http://sparklette.net/food/stevos-salads-n-such/ http://sparklette.net/food/stevos-salads-n-such/#comments Sat, 31 Jul 2010 10:20:38 +0000 Veron Ang http://sparklette.net/?p=993 A little eatery that goes by the name Stevo’s Salads n Such has opened along Upper Thomson Road. While this casual restaurant is small in size, the fine quality of its Australian fares would certainly put its more established Western counterparts to shame.

Hailing from Perth, Australia, owner Stephen Singh was the talented man behind the cooking at Charco’s. After leaving Charco’s, he started Stevo’s, offering an even more extensive range of dishes here. Despite Stephen’s humble attitude (“I’m really not a chef”), we sure are big fans of his excellent cooking.

Salads

The salad bar boasts 8 different kinds of colourful salads that include Greek salad, egg salad and fruit salad amongst others.

Caesar salad
Rating:

With its great-tasting dressing and the crispiest croutons, the ever-popular Caesar salad is easily our favourite.

Seafood salad
Rating:

Seafood fans can indulge in the seafood salad, which comprises morsels of crab stick mixed with juicy prawns.

Fruit salad
Rating:

The fruit salad, a combination of apple and pineapple slices topped with cherry, is fitting as an after-meal palate cleanser.

Mains

Chili mussels
Rating:

The chilli mussels certainly hit the spot.

If a bunch of plump mussels stewed in a chunky spicy tomato gravy and paired with bread buns sounds good, wait till you try it. We like this so much that not only do we lap up every last bit of the succulent sauce, we even order a second serving for takeout!

Wild mushroom ravioli
Rating:

For something milder, go for the wild mushroom ravioli. The pillows of pasta covered with thick, creamy sauce certainly serve as good comfort food. While the ravioli sheets are silky smooth, they would taste even better if they were thinner.

Lamb ribs
Rating:

To satisfy the carnivore in you, go for the lamb ribs. We first fell in love with these at Charco’s, and are delighted to find them here, too! While these may not be the meatiest ribs around, the great-tasting honey glazed meat helps make up for it.

Spicy chicken
Rating:

The spicy chicken (you can also opt for the non-spicy roast chicken) comes in various portions, and are perfectly marinated with a sweet and spicy sauce.

For both the lamb ribs and the chicken, you can choose to complete the meal by having salads or fries to go along.

Heat Challenge

Think you’ve got the chops to eat spicy food? Take up the Heat Challenge! The buffalo wings come in 5 levels of spiciness, 1 being not spicy at all, 5 being crazy hot!

If you can finish half a dozen of the level 5 wings within 5 minutes, a certificate is yours and you get your photo taken and displayed proudly at the restaurant! Last we checked, a dozen or so customers have successfully completed this feat!

Buffalo wings
Rating:

One thing for sure: These wings are finger-licking good!

Not ready to numb our taste buds (yet), we venture into the level 3 wings. Even for the self-professed seasoned spicy food eaters that we are, we still find ourselves gulping down that spice-relieving Esprit drink! Be safe, go for level 2.

The Vibe

The restaurant takes up a corner unit along a row of shops and eateries. The atmosphere here is casual and laid-back, with many tables spilling out into the outdoor seating area. A blackboard hanging on the wall displays the good mix of dishes that also include burgers (with a vegetarian option) and kids’ meals.

A large picture of the rustic outback covers the wall on one side.

Even before leaving this humble restaurant, we are already planning our next trip!

Notes:
- The restaurant is very new and still reviewing menu prices. Please refer to their website for the up-to-date prices.
- There is no service charge or GST.
- No pork, lard or alcoholic beverages are served here. Halal certification would be applied for along the way.

Have Your Say!

Know of any more hidden gems and promising new restaurants? Let us know!

Stevo’s Salads n Such
215R Upper Thomson Road
Singapore 574349
Tel: +65 6554 0636 | Website

Bus services: 52, 132, 162, 162M, 163, 165, 166, 167, 410, 855, 980

Opening hours: 11am – 10pm (Closed on Mondays)

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There are a couple of Arnold’s restaurants in Singapore, plus an additional “Express” outlet in Pasir Ris, which I suppose is for takeouts. We visit the City Plaza outlet which is packed to the brim with customers on a Saturday evening. They employ a system where you get a queue number and make your order first while waiting for a table. Not bad, we thought. Once a table’s available, we get our food soon after: a 2-person Combo meal comprising:

- 5 pieces of crispy fried chicken
- 2 buns
- French fries
- Regular coleslaw
- 2 regular soft drinks (top up 70 cents each for iced lemon tea)

Activity: What’s wrong with this picture?

