Two Fat Men is back!

C says:

After a change of ownership last year, Two Fat Men's shutters were down until a few months ago, when we saw their Facebook feed come alive again with a post about their re-opening.

The menu is a little different - no more creamy tom yam with instant noodles or fish and chips, but old favorites like the grilled pork neck and mid-joint wings are still around. There are also a few new gems, like the pad thai, green curry and chicken skin. 

Ah, the chicken skin. Perfectly fried so that it's all crispy and not greasy, served with a tart dip that really complements it.

The pork neck with tamarind dip is a little less fatty and charred than it used to be - which is probably good news to most people except us - but it's still very good.

I daresay the skinny wings are even better now. They still use the best part - the juicy mid joint - but they don't split it in half any more. At first I didn't approve, preferring them split because that makes it so much easier to eat, but that also runs the risk of the wings being overfried and dried out. Now they're perfectly golden and juicy on the inside. 

Both the pad thai and the basil chicken rice are very good if you want some substantial carbs to go with the finger foods. Both have a very good wok hei, and good balance of flavours. 

Prices are slightly higher than before, and parking is still a bitch, but I couldn't be happier that they're back. A great option for weekends because they open on both Saturday and Sunday till late, and there's no need to make reservations.

A says:

Cheap(ish) and good. Wish they had the Thai iced tea permanently on the menu.

Le Comptoir

C says:

One of our new favourite places is Le Comptoir, a creperie/bar along Circular Road that sells some of the best galettes and crepes we’ve had. We’ve been here twice so far – once for a early dinner and again for brunch, and both times were immensely satisfying.

Their galettes are as good as most of the ones we’ve had in Paris – thin, crisp and moreish. A had one with smoked salmon and spinach, and I had the Menage A 5 – a delicious combination of cheese, ham, egg, mushrooms and tomato.

For dessert, we shared a Coco Chanel crepe, with pears, chocolate and almonds.

The Sunday brunch menu has an All Day Breakfast crepe with bacon, egg, mushrooms, sausage and baked beans. The bacon deserves a particular mention – it was perfectly cooked to an even crispness without being burnt.

They also had a Nutella crepe, and we had a brainwave of asking them to add bananas for an additional $2. The resulting Nutella and banana crepe was predictably fabulous – so fabulous that we didn't take any photos of our brunch visit…

A says:

Best galettes and crepes in Singapore. Win!

Le Comptoir
79 Circular Road
Tel: 6534-7645
Mon - Tues: 11 am - 12 mn
Wed - Sat: 11 am - 2 am
Sun: 10 am - 10 pm

Supper at The Naked Finn

C says:

We finally made it to Naked Finn one Saturday night for their supper menu - namely, their gourmet version of prawn noodle soup. Tip: If you come maybe 5 to 10 minutes before supper service, you may be able to snag last orders off the regular menu too, hence the best of both worlds.

A had a serving of the chilled beehoon, which was as good as we remembered, but the star was definitely the prawn noodle soup. Prices start at $28 for a bowl of bee hoon soup with kang kong, slices of charred Iberico secreto, and 3 grilled banana prawns. Prices increase if you opt for giant tiger prawns or other exotic prawn varieties. I was mainly there for the soup rather than the accompanying prawns, so I went with the basic banana prawns.

You can read in detail how they painstakingly prepare their prawn noodle soup here - in summary, fried prawns are simmered in a pork stock for seven hours to form the broth, with no sugar, salt or MSG added. It is then served unseasoned, with an array of condiments (chilli powder, rock salt, a sweet onion sambal and Iberico pork lard) for each diner to adjust to their own preference.

This was, without question, the richest, most intensely flavourful bowl of prawn noodle soup I've ever had. Granted, at $28 it was also the most decadent and luxurious, but if you equate this to a prawn/lobster bisque soup rather than a hawker centre-style prawn noodle (the soup certainly resembles the former rather than the latter, in its flavour as well as consistency), it's not as astronomical as it initially appears.

The grilled prawns, which to me are almost secondary, had a very complex, almost blue cheese flavour, particularly around the head/brains. If the basic banana prawns were this good, I wonder how the higher end prawns will be.

This is officially the best late night comfort food ever. If I'm ever having a particularly bad day, a bowl of this will certainly cheer me up in no time.

A says:

Awesomeness.

After recently hitting a series of meals which were pricey for what you got and totally not worth it, this place has bucked the trend.

Yes, it's expensive. But yes, it's totally worth it.

The Naked Finn

C says:

We've tried to make last minute dinner reservations on a Friday and Saturday here for quite some time now, to no avail. When we finally came here on a hazy Thursday evening, we realised why. It's located in a little standalone building of its own, and indoor seating is minimal, with only a few small tables and limited bar seating.

It's both a bar and a seafood restaurant, so they specialise in simply prepared seafood as well as sorbet-based cocktails. They have a few sampler platters for 2 and 4 persons, but we opted to order a la carte to try more things.

I personally think their Chilled Piquant Vermicelli is reason enough to plan a trip here. I honestly don't know what they put into it because it looks so plain and bland, but trust me - it's packed full of tart flavour and is truly addictive. Next time I swear we're having one plate each.

The chilled kangkong was pretty good too. Definitely the first time I've tried kangkong prepared this way - lightly blanched and served as a salad with a tart dressing and topped with fried shallots.

The littleneck clams came in a clear barramundi broth. The clams were meaty and fresh, and the broth was light but flavourful. Still, it was a bit too subtle for A.

It got increasingly more aggressive after that, though. The grilled baby squid packed a ton of smoky flavour, although A found the tiny spines still inside the squid just a tad disconcerting.

