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.

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!!!

Pricing: ★★◐☆☆

Food: ★★◐☆☆☆

Ambience: ★★◐☆☆

Service: ★★★◐☆

Ending off with a Selfie of the Day :)

  

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Fullhouse Signature Singapore, Clarke Quay

Bad Things Happen @ the SAME Time

Sweetie Muffin and I decided to pop by for dinner as I happen to have a SGD20 Voucher from Fullhouse Signature Singapore after participating Sample Store's Ka Bloom Event also held at Fullhouse earlier. 

Super Crowded with the Ka Bloom Event's Participants...

The restaurant was flooded with Sample Store's members who were there to collect freebies to the extent that we cannot even take much decent photos at all besides the 2 below :(

Tracy + Samantha

Samantha + Me

Hence we were compelled to leave after collecting our samples as we might have suffocated there if we had stayed any longer. 

Other photos taken from the Ka Bloom Event

Restaurant Name: Fullhouse Signature Singapore
Website: http://www.fullhouseworld.com/sg/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fullhouse-Signature-Singapore/167303983460093
Location: 
3A River Valley Road
#02-04 Clarke Quay, Singapore 179020
Tel: 6338 0885 Operating Hours: 
Sundays to Thursdays, 11:30 - 01:00
Fridays to Saturdays, 11:30 - 03:00

Le' Ambience

Fullhouse is a theme restaurant from Malaysia with the "Home" concept with the family members consisting of Father Thomas, Mother Tracy, Sister Tiffani and Brother Tony.

Happy Family + A Pigeon :)

As there was an ongoing wedding in the inner part of the restaurant, we were seated at the outer part which was not as exciting :( It seems to be like an "IN" thing for youngsters to hold their weddings in such themed restaurants. Wonder how does the Ang Pow rates go... Hmmm...

Ongoing Wedding Inside...

The furnishings are Victorian Style and I bet many girls will like it as they look really romantic and dollhouse like~

And.. They have my much adored huge chandelier!!! *GASP*

Grand Victorian Furnishing with Chandelier

Everything in the restaurant looked so dreamy and romantic and the best part is that they provide free wifi to their diners too!

Free Wifi Access

Le' Voucher

This is the SGD20 Voucher we have obtained from the Ka Bloom Event.

SGD20 Voucher for every purchase of SGD50

The requirement is that we must have a minimum spending of SGD50 in order to qualify.

Le' Menu

Main Menu ~ The Cover Page looks so CUTE!

Happily Browsing through the Menu

I was happily snapping photos of the menu using my Samsung NX Mini when the 'tragedy' happened... My camera's battery went flat as I forgot to charge it earlier *ARGH*

Hence all photos of the food and surroundings were captured using my trusty iPhone 5S *EMO*

Appetizer Menu

Soup :)

Sandwiches

Desserts

Drinks

Le' Drinks

I ordered Mango Yoghurt whereas Sweetie Muffin ordered Peppermint Chocolate. 

Mango Yoghurt + Peppermint Chocolate

Peppermint Chocolate (SGD8++)

Sweetie Muffin ordered this drink as waitress informed him that his Tiramisu Frappe was unavailable. 

Peppermint Chocolate (SGD8++)

The drink tasted waaaayyyy tooooo diluted as too much ice was used to blend this drink. 

I think the peppermint float served by The Waffle Factory tasted a lot better than this at a much cheaper pricing too!

Mango Yoghurt (SGD8++)

Mango Yoghurt (SGD8++)

This tasted slightly better than the Peppermint Chocolate as it was less diluted (but still diluted). 

I can guarantee that the Mango Lassi you get from Little India tastes a lot better than this and it costs only like SGD3 at most? So, this is yet another disappointment.

Le' Food

We ordered a main dish each.

Pan-Seared Dory Fish (SGD26++)

w/ Mushrooms, Cherry Tomatoes, Asparagus and Mashed Potatoes

Pan-Seared Dory Fish (SGD26++) w/ Mushrooms, Cherry Tomatoes, Asparagus and Mashed Potatoes

Ordering this was a MISTAKE.



