Singapore food - generally very poor quality

[Steve1960]

[
At least McDonalds is consistent. You don't walk into one, order your angry meal and be inclined to say, "THIS IS WORSE THAN THE ONE IN YOUR OTHER STORE. I DEMAND AN EXPLANATION."

For what it's worth, a quarter pounder sure is nice after a drunken bender.

But still not as good as a doner kebab with chili sauce, that is the best ever

[x9200]

Quality:
A young man promised to his girlfriend that he would bring her out for a high quality dinner for Valentine's day. Excited, the lady dressed up to nines and waited by her door to be picked up by the man on that evening. The man picked her up and brought her to McDonald's. Utterly smashed by venue, she lashed angrily at her boyfriend for the sick joke he pulled on her.

"Honey, this is a high quality restaurant. No matter where you go around the world, you will definitely a cheese burger of the same ingredients, arranged in the exact stacking order and with the same bun size."

Moral: McDonald's have high quality but poor standard of food.

Standard:
Two businessmen were on a week-long work trip in Hungary. At the end of the trip (and probably after a week of dreary local food), the duo decided to splurge on a nice meal of a familiar palate on company expense. They drove around the town and found a swanky-looking Italian restaurant. Relieved by their discovery, they made their way inside and had themselves seated in a well-decorated dining hall. Although the price of the menu was a little too steep for their comfort, the men decided to go ahead and savour a meal they had been craving for, thinking that surely, the price would justify the perceived standard of this fine-looking establishment.

Their soup arrived and one of them found a dead fly inside their soup. Before the first businessmen could call for a waiter's attention, the second man quickly doused the soup with a pile of table salt. Perplexed, but not wanting to question a hungry man, the first man watched as the waiter removed their soup from their table and brought second bowls of soup.

The second man smirked and said, "Wait for it."

Within a minute, a couple from the other end of the dining hall called out to the waiter and cried, "This soup is insanely salty!"

Moral: This particular Hungarian Italian restaurant may have high standard of food but poor quality.

Yep, in business/industry based, the quality can be defined as fitting/suitability for a purpose where the later can be called a standard.

[Brah]

At least McDonalds is consistent. You don't walk into one, order your angry meal and be inclined to say, "THIS IS WORSE THAN THE ONE IN YOUR OTHER STORE. I DEMAND AN EXPLANATION."

Actually.....I have in fact found them to be inconsistent.

The very few times a year, less each year from the last, when I eat that stuff I see the quality declining. A Big Mac in Japan or Thailand tastes and looks better than ones in Singapore. The past few times I had an egg muffin they were awful, and I don't remember them being so bad.

[nakatago]

[
At least McDonalds is consistent. You don't walk into one, order your angry meal and be inclined to say, "THIS IS WORSE THAN THE ONE IN YOUR OTHER STORE. I DEMAND AN EXPLANATION."

For what it's worth, a quarter pounder sure is nice after a drunken bender.

But still not as good as a doner kebab with chili sauce, that is the best ever

True.

[Wd40]

I got really bad stomach cramps day before yesterday, after eating oily and greasy food in the food courts. No more oily food for me.

I never had stomach problems in my life. I am going be very selective from now on.

[JR8]

But still not as good as a doner kebab with chili sauce, that is the best ever

Oh yes! With garlic sauce down one end, and chili sauce down the other. Get one on the way home after a right bender done the local 'because it seems like a good idea', take it home and wake up at 11am the next morning on the sofa/floor with half the congealed stinking remains clasped firmly in the right hand.

Rite of passage that one!

[goldtrader]

What about food for a health-conscious eater from the U.S.: A simple grilled salmon, or talapia, with a side of rice. Mapo tofu with just the tofu and no meat. Salad bars. Is anything like this available? You'd think Singapore would have all of it as the city state is such a high end place as portrayed by its financial numbers.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Yep, it's available here. Just have to look around. However, it's not a really health conscious diet, what with the white killer starch as a side.

[rajagainstthemachine]

I'm in Penang, the food here makes my panties wet, wait did I just say that? Best food I've eaten in ages, I never want to leave this place.

[the lynx]

I'm in Penang, the food here makes my panties wet, wait did I just say that? Best food I've eaten in ages, I never want to leave this place.

Now you know why Penangites have problems trying to eat hawker food here...

[rajagainstthemachine]

I'm in Penang, the food here makes my panties wet, wait did I just say that? Best food I've eaten in ages, I never want to leave this place.

Now you know why Penangites have problems trying to eat hawker food here...

I am back to Singapore after 10 days or eating delicious food in Malaysia and Thailand, day 1 back to food court in office, familiar pall of gloom as I descend into a hall full of tissue choping swarm.

[patriciaang83]

I guess different people have different taste.

Singapore hawker foods makes me want more and more

I believe you have to hunt for good hawker foods and website such as openrice.com provide top hawker foods list !

[rajagainstthemachine]

found yet another bad place, Beirut on arab st. overpriced food with terrible service. The food and decor itself isn't bad but the terrible service is a turn off.
ughhhhh

[nakatago]

found yet another bad place, Beirut on arab st. overpriced food with terrible service. The food and decor itself isn't bad but the terrible service is a turn off.
ughhhhh

If you posted every time you find a bad place to eat...

...the forum servers would run out of space.


BA-DUMP-BUMP

[JR8]

found yet another bad place, Beirut on arab st. overpriced food with terrible service. The food and decor itself isn't bad but the terrible service is a turn off.
ughhhhh

And another to add to that. Fika, Swedish restaurant on the corner of Arab St. and Beach Rd. Expensive, terrible quality, pretentious. It's halal so draws a hipster-halal crowd. Fashion-conscious crowds such as this seem to prioritise and follow the new/hip, and in SG that inevitably equates to lousy quality + lousy service + high prices (X-ref Marmalade Pantry, PS Cafe etc).

Having been to several SGn restaurants that claim to serve a foreign cuisine I have become cynical and jaundiced, i.e. my expectations beforehand are already in the basement. This place did a few things that I either dislike with some passion, or just show up how incompetent they are.

- With 'basement' expectations I ordered their headline dish. Meatballs on pasta. You'd have thought that simple, and/or impossible to eff up. Even the cafe at IKEA does it pretty authentically and well. Wrong. The meatballs were overcooked/dry, and absolutely unforgivable, the pasta was overcooked to the point of being a wet slop.
- Dishes for our group of about six, all arrived at very different times. We were seated outside and it wasn't that warm, so those that had food couldn't wait for the rest to arrive.
- My wife's main was a shrimp dish in cream sauce on pasta. There were 3 shrimp IIRC. The 'cream sauce' tasted of nothing, so much so it could have been simply flour+water+a pinch of salt (yes, honestly and literally). The sauce constituted maybe 50% of the volume of the dish, i.e. completely drowned. When the pasta and shrimp were eaten there was still getting on for 1/2 pint of solidifying gloop in the dish.
- They charge for tap-water. The menu says the money goes to charity, but hey who knows. I also HATE having charity enforced upon me in this fake and tokenistic 'aren't we so bloody noble (albeit at your expense)' kind of way.

Never again!


... Maybe a place having 'free wi-fi' should be a strong negative indicator. It seems to attract people who want to nurse one drink for hours, hence the outlet has to seek profit via cheap ingredients and expensive prices.