Dining With Jewelle

In an attempt to avoid the crowd, we went to Tampines on Saturday, since there are two malls just besides the MRT station.

Tampines Mall was still busy but we saw that Genki Sushi, which can be found nearly everywhere in Singapore, was pretty quiet. Since hubby is a big Japanese food fan and the fact that the place was empty, we did not have to think too much and got ourselves a booth straightaway.

We got Eu one of their kids meal, which was basically just fried mee (messily covered with sauce), fried nugget, omelet. I think by then, she was looking forward to coming home and eating proper food again! The saving grace was her favorite “bubbles” which were salmon roe.

As for Qi, I thought the steamed egg was the only decent food for her there and I know for sure that she was “sick” of Singapore food by that time. Poor her!

I think hubby was the only one who thoroughly enjoyed his food (as usual) and he got himself some plates of sushi and a huge bowl of seafood (prawns, squid and some kind of fish sashimi) which I had to miss as I am allergic to prawns.

I was a bit under the weather on that day and only the ramen with soup appealed to me.

I didn’t quite like how they serve their green tea, which was in a powder form and you have to make it yourself (each booth is connected to a hot water tap).

My verdict : Loved it because it’s not busy.

Hubby’s verdict : Brunei Excapade still top.

We first discovered Tony Roma during our trip to Canada in 2002, although I can’t quite remember whether we had it in Ottawa or Edmonton (those were the days of eating without having to flick the camera out first!) I do however remember the taste and especially the (huge) portions and since then, this place is a must go for hubbty and I whenever we have the chance.

There are some outlets in Asia and we’ve tried the Bangkok’s Tony Roma and hubby’s friend who were with us on that holiday were equally impressed.

So of course we would not miss the Singapore’s Tony Roma and on our recent trip and we went to the Suntec City’s outlet. The other outlet is in Orchard.

This place is kids-friendly. They gave the kids some colouring papers and crayons which gave us some chance to check out their huge menu. 

I couldn’t decide which to order so I just had the :

St. Louis Rib Sampler A dozen St. Louis Ribs in four flavors: Original, Carolina Honeys™, Blue Ridge Smokies™ and Tony Roma’s Red Hots™.

Talk about “besar kangkap” a.k.a greedy. The portion was HUGE! But the thing that spoiled it for me was the overwhelming smell of some spicy sauce, which I think was tabasco. I like tabasco but I think they overdosed it for this dish. It made everything taste the same, despite supposedly having 4 different flavors. Needless to say, I finished about 50% of the meal while the rest was polished off by who-else.

He, by the way had this, which was a combination of beef and fish.

“Funky Monkey” mocktail

The environment was really nice and cosy, we sat besides a glass wall which looked out to the Suntec Koi Garden.

But I think we’ve had it for Tony Roma for the time being.

However, those of you who has never tried Tony Roma before, check out this review and give it a try.

The first night we were in Singapore, we went to Chinatown for some dinner.

We headed straight to Smith Street a.k.a the Food Street, which is a little walk away from the MRT exit.

As all my friends know it, I am not a fan of sweating it out when I eat so of course I requested for an air-conditioned eatery. So when we reached the place we went to a small corner restaurant that did not look too fancy (fancy equals expensive and who wants to eat $10 mee goreng?). We went in and got ourselves a seat surrounded by “orang putih” patrons (doubtlessly trying to escape the heat just like me). Browsing through the menu, it was quite expensive and it was so easy to say “we changed our mind” when the waiter could not even offer warm water.

Air-con or no air-con, I am particular about prices and if I could save the money so I can splurge on other things, why ever not.

So out we went to the open hawker stalls and just ordered ourselves some fried noodle and laksa.

I thought the street was a little dim and not as bright as I expected a busy place to be. There were a lot of tourists as well as locals and later on, there was a lion dance performance a little ahead from where we were sitting.

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t see what is the attraction at this place.