2-person Combo meal
S$21.40
Rating:

With rather high expectations and a skeptical thought that this may simply be overhyped, I taste a piece of Arnold’s chicken for the first time. Immediately, I go “Whoa!” My partner arches his eyebrows at me, “Really?” before proceeding to taste it and give the same reaction.

The seasoning is perfect — flavoursome with a tinge of peppery spice. And the chicken is just tender and juicy, and freshly cooked to order. Yes, this IS yummier than Popeyes, thus deeming it better than KFC as well.

Coleslaw
Rating:

The fries and buns are average, and I still prefer Popeyes‘ Cajun fries. But the coleslaw deserves a special mention. In the Combo meal, they give a large bowl of it that we can never finish. It’s sweet and shredded very finely, and I like it better than the one at Wow Wow West.

If you have been following me around on Foursquare, you would see that I visited Arnold’s a second time after that. This time round, we check out the newer outlet at Hougang Green Shopping Mall, which is bigger than the one at City Plaza (above). The chicken tastes even better than before!

So what do you think? Do you agree with our verdict that Arnold’s is the place to get the best fried chicken in Singapore, or is there some other place we have yet to uncover? Share with us in the comments!

Arnold’s Fried Chicken ( Halal certified)
Delivery: Tel: +65 6276 6537 (6-ARNOLDS) | Website

City Plaza outlet

Hougang outlet

Pasir Ris outlet

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With a name like Chili’s, you can be sure that the food is sizzling hot and packed with flavour!

Chili’s Grill and Bar, the casual dining restaurant chain originating from Dallas opened in Singapore in 2009, its 200th restaurant worldwide. It brings to town an expansive and diverse menu so diners can chow down on their signature fajitas, American favourites such as ribs and burgers, and Tex-Mex cuisine, while sipping on one of their margaritas.

The decor is Southwestern-America style and the atmosphere is vibrant and lively, with ample booth seats, a bar and flat screen TVs showing sports. As part of its tradition, every Chili’s restaurant also sports a single upside down photo. We try to eye-hunt it down whilst waiting for our food, but once the piping hot dishes arrive, we dive in and give up on the photo hunting. If you do find it, let us know!

Margarita grilled chicken
S$14.90++
Rating:

I am particularly excited to try the margarita grilled chicken, because it looks every bit like one of those colourful Tex-Mex dishes with refried beans and Pico de gallo I fell in love with during my last trip to Dallas. I have been trying to locate decent Mexican or Tex-Mex food in Singapore ever since and haven’t found any. Swensen’s did try once but flopped.

The slab of chicken breast is seasoned with margarita mix and grilled. This is served atop rice with crispy tortilla strips on a bed of black beans, and topped with Pico de gallo. I think there is supposed to be tequila in it but I haven’t tasted any.

A Mexican expatriate once told me there is no such thing as good Mexican or Tex-Mex food in Singapore. For a long time I had to agree with him. Well, Chili’s does not disappoint and this is by far the best taste I’ve had of Tex-Mex cuisine in a long while.

Chicken Crispers
S$19.90++
Rating:

Right off the chicken menu comes the Crispers. These are chunky strips of hand-battered chicken, served with sweet corn on the cob, a large portion of fries, and honey-mustard dressing. The chicken is tender, but pretty plain on its own. So do make full use of the dip, which is delicious and adds a lot of flavour.

For extra crispy and spicy Crispers, go for the honey-chipotle variety that is tossed in a spicy sauce.

The chocolate molten cake is highly recommended. This is similar to my favourite dessert, the chocolate lava cake. It is warm chocolate cake topped with vanilla ice cream, with a core of warm chocolate fudge filling.

On a return visit, I am definitely having a fajita and a margarita!

