Bibigo @ Marina Bay Financial Tower 3

Fresh and healthy Korean cuisine at Bibigo. This is one of my latest favourite restaurants that we like to visit especially at the MBFC Tower 3 outlet. The reason is because there are lesser people over there after work. Bibigo is definitely a nice place to go if you are craving for fast and yummy Korean food and do not want to spend a bomb over a meal.

 

We have patronised the restaurant for at least 4 times and we have tried most of the recommended dishes. The only thing to comment was that the menu don't look attractive at all but yet the food is surprisingly delicious and surprising! Below are some of the food I had in my latest visit.

Seafood Pancake! This is really tasty. 

 Ginseng Chicken. Really like the way they present the food and is really tasty. The sauces were great to go along with the chicken.



 Fried Mandoo with fried ginger strips

Bibimbap - Choices of different types of Rice, Toppings and Sauces

Bibigo12 Marina Boulevard
MBFC Tower 3, First Level
Singapore 018982

Hosoi Teppanyaki House

This should be the most expensive teppanyaki I ever ate so far. Could have been more expensive if we ordered 2 "high class" set meals instead of one.

We arrived quite early that day and strolled in circles (literally) before deciding to take Cheryl's recommendation. But we had got different objectives. While I was trying to spot for good food and ambience, L was trying to spot for the handsome chef Cheryl mentioned. Oh wells...

From the outside, the place has impressive interiors exuding style and glamour. But surprisingly, as we approach the podium, we were greeted in Mandarine. I wonder which part of us looked like China people. As it was still early, we were the only ones there the moment we stepped in, and we were ushered to this particular table at the back, which I would refer to the "low class" table hereon

Not long after that, some 3 ang mohs came in and they were lead to another table near the entrance, which conversely, is the "high class" table. Then followed by another pair of casually dressed Singaporean chinese coming to our table, then another few rich looking men came in and sat where the ang mohs were.

Soon we started to suspect that they judge their customers by their appearance and segregate us according to our perceived spending power. Utensils at the high class table were of the fine dining setup like they had napkins but ours was similar to the foodcourt teppanyaki with only paper serviettes (tissue paper) to contend with. Our suspicions were later confirmed when I order the "high class" lobster set meal. They changed my cutlery and gave me the silky red napkin which the high class table is using.

Another ridiculous thing we were absolutely unhappy with is that they actually cooked the food all at the high class table. We were completely ostracised. And the supposedy teppanyaki experience turned into a normal a la carte dinner.



High class appetizer: The overcooked lobster (not bad still)



Low class meat: messy teppanyaki chicken and fish.



High class soup: campbell clam chowder



Low class miso soup and white rice



High class main: chewy sirlion steak (this was the best of all)



Low class vegetables: average bean sprouts and kai lan.



High class dessert: red bean crepe weird-combi with fruits



Alacarte appetizer order: inside-not-very-cooked goose liver (still nice)

Name: Hosoi Teppan-Yaki House
Venue: Suntec City Mall Central (#B1-058) Near the fountain area

Tony Roma's Restaurant - World Famous Ribs

While doing all these, we often have to sacrifice our hot and juicy food as they eventually turn cold and dry after photo taking. This french loaf is the first thing served for us to munch on before the mains come in. The presentation kind of resembles the fries in Swensens and makes us want to think if it were fries then it would be better. I beieve the idea is to have some free teaser-appetizer. The sauce, if I remember correctly, should be sour cream [but I need to check again]. Strange.



But of course, we ordered our own appetizer aptly named the "Appetizer Sampler". And I totally agree on its description (roughly) "We want to make it easier for you so we call it the Appetizer Sampler". On the other hand, there wasn't too much of a choice to pick from; or maybe that could be difficult for some people.



Everything here is sweet-and-sour. We got here the cheese sticks, wings and potatoe skins. I like the wings best because of its strong sweet flavour. The cheese sticks were interesting because they don't look like they are. However, it's not well done at all it's the kind of (pause) ... (back) I was away the last few moments trying to figure out what cheese was that and I was astonished the list of cheese so I give up. It's plain, whitish and close to tasteless. The sticks alone taste like fried soft rubber, you have to dip the dressings to go with it which includes the sour cream (again), thousand island and [insert last dressing]. Finally, the potatoe skin is just, well potatoe skins.



We were so lucky we didn't order the majestic Roma Feast or the double rib set meal (you will see why). Instead, we went for the fish fillet plus rib and the grilled chicken plus rib set dinners. Each of them also come with a choice of sides. Ours came with a bunch of potatoes -- Mash Potatoe, Fries, Baked Potatoe -- in decending order of rating, and a Vegetable Salad.

We figured that they must have an enormous stockpile of potatoes in their kitchen and making potatoe meals was their forte. In a single session, we were cornered into eating 4 potatoe products! Eat it whole, eat it sliced, eat it mashed and eat the peel! Ok, At least they used super fresh crunchy vegetables for the salad which I enjoyed.



But so far, we haven't talk about the world famous ribs! That's because we really only liked the fish that was warm and juicy, definitely above average. The ribs, tasted like char siew. If you are a char siew lover, you will like the ribs. And if you ordered the Roma Feast is x4 char siew while the double rib set is x2 char siew. I quite like char siew actually, but not choke on the whole piece and not with bones.

