Sunday, December 31, 2006

Indulgz Bistro

We were deciding between going over to Desire or Indulgz for countdown dinner and party. Indulgz had told us they are full but just when Lionel called Desire to give his card details for reservation, Indulgz called back saying they can give us a seat. So we opted for Indulgz.

Indulgz Bistro is located at Tan Quee Lan Street..



looking into the restaurant, it didnt appear to be as crowded as what we were under the impression that it would be... like how they said they were full and all...



the interior was decorated with lotsa balloons, probably for the party later....



the interior...



Their menu....



food wise, our orders were as follows....

i had a potato and garlic soup ($4.50)...



it was described as " a creamy soup made with real potatoes. Topped with homemade crunchy croutons ". It is a cream based soup but i wun say its creamy. The garlic tasted a bit raw. Taste wise it was just ok. Croutons were not crunchy though.

Lionel ordered the White Gazpacho (which happened to be the other soup on the menu that caught my interest as well.. hehe).. costs $4.90...



the descriptions on the menu got me interested.. " A unique chilled soup, created by our Chef. Especially appetising... "after trying Lionel's soup, i told him i think i have no complains about my soup at all. To me, his soup tasted like chilled mashed cucumber (fishy, maybe u as a buang kuang lover will like it la) and i didnt like it at all. I dun think Lionel particularly liked it either but i was sure glad i didnt order it coz i think for me it would be a torture if i hafta finish it. But of coz, taste is subjective, maybe i just duno how to appreciate it. U may like it.

We also ordered a tangy raspberry salad ($7.80)..



Basically, the picture says it all. Even about the taste. There is nothing more to imagine. Its just salad with raspberry sauce. One thing i noticed was how the egg didnt look fresh and it was badly peeled. I could see alot of uneven peels and holes on the egg white. I probably won't order this item again.

and of coz, the item that we came here for... Deep Fried Camembert Cheese with Berry Compote ($9.90)...



the berry compote....



the cheese oozing out....



a couple more pics of it...





this cheese wasnt disappointing. it may not be as exceptional as we imagined it to be but it didnt disappoint us. I like this item. The cheese has mild saltish and bitter-ish taste (the kind dats also available in blue cheese dat i like). This is probably the only item that we had today that was satisfying.

and because our rest of the meals didnt have anything really meaty, we ordered a chicken bites with tangy sauce. I wanted this coz i koe the chicken on my crispy pasta later is gonna be breast meat. This item costs $5.50....



another view of it...



the chicken was not juicy. Not that its very dry but its not juicy or tender which is a disappointment for me since its thigh meat. The taste was not good... not that its lousy but its not good. All in all, i didnt like it. The sauce was pretty alright though. Its a bit sweet and sour kind i guess. But haha.. it had coriandor which didnt work well with Lionel. Once he tried it and went .. " ack! Coriandor! " and his whole face wrinkled together.... while he reached out for his hoe garden to wash down the coriandor and he went.. " theres coriandor in it and i cannot be wrong about it " hahahhaha

next up was our mains. I had the crispy pasta which was one of the speciality of this place. Costs $14...



it came with a layer of cream sauce below layered with the crispy pasta and the cream chicken breast meat and mushrooms....





the pasta by itself was just a crispy layer without much taste by itself... I was telling Lionel dat it tastes somewhat like the crispy noodle we get from zee char stalls. Lionel tried it and said he prefers the cream sauce they offer here to zee char stalls. Haha.. i personally dont think much of this dish and i think if u've not tried it, u arent missing out much on anything. But that is just my opinon, u may like it but i felt very unsatisfied with my dinner as of this point. It felt that aside from the cheese, i could have saved my money and not order any of the other things.

Lionel pointed out to me on the menu that he thought it was nice that they had options for people to have some add-ons for their pasta..

Flower Squids - $3.20.. Chicken - $2.50.. Tiger Prawns - $3.20 blah blah blah... i agreed it was nice to have those options but when i saw chilli flakes - $0.50 .. i told Lionel.. " now that's not very nice.. 50 cents for chilli flakes!i thot its supposed to be free! ".. Lionel luffed and said.. " well, i wun choose that as an add on " hahhaa

Lionel ordered the butterfish steak which was another one of their speciality...



its served with a mango sauce...



one thing that most of my friends would know is, i don't like mango so i cant comment about the sauce. as for the fish.. i guess i cannot understand whats so special about it to be chosen as a speciality.

another view of the fish...



while lionel and i agreed that its not lousy, we dont find it exceptional. I think comparatively i would prefer my good old dory. And i think for a dish like this, it doesnt justify the price of $19.80.

For dessert, i had a panna cotta ($5.20)...



portion was good! It didnt taste like panna cotta especially not in terms of texture. Panna cotta i've tried were all more firm while this is very watery and lionel described it as wobbly....



but, while it didnt taste like the usual panna cotta i've tried, this dessert is good. It was nice.. second to the cheese, this is the second item dat satisfied me for dinner tonight. It had a strong vanilla taste.. quite milky but its was yummy drinking it spoon to spoon.

