Sparklette Magazine » food court

Go! Go! Curry! – Hot Or Not?

Veron Ang — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 08:10:53 +0000

Ever on the prowl for a good curry, a recent trip to ION Orchard yielded a quick stopover at the Japanese curry chain Go! Go! Curry!. I have heard a lot about their curry katsu don. As a fan of all kinds of curries, it got my curiosity stirred up.

The eatery can be found at the Nippon-centric Ion Food Hall on basement level 4; they also have a second outlet at 313@Somerset Food Republic. There is a small counter where you order and pay for your food, and a simple dining area that seats around 20.

On first impression, the prices appear to be rather steep given that the dining experience here is really similar to that at a food court. From the menu you pick a topping — plain, or with pork, chicken, sausage or shrimp — and the portion, in order of smallest to largest — Healthy, Economy, Business or First Class.

The dish is served in a boat-shaped bowl and brought over on a small wooden tray.

Chicken Katsu curry (“Healthy” class)
S$11.50
Rating:

The uninspired plating reaffirms my initial impression. The curry is ladled over the steamed rice, with sliced chicken cutlet on top and a mound of cabbage shreds on the side. Noticeably absent are the sweet red pickles that would have added a nice dash of red to the otherwise plain-looking dish.

While I have no complaints about the chicken slices, I have high hopes for the curry. After all, that is the namesake of the company, who is obviously confident enough to serve it alone with just rice and cabbage and price it at $9.50 – $12.50.

The curry is a dark brown colour, has a thick consistency and tastes sweetish. Japanese curries are usually mild in terms of spiciness and sure enough, there is almost no hint of spice. There is a distinct peppery flavour, but on the whole, the dish is rather forgettable. As I am eating this, one thought keeps running through my mind over and over, “Why are people raving about this ordinary curry?”

Click to enlarge

My first experience with Go! Go! Curry! is a sorely underwhelming one. For the restaurant prices they charge, the food quality and ambience are clearly of food court standards. As a friend hilariously pointed out, when you dine at ION Orchard you are paying for your seat at the same time! Despite all the hype surrounding Go! Go! Curry!, the curry isn’t so hot after all.

Have Your Say!

What is your experience with Go! Go! Curry!? Do you agree with my verdict? Share with us in the comments!

Go! Go! Curry!
Website | Menu

ION Orchard outlet

ION Orchard
Ion Food Hall
2 Orchard Turn #B4-55
Singapore 238801
Tel: +65 6509 4555

Opening hours: 9:55am – 9:55pm daily

313@Somerset outlet

313@Somerset
Food Republic Stall 24
313 Orchard Road #05-01
Singapore 238895
Tel: +65 6836 6855

Opening hours:
Sun – Thu: 9:55am – 9:55pm
Fri & Sat: 9:55am – 10:55pm

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Indonesian Grill Delights – The Story of the Girl Who Loves Chicken [Closed]

Veron Ang — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 04:54:06 +0000

Once upon a time, there was a girl who loved chicken. She loved it so much she would have it in every single meal.

One day, she was walking at Plaza Singapura when she came upon a stall at the food court which had a curiously long queue. Everyone bought a banana-leaf plate of food with the biggest chicken thigh she had ever seen!

“This chicken comes with a magical black sauce that grants happiness to whoever eats it,” an elderly man in the line said.

Intrigued, the girl joined the line, bought the grilled chicken, and ate it. My, she thought, this is the best chicken ever! And she felt happy.

As time went by, she returned to the stall for more chicken. But the lines just kept growing longer and longer. It came to a point where the agony of waiting for her grilled chicken became a tad too much. She went cold turkey (no pun intended) and weaned herself off the best chicken she’d ever had.

Years later, she was walking at another mall, Tiong Bahru Plaza this time, when, lo and behold! She found her beloved chicken with the same magical black sauce! And there was no queue! Eagerly, she bought a plate of grilled chicken. Her hands shook and lips quavered as she took the first bite.

“It’s a blast from the past!” she exclaimed. “This is the exact same chicken, minus the queue!”

Photo by kitchen secrets

It’s even grilled and served the same way, too!