It doesn't matter if you ordered the Baby Ribs or the St Louis Ribs with extra spice. They taste they same like sweet char siew. But not the lousy type, maybe abit below the chinese restaurant standard. I believe the chinese, or asians, knows better when it comes to pork. And any chinese will know that you don't make Char Siew out of ribs, you make Bak Kut Teh.

I think seriously believe "World Famous Ribs" is a misnomer. They should take it down and remain as "America's Famous Ribs" (which I know the Sun Tec outlet is correctly using it). I don't mean to be critical here, I've tried other ribs before like I know Cartel serves XXL ribs that tasted as bad for me. But at least they don't claim a "World" title.

Name: Tony Roma's
Venue: Suntec City #B1-007

Friends - The Food and Wine People

After more than 4 years being together, we finally get to sit down as friends once again... nah, just joking. What we did was sat down inside Friends - The Food and Wine People.

We found the prominent location further beyond holland road and along the main road which branches out where the landed properties lie. Friends @ Jelita, somewhat near sixth avenue. The restaurant can be seen from outside with its windows facing the main road, and from there it looked like a cosy dining place for the night.

We were definitely expecting to see rich people there and so we tried to act rich as well. But I was wearing slippers, berms and tee - perfectly ill mannered attire. So we hesistated and carefully creeped close to the sides and see how's the situation inside. To our delightful horror, I am not alone. I guess, what really matters is whether we have the card to pay afterall. So we better continued to act like super rich.

We had the Italian set dinner each and had ordered all the different combinations we could have. The sad thing is we could not have the Lamb Shank. Apparently, it was so popular that it ran ur of stock. You can try it and tell us how tasty it is when you have time!



Now all the names of the dishes are so super long, and we are going to really try to write them down here. The starters consists of the (get ready:) Fresh Roma Tomatoes and Mozzarella Cheese with Mesclun (above) and Sweet Melon with Parma Ham "Proscuitto" And Marinated Vegetable (below). Only half of the words makes sense to us actually, they also sounded like a lot for starters. But when they came, the food occupied less than half the space on the giant white plates.



They were very delicate dishes and very pleasing to both sight and taste. The ingredients were fresh and of high quality. The "parma ham" was something new for us because it was cold and raw but smooth and tender at the same time. Eating it with the melon is quite a clever idea, like eating fruits (other than pineapple) and rawish meat together, it's special.



In order to appear richer than we are, we need to show some bit of indulgence. So the ala carte Burgundy Snail was picked. And, me was shocked when it came: the whole chunk you see in the photo above is only about 7cm by 4cm right in the middle of the really big serving plate. I don't know what or where is "Burgundy", but this not-so-tasty-snail(s) cost $15. I would rather pay for the escargots in Jack's Place.



Roasted "Sakura" Chicken Breast is one of the main dishes. It's like a simple piece of chicken meat, laid on top of some capsicum and finally brought alive by the sweet garlic sauce poured over it. But that's not all, we found a pleasant surprise hidden underneath he chicken - whipped potatoes. So the popular joke was realized:

Waiter: "How did you find the potatoes, sir?"
Us: "We moved the chicken and it was there".

We like cheese, and so Risotto with Seafood and Parmesan Cheese was the better of the main dishes. It's like baked rice but more well mixed with the Cheese and looks like fried-rice style of cooking. We love it because it also has 4 big juicy and crunchy prawns buried in the cheesy mesh.



We noted that they were also particularly generous in dessert portion because they gave both coffee/tea and the actual dessert itself. Some places we went allowed us to only choose the drink or the dessert. So after the sumptous meal we were able to enjoy a truly fulfulling dessert experience with the Amaretto And Chocolate Flan.

Name: Friends @ Jelita
Venue: 293 Holland Road #02-04

Ayam Penyat - The Flattened or so call the Smashed Fried Chicken

Just as L and I were contemplating on the apparent lack of special dining places, we spotted the sign board "Ayam Penyat" across the street while waiting at the traffic light. Inconspicuously hidden under Fu Yuen Building (opposite Shaw Tower), is an Indonesian surprise.

Given that it was already 8pm and it is hidden from view at the basement, we reckon that there were considerably many people dining in still. We later found out that this place was once featured in one of the chinese food programme on TV as well.

We actually felt that the presentation was a big plus, but the big minus is the lack of choices. The menu is a single A4, double printed with a few pictures - not enticing at the least.

Maybe it's just us that's very wrong, I think we didn't know how to appreciate Indonesian cuisine because the rest of the tables cleared every single bit of stuff down to the crisps and crumbs.



The small restuarant offers similar main rice sets with the choice of chicken, fish, beef and mutton. Quite a lot to finish in a set I would say. There is the meat topped with some cruchy stuff which I suspect to be kachang puteh bits, tofu, some boiled kangkong and a piece of tempeh. We had two of these sets - chicken and beef - and almost couldn't finish.

But their popular dish is still the Ayam Penyet. It is delibrately smashed with a wooden mallet after deep frying to loosen the meat from the bone.



We also had Chicken Soto with vermicelli which was featured under Soup. This is nice, tasted as original as it should be, no more diluted Soto!

Name: Ayam Penyet
Venue: 67 Beach Road #B1-01, NTUC Income Beach Junction