Lionel went for the brownie....



after tasting it for one bite, i didnt really wana touch it again until Lionel asked me to help to try finish it and i thought abt it for awhile trying to describe what i dun like about it and i said.. " dun want... it is not nice " haha.. and Lionel decided he would just finish the ice cream... " i'll just finish the ice cream den" and sooo.... we didnt finish it.

By the time we were almost done with dinner, it was around 9 plus.. half the restaurant has left...



it got us kinda worried.. hmm.. theres supposed to be a party later and from the webby we're expecting there to be around 80 people! We thought ok, maybe more people will be coming later.

Soon, even the last table (aside from us) left and the staff started to pack up for the party later.... clearing all the tables and chairs....



While Lionel was having his smoke break outside the restaurant, we finally saw this group of people also waiting to go in (we thought, heng ah... maybe there really are more people coming). The staff informed saying the party will start at 10.30 pm but they are running a bit late so they are still packing. While they were packing, we heard the group saying they are leaving and will go heading elsewhere instead. Lionel and myself sweatdrop coz it appears that aside from us, it didnt seem like there were other people there for the party aside from their few staff which makes up to about 4 - 5 of them. But we waited anyway.

and the staff continued to arrange the area for the count down party as the clock as tickling towards midnight....



the food items they had...





We didnt try any of it coz we were pretty full from dinner and very honestly, they did not look yummy to us. Lionel pointed out that they were all flour... haha...

We did attempt to check with the staff whether if they really had people coming or maybe they could give us a figure or something. They just kept telling us that there would be people coming but they cant tell how many. They just said their regulars are coming down. And as we waited, i just got more and more disappointed coz i really want a good count down this time round. I even promised not to be so particular about count down come next year. We tried walking down Liang Seah Street only to find it also pretty quiet.

Back at Indulgz, the staff had all changed into party clothes and....... we continued to wait. We had thought of going off but at that hour, it was too late to get anywhere.

I was really quite disappointed. I had alot of anticipation inside me built up for this countdown and having chose Indulgz was in hope of a good satisfying dinner followed by a good count down.

Den.... 2 guys arrived! We felt some hope! Followed by another 2. And it appears that they were all friends of the staff working there. By 11.45 pm, i decided its not going to happen. We left the place and i didnt get the count down party i anticipated for.

I don't think its the staff fault either... i mean i dun think they set up the place in anticipation for nobody. But i think i would haf appreciated if they could honestly tell us the figure or at least come over to tell us about it nearing the countdown time. Reflecting back, i felt like we waited on like dummies. I didnt appreciate that.

9 Tan Quee Lan Street, #01-01, TQL Suites Singapore 188098
Tel: 6238 7032

Fax: 6238 6267

mail: enquiry@indulgz.com


Operations Hours:
Tue-Sun 11am-2pm, 630pm-11pm until further notice
Closed every Monday, except for special occasions

2 comments:

bossacafez said...

hey junie, im sorry abt the loss of your mobile. i can totally understand how u feel coz i also lost my wallet (kinda) but was later picked up by someone at the police post. so yea, i can understand the feeling. lets just hope that some kind soul will return your expensive and pretty phone ya *hugs* u hv a temp phone at the moment rite?

anyway, isnt this the restaurant xiaxue went not too long ago? if u havent seen her post its here :

http://xiaxue.blogspot.com/2006/12/indulgzing-is-not-just-for-super-rich.html

can u believe, she actually sang praises of ALL the dishes LOL. apparently, it's a far cry from what you described, and from your description i can conclude its like a 4/10. tho' i understand that tastebuds can differ tremendously, your description seems more "beliveable" whereas for her, to sing praises of ALL the dishes is too ridiculously fake. therefore, better to take what she said with a pinch (or many pinches) of salt, coz its mostly FREE advertising on her part. while the pics in her blog look convincingly good, at the back of my mind, i know they arent.

love your food blog. still trying to finish reading all your archives and im not even half way there LOL. cheer up ya?

Junie said...

Hey evan, coincidentally, i just sent u a msg on friendster wishing u a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

as for my mobile. its really very heart pain and not forgetting all the smses, pictures and recordings i have inside. Its like someone is intruding into my privacy! Im not so worried about losing my digi cam or wallet. Its just very agonising. But thanks for the hug evan.

yes, this restaurant was featured on xiaxue's blog. Thats how i got to know about the place as well. And thats where i got the link to their site where it says they are gonna haf 80 people for the countdown party. Indeed it was really disappointing. But i believe its not xiaxue's fault as in, she did state it was an advertorial so its only right that she bring out the better side of the place.

the cheese was actually not bad.

haha.. actually my entries here are mainly from my personal blog which u probably would haf read them before evan!