Chili’s
Tanglin Mall
163 Tanglin Road #02-23
Singapore 247933
Tel: +65 6733 3317 | Website
Service:

Bus services: 7, 75, 77, 105, 106, 111, 123, 132, 174, NR8, 174E
Nearest MRT: Orchard

Opening hours:
11am – 10pm (Sun – Thurs)
11am – 11pm (Fri – Sat)

View menu

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First it was the wildly popular Botak Jones that started the craze. Then there’s Crazy Ang Mo. More recently, an Australian guy started Charco’s.

Thanks to readers Sheida and Ida who recommended Charco’s to me. We head down one afternoon and found ourselves thoroughly enjoying the chicken and ribs! The food is halal too. Yay for all our Muslim friends!

Coincidentally, Charco’s is situated at the same premises in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5 where a Botak Jones stall once occupied. The stall now occupies a much larger floorspace at the coffee shop, with ample seating available both indoor and outdoor.

Update on November 1, 2010: Charco’s has relocated to 89 Marine Parade Central.

We queue up at the counter to place our orders and make payment. Then a big numbered tag is given to us and all we have to do is sit down and wait for our food!

To get a taste of everything, we order the sampler platter consisting of:

• 1/4 lamb ribs
• 1/8 Portuguese chicken
• 1/8 original chicken
• creamed potatoes
• one choice of salad

If you wish to get more taste into your food, help yourself to the ketchup, chilli and barbecue sauces at the sauce and cutlery station. The barbecue sauce is goooood.

Lamb ribs
Rating:

Many Western steaks & grill restaurants like Tony Roma’s and my personal favourite, Jerry’s, serve pork ribs, automatically rendering them unsuitable for Muslims. But Muslims who wanna taste good ribs can go for Charco’s lamb ribs!

The ribs are tender and tasty, with meat that falls off the bone easily. They are coated in a dark sweet sauce that brings out the smokey flavour very well. We actually prefer this to pork ribs as it is far less fattening.

Portuguese & Original chicken
Rating:

When you have the Portuguese chicken and the original chicken side by side, it’s easy to compare the two. The Portuguese is spiced and flavoured while the latter is plain and ordinary. We prefer the first. No surprises there.

Don’t forget to pile on the barbecue sauce for the ordinary chicken as it can get quite bland on the inside.

The salad bar by the counter displays an appealing array of colourful salads such as coleslaw, egg, seafood, Greek, Caesar, etc. The sampler platter comes with a choice of salad, so we go for the seafood salad.

Seafood salad
Rating:

The salad portion is huge! It comprises of sliced crab sticks and a couple of plump shrimps. Nice, and totally my cup of tea. For those of you who are regulars, which other salad is worth trying, too?

Creamed potatoes
Rating:

What we find rather unusual is the creamed potatoes. They have a milky quality and are dusted with red pepper for flavour. However due to the ample servings of meat, we can barely eat any! Given a choice, we would very much like fries or wedges instead.

Perhaps due to the obscure location, the coffee shop isn’t exactly jam-packed during the afternoon chow hours. The food is served promptly too, even for the more complicated sampler platter.

Charco’s ( Halal certified)
89 Marine Parade Central #01-750
Singapore 440089
Tel: +65 6455 3711

Opening hours: 11am – 10pm daily

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]]> 29 http://sparklette.net/food/popeyes/ http://sparklette.net/food/popeyes/#comments Thu, 06 Aug 2009 04:50:43 +0000 Veron Ang http://sparklette.net/?p=864 Wanna feast on finger lickin’ good fried chicken? Well, you probably can’t get it at KFC these days. But I’ll tell you where you can. Popeyes!

No, not the spinach-eating cartoon character. Not exactly. I’m referring to Popeyes, the world’s second largest fast food chain specialising in chicken!

But hey, if we’re talking about food quality, Popeyes trumps its biggest competitor any day. Not only are the chicken and fries tastier and crispier, they are less oily, too.

3-piece chicken combo
S$9.80
Rating:

For the chicken flavours, you have the choice of New Orleans Spicy or Louisiana Mild. I haven’t had the chance to savour the buttermilk biscuits and mashed potatoes (they ran out), but I hear they are amazing!

Each time I eat the KFC fried or popcorn chicken, the breaded crispy skin is very thick and, frankly, not very crispy or appetising. After a while, I just feel like I am chewing on cardboard. Does anyone else feel the same way?

