to choose a particularly busy time to head down (dinner time on a Sunday night) so we more or less had to settle for the place that had the most seats, Yum Yum Thai, a Thai a la carte buffet restaurant. While the fact that the outlet had space to spare on such a busy evening lowered my expectations somewhat, I have to say that the overall dining experience was not actually all that bad, if not spectacular.

The all-you-can-eat menu boasts over 40 different dishes to choose from ranging from Thai salads to curry dishes to spring rolls to the ubiquitous Tom Yam soup. While none of the dishes were really spectacular or Michelin star worthy, or even particularly authentically Thai (in fact, several of the meat dishes had a distinctly Chinese taste), they were of decent standard.

The mango salad was zesty and packed several strong flavours into a refreshing, crunchy combination (the pomelo salad, though interesting on paper, proved to have an odd taste, clashing taste that proved a bit too...different for my delicate palate). The Phad Thai (misspelt as such in the menu), a stir-fried rice noodle dish, was delicious and had just the right texture and the Green curry was strong without being overwhelming. The Tom Yam soup, while just perfunctory compared to ones from other famous Thai restaurants, complemented the rest of the dishes perfectly, with its perfect blend of sourness and spiciness.

By far my favourite dish of the night, though, was the Thai fish cake. Made from fish patties littered with different herbs and spices, the fish cakes were springy and bouncy (without being rubbery) and had a fragrant, lilting aftertaste, a combination so drool-worthy that I ordered the dish no less than three times.

At $18++ for a weekend dinner, I thought the buffet provided a decent bang-for-the-buck (especially since it’s just about the more affordable place in the entire stretch of eating outlets at Sunset Way) and, while not fantastic, was definitely decent.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Yum Yum Thai
Blk 106 Clementi St 12 (Sunset Way) #01-38C Singapore
Tel: 6777 1025

Opening Hours:
Daily: 11am – 3pm, 6pm – 10pm

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Ya Zhou Cafe - more like NO Zhou Cafe?

Located at the basement of Suntec City near the fountain, the inappropriately named Ya Zhou (Asia) Cafe, which serves only Korean food, has a nondescript, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it entrance and tacky, food-court-style furnishings. The eating experience, while slightly better than the decor, wasn’t much to write home about neither.

To be fair, the food itself was decent on the trip I made there.

I had the hotplate saba set, a $9.50 combination of a hotplate saba dish, six pieces of guo tie (fried dumplings) and a cup of lime juice. The fish was nicely fried, with just the right texture and without any fishy aftertaste. The guo tie, too, was similarly well-fried, crunchy without being overly oily. The lime juice, while refreshing, was a tad on the sweet side.

A friend tried the kimchi saba fish soup set, a $10 meal that came with steamed dumplings (the sides can be chosen from an entire list) and another glass of lime juice. Unlike the hotplate saba, the saba fish soup was tasty but very fishy and proved too much to take after a while.

Another friend had the chicken bibimbap (Korean mixed rice) and the same guo tie and lime juice side combination. The bibimbap was packed full of flavour and spices. There was a good mix of ingredients and the overall product was filling and satisfactory.

Marring the food, though, was the horrendous service. Not only were the service staff unfriendly and rude, the particular staff serving us was moody and in an obvious fit about something or other and our change for the bill was practically thrown at us.

While Ya Zhou Cafe’s prices are decent and you get what you pay for (food slightly better than at the Korean stalls in food courts at prices slightly above those in food courts) but the terrible service knocks the overall rating down several notches.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Ya Zhou Cafe
3 Temasek Boulevard #B1-058A Suntec City Mall Singapore
Tel: +65 6333 5183

Opening Hours
Daily: 10am – 10pm