Sunday 28 July 2019

Duckland - Fusion Cuisine by Tunglok Group


Apparently Duckland is supposed to be a duck specialty concept by the Tunglok Group however there's too few duck dishes on the menu for me to concur. I would call them a fusion concept and with that, it might be a more appropriate dining concept.


This duck confit and waffles ($20) reminds me of the one at Duck & Waffles in London. The duck is way smaller here though. According to my dining companion he felt the food was decent but gave no indication that it's a clear winner. I personally like the presentation given my soft spot for instagrammable food. This is just the beginning.


I settled for Good Ol' Fish & Chips ($18) which is battered with bread crumbs and comes with coleslaw and potato wedges on the side. I felt that the fish was well cooked but the bread crumb batter was a little over-fried so it's a little on the hard side. Other than that, I pretty much enjoyed my meal.

 

I felt the biggest highlight of this place is their instagrammable food. To prove the point, I had this Speculoos Affogato ($8.50) which is my biggest satisfaction for the night. Given how wary I was about overly sweet desserts, the staff assured me this is not very sweet and she certainly didn't oversell me. It's perfect!

The Ultraviolet Berries Lemonade ($4.50) also scored on how pouring in some liquid and stirring would make it change colour. All our phones were out to capture the moment.

I left the highlight of the night to the last. To say the good stuff first, the staff service was awesome. They asked me if I wanted Ketchup for my fish and chips on their own initiative. She checked if her recommendation of the speculoos ice cream was meeting my sweetness requirements. In the service line, this is so rare, I'll be back again just to experience it.

Sadly the story doesn't end here. The management team apparently were having their own side little party in the restaurant. Boy were they unruly. Oh yes, you read those articles about people smashing tables, laughing loudly and banging stuff in the papers (usually it's because there's disagreement), this one was in a friendly setting but every action imaginable you can associate unruly with, I got a live show. I'm not sure if this was supposed to be part of the instagrammable moment, was I supposed to film it with my camera so that it goes viral? In any case, I didn't have the guts to film such a rowdy group. They look capable of smashing my phone or me for that matter so I prefer to chicken out than risk my well being or my phone's. Because of this experience and I was having an important conversation with another person and we had to raise our voices to be heard, I will not be back again despite them having wonderful service staff. They gave me a voucher, not sure if it's to keep my mouth shut. I left it at the table so I can say whatever I like. What a pity.

Duckland
United Square Shopping Mall, 101 Thomson Road, #B1-09/64/65, S307591

Sunday 7 July 2019

Big Boys Sizzling - Quality Western Food in Hawker Centre


Big Boys Sizzling caught my attention because someone told me that they are opened by a former chef of Ritz Carlton. They have set up shop at Beauty World Food Centre and is part of the large array of food selection there. So I made this trip to find out more about the food after shedding fats at Bukit Timah Hill.


We asked the chef what were their key highlights and he mentioned to us their best sellers were the steak, cornflake chicken and mentaiko fries. The dish you see here is the Cornflake Chicken with Nacho Cheese Fries ($8.90). The chicken is really fried well. Some people might find the cornflake chicken a little on the dry side but because the exterior is fried till so crispy and the meat fairly juicy I'd say it exceeds expectation for hawker fare. I really like the fries too. I think that the fries batter is similar to what you find at Long John's Silver (my favourite fast food) so if you like Long John's like me, you will enjoy this.


So another friend chose to double his protein and added a dory to go with the cornflake chicken ($11.90). I'll say the fish is pretty normal, in fact I find Dory fish to be not worth the money. Won't recommend ordering it.


Aside from that, there's the Sirloin Steak with Mentaiko fries ($11.40) which according to my friend tastes awesome too. I'll say that the sauces that comes with the fries have successfully made all the fries true to their flavours.

As a whole, it was a pleasurable and indulging meal. For the price, it's definitely value for money. The portions are huge too! Aside from that, I'll say that because the portions are huge, it might be a little 'jelat' for some to finish. I guess the benchmark for good food is really whether I'll be back. Honestly, unless I'm around the area and crave for western, if not I doubt I'll spend there again. While it's definitely competent western fare, I feel it caters to the Beauty World crowd more than anything else. I wish the owner all the best!

Big Boys Sizzling 
144 Upper Bukit Timah Road, #04-25, Beauty World Centre, S588177