aldora: S-City Café, The Arcade

A Weekday Lunch Affair

I was on half day afternoon leave as I need to head down to HDB to sign the papers for my resale flat in the afternoon last Thursday.

Hence I made an impromptu decision to visit the S-City Café for lunch as I am dismissed at 1pm and I believed that the lunch crowd at Raffles Place would be gone by then.

I had always wanted to visit the S-City Café after seeing a fellow instagramer's photo taken there.

Photo posted on Instagram

Hence I took the MRT to Raffles Place MRT and headed straight to The Arcade for my foodie exploration.

Arrival at The Arcade

I took the escalator up to the 3rd level and was glad that I managed to locate the café as it occupied a large floor area there.

Café Name: S-City Café
Website: http://www.scitycafe.com
Location:
11 Collyer Quay #03-25, The Arcade, Singapore 049317
Operating Hours:
Weekdays, 09:00 - 20:00
Saturdays, 09:00 - 17:00
Closed on Sundays and Public Holidays

I managed to get a seat without waiting but was surprised that the lunch crowd was still somewhat present.

Lunch Crowd

The staff there was very helpful and prompt in ushering me to my seat and taking my order.

Turquoise Chair Cushions with wooden tables and chairs

Traditional Décor

The décor of the place was pretty traditional - in fact reminded me of HK Cafés during my last visit to Hong Kong years back. I would never have imagined that they serve Western cuisine as well judging from the looks of it.

Free Wifi after 2pm. WHY?

One thing interesting about this place is that there is free wifi after 2pm... However it wasn't useful to me because I dined at 1pm *MEH*

Menu

I was browsing through the menu and realised that the café offers a huge variety of Chinese and Western cuisines and the costs were considered very reasonable in the CBD district.

Western Cuisine

Oriental Menu

As I visited the place on a Thursday, the deal was not for me - Grill Fish Fillet with Light Cream Sauce. WHY? I hate fish. But I went ahead because I am lunching on a budget as I forgot to draw cash from the ATM earlier. They should have offered the choices of meat on the daily set lunch because there will definitely be more people who hates fish like me too.

So in short, it was too bad for me that I disliked Fish and I visited there on a Thursday :(

Daily Set Lunch and Dinner Menu (SGD11.90+)

Desserts wise, not so fantastic because they do not offer much. Maybe they can consider serving Chinese Desserts like those pastes of Peanut, Black Sesame and Almond for a start :)

Desserts Menu

The Menu reminds me of Han's Café just that Hans do serve cakes and pies for desserts.

Thursday Set Lunch (served with drinks, soup and dessert)

Sides that come with the Main Course

Drinks, Soup and Dessert were served as a start - I was surprised that they can serve the food that promptly anyways.

I took a sip of their Iced Lemon Tea and realised that the proportion of tea was much more than that of the lemon's. The drink had a very "siap" (means acidic in Hokkien dialect) taste due to the high concentrations of tea (caffeine) in it and also I started to have heart palpitations afterwards as I am pretty allergic to caffeine.

Iced Lemon Tea

I think it would be safer if I stick to the canned Iced Lemon Tea instead...

Agar Agar for Dessert

Next, the agar agar (konjac jelly) tasted pretty refreshing and it came with a piece of fruit in it! LOL.

Cream of Broccoli served with biscuit stick

I think the standard soup to be served with set meals is Cream of Broccoli as I wasn't given a choice to choose the soup type. I don't really like Cream of Broccoli but I still can take that taste. It wouldn't be nice if somebody ordered the set lunch to receive a bowl of broccoli soup if they hate broccolis :(

Also, the soup tasted pretty diluted without much broccoli bits to be tasted in it.

Grill Fish Fillet with Light Cream Sauce (SGD11.90+)

Grill Fish Fillet with Light Cream Sauce

Yes, finally the main dish arrived!

Was glad that the cream sauce was able to mask the fishy smell at least.

I liked the mashed potatoes which came alongside with the fillet as they tasted smooth and nice (comparable to KFC's). The baby carrots tasted sweet too but the broccoli just so-so (not moist enough).

However, I wasn't too glad that the fish fillet served was a thick and fat one because I dislike the fishy texture also. Despite the fishy smell removed, I dislike the soft and soggy texture of the fish and the idea of having tons of fish meat bursting in my mouth when I bite it.

Perhaps fish lovers would love the "fishy" sensation from this dish I guess.

Thickest Fish Fillet ever tasted

I think I would still prefer Han's Grilled Fish Dory instead (and it cost about the same for set lunch) not to mention that they have my favourite coleslaw and fries. Also, dory fish does not have the fishy taste and texture which suits my tastebuds better not to mention that the lemon juice helps to make the dish more appetising. I would order this set lunch whenever I visit Han's :)

Han's Grilled Fish Dory (SGD9.80)
- Image Source: thehungrybunnie.blogspot.com -

Overall

The S-City Café serves decent food at reasonable prices but my experience with Thursday Lunch Set was not as fantastic.

I was once again very grateful and glad that I work at Tanjong Pagar where I have access to good food and lesser crowd. Not to mention that there was a Han's Café located beside my office building @ Springleaf Tower! Muahahaha!!!