Popeyes’ chicken is different; the skin is light, crispy and simply a joy to eat. What’s more, it retains that amazing crispiness even long after I’ve taken a hundred photos of it!

Just as satisfying are the French fries. They remain surprisingly crunchy even towards the end of the meal, golden brown with the wonderful flavours of Cajun spices.

Seriously, nothing turns me off more than munching on soggy fries. There’s really no excuse when they’re already soggy when you’ve only *just* ordered them off the counter. That’s McDonald’s and KFC I’m talking about.

While the restaurant was originally named after the fictional detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in the movie, the French connection, Popeye the sailor eventually became the main character fronting the marketing efforts.

That’s also why you get to watch old Popeye’s cartoons while digging in! Very classic :) after Disney Naturally closed down, this is one other cartoon-themed eatery where parents can bring their kids.

Interesting titbit: the late founder Al Copeland amusingly claimed that he named the restaurant “Popeyes” because he was “too poor” to afford an apostrophe. Haha :)

I wish there were more Popeyes restaurants in Singapore besides the ones at Changi Airport and Singapore Flyer. For many people that need a quick fix of fried chicken, they have no choice but to head to the more ubiquitous KFC.

Update: New outlets have opened! See below.

Better yet, throw in home delivery, too! I’m sure Popeye’s killer biceps can handle that.

Where do you go when you want to taste the best fried chicken in Singapore? Share with us in the comments!

Popeyes ( Halal certified)
- Ang Mo Kio Jubilee Entertainment Centre
- Bedok Point
- Century Square
- Downtown East
- ION Orchard
- Orchard Xchange
- Punggol East
- Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 3
- Singapore Flyer
- Square 2
- The Cathay

Website

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My first peri peri experience was at AJ’s Piri Piri Chicken, another UK franchise that is modelled after Nando’s. Their chicken didn’t wow me. So I was very much looking forward to checking out one of the many Nando’s outlets scattered across Malaysia.

The spicy chicken here even comes with a cute little flag that indicates the spiciness level on the “Peri-O-Meter”. That’s like what some people do for burgers!

¼ chicken with 2 sidelines
RM$14.50+ + 5% government tax
Rating:

I order the classic chicken to get a taste of the peri peri sauce. For a quarter chicken, the size is ample. Even though there may be no visible sauce on the dish, the meat certainly is packed with flavour, the result of 24 hours of marination before being flame-grilled to perfection.

If you like your food salty, sour and spicy, then you would absolutely love peri peri chicken. For me personally, I do prefer some sweetness in my spices and curries, so I haven’t really taken a liking to it. I’m just glad that the sweetness of the coleslaw balances out the sourness.

As indicated by the coloured flag, the “mild” spiciness level is really comfortable. I think most people, first-timers included, can handle the next degree of spiciness, “hot”, well.

All chicken meals here come with two side dishes. I choose peri chips and coleslaw, among others like old style chips, Mediterranean rice, peri corn, peri potato salad, grilled veggies and fresh salad.

The chips are sprinkled with peri powder. If you are like me, you would definitely need some sauce to dip the chips.

Each table comes with four different types of sauce — ketchup, extra hot, hot and garlic peri peri sauces. After sampling the latter three, I find that they aren’t THAT spicy!

Here’s the aforementioned Peri-o-metre that allows you to “choose your heat before you eat”. Despite what they say, the “mild” sauce is unexciting and does not provide much of an adventure. I find myself reaching for the extra hot peri peri sauce most of the time!

I think I must be among the minority that aren’t a fan of the peri peri chicken. Heck, they don’t need my business anyway; the restaurants are already packed all the time!

Attached Nando’s menu here for your reference. Dine happy!

Nando’s ( Halal certified)
All outlets
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Website

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]]> 32 http://sparklette.net/food/aj-piri-piri-chicken/ http://sparklette.net/food/aj-piri-piri-chicken/#comments Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:46:23 +0000 Veron Ang http://sparklette.net/?p=851 How does this sound to you: a well marinaded and perfectly grilled chicken, drenched in a fiery hot African sauce? I don’t know about you, but that sure made me salivate!

As soon as I hear that the UK fast food chain, AJ’s Piri Piri Chicken, has set up its first franchise outlet in Singapore that promises to bring us the aforementioned chicken, I make a mad rush down to grab a piece. It’s on the 5th level of Iluma, the new shopping mall at Bugis.