Ayam Panggang (grilled chicken)
S$4.80
Rating:

It cost the same and came with the same sides of omelette, a bowl of soup and a yummy chilli paste. The chilli and the magical black sauce were just as awesome.

The only thing that may had been slightly different, she observed, was that the chicken thigh here was a wee bit smaller than the original, which looks like this:

No one seemed to mind. People were just happy to enjoy the grilled chicken without having to queue.

How should I know? Because I am she, the girl who loves chicken. And she lives happily ever after.

~ The end ~

Indonesian Grill Delights
Tiong Bahru Plaza, Kopitiam
302 Tiong Bahru Road, level 3
Singapore 168732

Bus services: 5, 16, 33, 63, 123, 195, 851
Nearest MRT: Tiong Bahru

Opening hours: 10am – 10pm daily

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http://sparklette.net/food/indonesian-grill-delights/ | 26 comments

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Padang Corner – Tasty Corner

Veron Ang — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:07:56 +0000

Like a typical Singaporean, I am very fond of spicy food, even if it means looking unglamorous while eating my favourite sambal dishes, nose dripping at the same time. For that reason, I love the robust flavours of Indonesian food, which tend to be red hot spicy most of the time.

At the kopitiam food court in Plaza Singapura, there’s always an impossibly long queue at the famous riverside Indonesian BBQ stall. But for people that are too hungry to endure the long wait, there’s another Indonesian food stall. The name is padang corner, a rather apt one as it is a corner stall too.

You can order the food here in the form of ala carte dishes, or rice sets.

Beef Rendang
S$2.50
Rating:

The beef rendang is prepared only upon ordering. Hence you can be assured of a freshly cooked bowl! Chunks of beef are served in a simmering rendang gravy. While the tasty gravy has just the right amount of spicy condiments, it is very oily too. (lately I’ve become more health-conscious so I tend to pay attention to such things.) had it been less oily, I wouldn’t think twice about slurping it all down!

Seafood Rice Set with Prawn
S$4.80
Rating:

For rice sets, you can choose from seafood, curry chicken or beef rendang, just to name a few. Each set comes with vegetables, and either an egg or fried beancurd. We ordered a couple of the seafood sets — one with prawn, the other sotong (calamari).

One conclusion I have come to is that the lady boss must really love to cook! All her dishes are cooked in different gravies. Even for the chilli gravy, she would have variations. For example, the prawns and the sotong are cooked in two very different chilli sauces. The prawn gravy is a bright chilli red colour with a sourish tinge. The sotong gravy is a deeper red, with a sweeter taste that is similar to sambal chilli.

And both of them taste good!

Seafood Rice Set with Sotong
S$4.80
Rating:

I do have a few major gripes though. The portions for the prawns and the sotong are rather skimpy for a $4.80 set meal. Also, the stall has yet to invest in a proper heater. So most of the food get cold if you go there in the evening. If you want non-soggy food with hot gravy, it’s a better idea to go there in the afternoon when all the food are freshly cooked.

Curry Chicken
S$4
Rating:

After discovering my most favourite curry chicken at Xin Wang, nothing else seems to compare. The one here is nothing to shout about, with a curry that’s watered down, non-spicy and bland. At the end of the day, it really is the curry that makes or breaks a dish like this.

In any case, an additional alternative for Indonesian food is always welcome. (it’s halal too!) the flavours at padang corner are tasty all right, without you having to wait long to be served your food. Just be sure to go there earlier in the day before the food turns cold.

Padang Corner (Stall 3) ( )
Kopitiam, Plaza Singapura
68 Orchard Road
#06-15/20 Singapore 238839

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Indonesian BBQ at Fork & Spoon – Last Lunch in Singapore (Before Japan Hour!) [Closed]

Veron Ang — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 11:55:33 +0000

By this time tomorrow I would have arrived in Tokyo, where I would be gorging on gorgeous Japanese cuisine for the next 11 days! In the days leading up to this trip, I have been stuffing myself fat with several meals of yummy Indian, Muslim and various other local food. I’m gonna miss the food here so much!

