I met up with Bak Bak and Bak Bak 2 this week and brought them to Montana Singapore because Bak Bak wanted western cuisine and desserts. Montana started out as Montana Brew Bar, a semi bar and waffle place. Some of the original dishes included the popular Mac and Cheese Waffle and the red velvet waffle stack. They have since revamped their menu a number of times. This is my second visit, the first was with Ms MooMoo.
We kicked off the meal with Mac and Cheese Fritters with Tomato Relish ($11). Bak Bak as her name suggest wants to try everything on the menu. I found this side to be pretty good! I like it that it was fried till crispy without as residue oil left in the bowl. The mixture of mac and cheese with an added spiciness also appeals to my taste buds. Going with the tomato relish, it makes for a great opening dish.
For mains, Bak Bak 2 had the Crab Aglio Olio ($20.80). It comes with loads of chunky crab meat tossed inside the Aglio Olio. The pasta was cooked till al dente with the garlic flavour just right. The crab meat is probably one of the most generous servings I've seen in an Aglio Olio dish and probably made the dish very much value for money.
Bak Bak settled for the Signature Mac and Cheese Waffle ($13.80) on my recommendation. I'm disappointed to say that the standard dropped from my very first visit. One of the most intriguing aspects of this dish is the wonderment of where the Mac and Cheese is. It's actually inside the waffle and taste will be apparent when you cut it up. It's also the signature dish of Montana Singapore so for this dish to fail in quality, makes me wonder if Montana Singapore is starting to lose their identity. The waffle is still baked till crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. The issue here is the generosity in the Mac and Cheese serving. The taste was totally missing, it felt like an empty waffle. In fact, it felt like eating plain waffles with tomato relish. What's the point of expanding their menu and compromising on the quality of signature dishes? It pisses me off further because I brought my friends there after having a positive experience a year ago.
Rant aside, I decided to try something new and picked the Southern Fried Chicken Waffle ($14). This one is a mixed review with Bak Bak finding the chicken to be tasty and well marinated with the sous-vide southern spice batter. I on the other hand found the dish difficult to finish. While the waffle was crispy and fluffy, I found it a tad dry going with the southern spice marinated chicken. I agree that I found the chicken tasty on the initial bites but had difficulty finishing because it became a 'jelat' experience subsequently. It's probably not a bad dish to share but it's a little overwhelming if it's a dish for 1.
Finally for desserts, it's a struggle between the waffle stack or the new instagram worthy cakes they just added. Bak Bak chose the cake and we settled for the Smokey Nutella ($14.80). It's not a very big cake but it's enough for 3 people to share. I'm almost ashamed to say that I went against my better judgement to choose the waffle stack because I gave in to my weakness for picture worthy desserts. The cake was very ordinary. It's probably a decent cake but nothing out of this world. Enough said.
Will I be back again? Maybe not. I am very much unforgiving when it comes to poor execution of signature food. I mean, com'on, if the very thing that made you known in the first place is presented badly, how do you expect to retain the trust of any customers? People are bound to order the signature dishes and it's almost a sure-fire way to keep customers away in double quick time. To be fair, Montana Singapore has a very interesting concept and I'm not sure if it's the chef's off day for my experience. If you aren't too fussy with food and would like to give their waffles a chance, it's probably a novel experience at the heart of town.
Montana Singapore
1 Selegie Road #02-25 Pomo Singapore 188306