The mushroom tasted watery but bland. The asparagus normal. Whipped Potato + Dory Fish combination was weird as both of them are equally soft.

Cherry tomatoes were insipid as well. Wonder what is wrong with this dish?

C'mmon, the dory fish served by Hans tasted a lot better (yes, and cheaper)!

Tuna Sandwich (SGD19++)

Seared Tuna Meat Baked w/ Mozzarella Cheese in Panini Bread

I ordered this sandwich but was told that the batch of tuna supplied had 'gone wrong' according to the waiter. Hence he passed me the menu to reselect my main course.

I flipped through the menu and lost all confidence after tasting all that food above. Moreover, the CHEAPEST filling item on the menu is none other than the Tuna Sandwich!

Grouchy Me Browsing the Menu :(

The above photo was 100% candid shot taken by Sweetie Muffin seated opposite me. Did not realise that I was really sulking till he showed me that unglam photo. LOL!

I asked the waiter to calculate our 'total damage' if I were to cancel my order for Tuna Sandwich to see if we qualify the minimum spending of SGD50 and was relieved that I was told that our total spending (without the Tuna Sandwich) was SGD55 nett. 

Hence I gave the instruction to cancel the Tuna Sandwich immediately without much hesitation.

YAY!

Le' Dessert

Banana Paradise (SGD9++)

Golden Crispy Fritters served with Vanilla Ice-Cream

The portion of the dessert was smaller than expected. The scoop of vanilla ice-cream looks pretty stingy too.

If you were to buy Goreng Pisang (which means banana fritters in Malay) from the hawker centre / Pasar Malam (Night Market in Malay), I think one banana fritter cost less than SGD2?

Banana Paradise (SGD9++)

I am sure that the above portion consists of only ONE banana (or less)?

I could've bought a bunch of bananas with SGD9++!!!

Paradise? Not So...

Taste wise was rather pathetic. If they can't fry fritters as good as the Malays do, then please do not copycat their snack!

Overall

The overall experience at Fullhouse Signature Singapore can be summarised by the phrase below:

Looks Amusing, Tastes Insipid


I really hope they can spend more effort in making their food as I can guarantee that this will be the last time I am stepping into that place again.

Also, I will not consider the place as a wedding venue as I was appalled that the restaurant staff actually look many unglam photos during the wedding / solemnisation and uploaded them onto their Facebook Page as marketing material.

A Screenshot of photos posted on Fullhouse's Facebook Album

How does it feel to have your unglam photos posted as public on Facebook?

It is like the first time I criticise a dining place so badly for their food that I rated the food ZERO. Hence this shows how negatively I felt about the food served there.

We paid a total of SGD35 after lessing off the SGD20 from the Voucher and we think that the original bill of SGD55 is definitely not a worthwhile try either.

Pricing: ★★★★◐
Food: ☆☆☆☆☆
Ambience: ★★★★☆
Service: ★★◐☆☆

Session 2 @ McDonald's

As I cancelled my Tuna Sandwich order earlier (I was actually grateful that it wasn't available), I continued my dinner at McDonald's and tried the Spicy Chicken McWrap for the first time. 

Spicy Chicken McWrap + Upsized Drink and Seaweed Shaker Fries (SGD8)

I upsized my fries and drinks and hence I had Seaweed Shaker Fries!!!

I'm soo lovin' it!

The wrap tasted like the usual Spicy McChicken Burger in the form of a wrap except that it is much healthier with more veggies :)

The Seaweed Shaker Fries on the other hand tasted different from the ones served in the previous occasions. This tasted 'healthier' and hence not as tasty as I love the MSG taste.

Total Damage? Only SGD8!!

Judging from the receipt above, why would I want to order a SGD19++ Tuna Sandwich when I can enjoy a Medium Cup of Ice Lemon Tea, Seaweed Shaker Fries and Spicy Chicken McWrap for under SGD10?! 

Until Next Time :)

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