So what is piri piri? It’s a tiny red chilli pepper that is found in Africa. The Portuguese blend it with various herbs and spices and voila! There’s your hot hot piri piri sauce!

The restaurant serves the Afro-Portuguese chicken in different tantalising styles like hot plate, burgers, wraps, pastas and more.

¼ Piri Piri Chicken
S$7.20+
Rating:

Of course, a virgin taste test should start off with the piri piri chicken in all its naked glory. So I order the quarter-chicken with fries on the side, but you can opt for sweet corn if you wish. With 3 different sauces to choose from — mild, very spicy and lemon herb — I go for the first. When unsure, always err on the safer side.

For S$7.20, the lone piece of chicken thigh sure looks puny! I tell myself that quality is more important than quantity. But disappointingly the sauce is nothing to shout about. It is more salty than anything else, without any hint of other herbs. This can’t be what the real piri piri sauce tastes like, can it?

On top of it all there is way too little sauce. It would help a lot if the dish comes with a small tub of the sauce on the side.

Super Slimmer chicken wrap
S$6.80+
Rating:

Thankfully, the Super Slimmer chicken wrap fares much better. Again, the chunk of chicken in the wrap is pretty small. But it also tastes very good, with the seasoned flavours penetrating all the way to the centre of the flesh.

This also happens to be a healthier dish, where the less fattening chicken breast meat is used and layered with vegetables.

Earlier on, I’ve asked for warm water as I’m nursing a nasty cough. Unfortunately they are unwilling to do that. (The staff asked the manager, who said no right in front of me.)

The soreness soon dissipates when I make my payment and notice a 25% discount on my bill. Suddenly the meal seems a whole lot more reasonably priced! They are “not sure” when this promotion would end, so do take advantage of the discount while you can!

Click to enlarge

Clearly, the restaurant’s isolated position in an already uncrowded mall does not work to its advantage. It is overshadowed by the Filmgarde cinema on the same level and an entire level of eateries just one floor down. Most people would simply head straight to the more accessible restaurants and miss it altogether.

I hear that Nando’s is the “original” fast food chain that specialises in piri piri chicken. Here’s my review of Nando’s in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Gotta check out the one in Singapore soon!

Is there any other eatery in Singapore that sells piri piri chicken?

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]]> 28 http://sparklette.net/food/secret-ingredient-in-chicken/ http://sparklette.net/food/secret-ingredient-in-chicken/#comments Sat, 15 Jul 2006 05:36:34 +0000 Veron Ang http://sparklette.net/?p=422 Ever wondered why the food served at restaurants seems to taste so good sometimes? Or how their chicken in particular is always so savoury and tasty? I am one of those people who love dining out since no one in my family is a particularly good cook. But we all know that food prepared anywhere else other than at home tends to be a little more calorific (and probably less hygienic) than desired.

But they are also more tasty! People tend to think that it’s due to a large use of MSG to enhance the taste of the food. In fact it may just be a secret ingredient used, and a much healthier one at that.

My mom cooked a dish of chicken thighs this morning. At first taste, I thought it came right out of the menu at Swensen’s. I asked, how did you do it, ma?

Chicken Thighs marinated with secret ingredient
Unknown
Rating:

She then took out a huge tub of chicken powder and proclaimed proudly that this was the secret ingredient used to marinate the chicken. Wow!

My brother was given a few one-litre tubs of these powder from a client, all in different flavours. Each of these tubs makes 50 litres of soup! Hotels and restaurants buy hundreds of these every month!

So what exactly are the places that use this chicken powder?

Swensen’s, Pizza Hut (and possibly KFC?) and Ke Ai Ji. A-ha! Now the secret’s out! And we can all recreate the same delicious chicken dish at home! But due to the fact that it’s a secret ingredient, I am not allowed to disclose it here.

Amongst many other ingredients it contains sugar, spices and soya sauce. One thing for sure is that using this flavouring agent cuts short the work for any chef. My Mom didn’t have to add anything else to the chicken except for this powder, and it turned out delicious!

The next time you dine at Swensen’s or Pizza Hut, ask them what they used to flavour their chicken. I wonder what they would say!

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