Today, I had my last lunch in Singapore (there’s still dinner and supper to go!) at the Fork & Spoon food court at Toa Payoh HDB Hub. To satisfy my daily fix of chicken, I had the ayam panggang (grilled chicken) at the corner Indonesian BBQ stall.

Ayam Panggang (Grilled Chicken)
S$4.20
Rating:

The portions were not particularly generous. In comparison with the popular stall at Plaza Singapura kopitiam, the size of the chicken here is definitely much smaller although the prices are almost the same.

Taste-wise, I did not like it very much. I still prefer the sweet black sauce at the Plaza Singapura stall. Also, the chicken flesh was dry and gave me the impression that it had been grilled and re-grilled a couple of times more after being left out for too long!

Still, I like the fact that the stall lady would obligingly serve it with all kinds of gravies that I request, such as the satay peanut gravy and sambal chilli sauce.

There you go! My last lunch in Singapore before the trip! So it wasn’t the best grilled ayam of all time. But it tasted Singaporean all right (ironically the stall name is “indonesian BBQ”), and that’s good enough for now.

Indonesian BBQ ( Halal certified)
Fork & Spoon
Toa Payoh HDB Hub
470 Toa Payoh Lorong 6, level 2
Singapore 310470

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http://sparklette.net/food/indonesian-bbq-at-fork-spoon-last-lunch-in-singapore-before-japan-hour/ | 13 comments

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Riverside Indonesian BBQ – Best Grilled Ayam of All Time

Veron Ang — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 15:54:40 +0000

My, that’s one bold statement to make, and I make it with utmost confidence. (Ayam is chicken.)

The Riverside Indonesian BBQ food stall is located at the innermost corner of the Kopitiam food court at Plaza Singapura. It is positioned at the worst possible spot in the entire food court. Yet at any one time, it also has the longest queue of customers. Doesn’t that say a lot? Normally, I would have to queue behind a dozen people before I finally get my ayam panggang (grilled chicken)!

If you’re thinking “whoa! This is one sinful looking plate of calories”, well, you are absolutely right! But really, this dish is so good that it is totally worth every calorie and every gram of saturated fat! If you look around, most of the people seated in the 20-metre radius of the stall would be eating out of a green banana leaf lookalike plate.

Ayam Panggang (grilled chicken)
S$~~4.80~~ 5.30
Rating:

For this set you get the rice, a bowl of soup, a triangular slab of omelette, and a large, juicy chicken thigh. To be honest, the rice, soup and omelette are just meh. But the chicken thigh is one of the best things ever! If there was a kingdom of food, this chicken would be wearing a crown (or a tiara).

You get the option of whether to have curry ladled over the rice. I always say no, and ask for more black sauce instead. The black sauce is a sweet concoction that tastes so perfect I can find no fault with it. Believe me, I’ve tried! And for the past 5 to 6 years, not once have I been disappointed. In fact, the consistently plates of awesome grilled chicken is one of the very few constants in my life. (whoa!)

Of course, all this wouldn’t be complete without a good chilli sauce. You get to scoop as much of it as you would like out of a large metal tin. It is extremely tasty and has just the right amount of spice!

This stall is so popular, most of you may have already been there. But each time I go there with a different person, I would realise that he or she has never heard of this place before. That’s what this glowing review is here for: to make sure that none of you (in Singapore, at least) would miss out on this delicious goodness!

You can also find other dishes such as curry chicken, breaded prawns, chicken satay (meat skewers), calamari, etc. But obviously the grilled chicken is the bestseller, and for good reasons too.

Riverside Indonesian BBQ
Plaza Singapura Kopitiam
68 Orchard Road #06-15/20
Singapore 238839

View the original article and join the discussion at:
http://sparklette.net/food/riverside-indonesian-bbq/ | 33 comments

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Sparklette Magazine » food court

Go! Go! Curry! – Hot Or Not?

ION Orchard outlet

313@Somerset outlet

These posts may be related

Indonesian Grill Delights – The Story of the Girl Who Loves Chicken [Closed]

Padang Corner – Tasty Corner

Indonesian BBQ at Fork & Spoon – Last Lunch in Singapore (Before Japan Hour!) [Closed]

Riverside Indonesian BBQ – Best Grilled Ayam of All Time

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