The grilled prawns with white wine and butter were the highlight of the meal for me (together with the vermicelli). The prawns were super fresh, were full of delicious head juice, and seasoned just perfectly to enhance but not detract from the prawny goodness.

The grilled diver scallop was also a winner. Possibly the sweetest and meatiest cooked scallop I've ever had, and again cooked and seasoned perfectly.

We shared a portion of the African lobster, which was again very fresh and well cooked, but seeing that I'm not a huge lobster fan, I'll gladly trade this for more bee hoon next time.

They're known for their sorbet-based cocktails - so created so that the drink can stay cold without the dilution caused by ice cubes. We had 2 delicious cocktails, one honeydew-based and one pear-based. For dessert, we had a homemade coconut sorbet that was the very essence of coconut - milk, flesh and water all rolled into one.

Because they're also a bar, they apparently serve supper after 10 pm. Currently it's a prawn noodle soup that looks absolutely to die for. Like all places that are in the running for our Best Of list, we're already planning our return visits for both dinner and supper.

A says:

Beehoon is awesome. Will be back for that. The only problem with this place is that it's so small, it's hard to get reservations. Parties of 2 should book at least a week in advance for Fri or Sat.

The Naked Finn
41 Malan Road, Gillman Barracks
Tel: 6694-0807
Dining:
Monday - Thursday : 6:00pm - 10:00pm
Friday - Saturday & eves of PH : 6:00pm - 10:30pm
Supper & Cocktails:
Monday - Thursday : 10:00pm - 12:00mn
Friday - Saturday & eves of PH : 10:30pm - 2:00am
Sunday : Closed
www.nakedfinn.com

Hot and Spicy Nasi Lemak

C says:


In contrast to the lacklustre First Soup House [  ], the nasi lemak place next door was a pleasant surprise. It looks quite unassuming from outside, but inside it's decked out in full on Balinese style, and run like a well oiled machine.

They have a selection of nasi lemak sets as well as an a la carte menu with other items like noodles and fried rice.

They asked if we wanted keropok to start with, which I'm a sucker for. A huge plate arrived, but they assured us that we could doggy bag whatever we couldn't finish. The fish keropok was very fresh, tasty and not oily at all. Not bad at all, for $2.

 A had the sambal squid set, and I had the sambal petai. The default sambal that comes with each set is disappointing - neither sweet nor spicy, it was just very bland. The sambal for the squid, on the other hand, was really good. Just spicy enough, and the squid was very tender. The petai and ikan bilis was also tasty but a bit on the oily side.

The rice was good - very fragrant and coconutty. The fried chicken wings were a bit too battered and seasoned for my liking; we may try their roasted chicken wing next time.

We'll definitely be coming back here. In fact, I'm already hankering for more of the fish keropok. It was surprisingly packed on a weekend evening – proof that this is indeed a not-so-hidden gem.

A says:

Very good. Not cheap, all things considered (around $5-7 for a set plate of nasi lemak) but it’s pretty worth it for the air-con, service and quality of most of the ingredients.

Hot & Spicy Nasi Lemak

438 Pasir Panjang Road

Tel: 6778-4615

Open daily: 7.30 am – 4 am

Kungfu Paradise

C says:

Kungfu Paradise is probably the most casual outpost in the Paradise Group. Located mainly in heartland malls (though a new one has opened in Bugis+, the renovated Iluma), this is kind of their version of a cha chan teng. It's a bit gimmicky though, with weird dish/food names like Bumger instead of burger, and Babe Rice for their baked rice. Yes...

Their chicken wings were decent, and the Kungfu Bumger, a snack-sized (but larger than a slider) burger with chicken thigh, mayo and a soft burger bun, was pretty tasty.

We went for their fusion pastas. I had the Hokkien Mee one, and A had the chilli crab. Both were ok - mine was a tad salty but pretty flavourful, but A's got a tad goopy after a while. The laksa pasta that A's brother ordered was actually the best.

They have such a large selection that you're quite spoilt for choice. Service was choppy though - they're generally polite, but also a bit blur. They missed an entire section of our order, and food arrived at erratic intervals. Quality is ok for the price (budget about $20 - $30 per person), but I'm not sure it's worth a long wait in line. One good thing is that they're open quite late (4 am on weekends), so they're a viable option if you have late night hunger pangs.

A says:

There are some interesting dishes such as the surprisingly tasty laksa vongole pasta. And overall, the food is good for the price range, but really, it’s not worth the wait. And the coffee is awful.

Kungfu Paradise

2 Jurong East Central 1

#01-07 JCube

Tel: 6684-4606

Mon – Thurs: 11 am – 2 am
Fri and eve of PH: 11 am – 4 am

Sat: 10 am – 4 am

Sun: 10 am – 2 am 

Sevenatenine

C says:

I daresay we’ve found a new impromptu place for Friday night dinners after work. We were here on Saturday night before catching a late show at Esplanade, and amongst the frenzy of some of the restaurants like Ichiban Boshi, this place was a surprising oasis of calm, and we managed to get a table immediately.



They have both light bites and main courses here, with both Western and Asian choices. We decided to have more of the tapas, and just shared a main. To start, we had the organic beef carpaccio, the lamb shish kebabs and the jalapeno dusted fried chicken wings.


All 3 items were good, but it’s no surprise that the wings stole the show for me. They were crisp on the outside and juicy and succulent inside, and seasoned with just the right amount of spice.


We had the saffron seafood risotto (probably cos I was deprived of it the night before at Oso), which on hindsight was probably not the smartest thing to order at a bar. The portion was huge, and the entire dish just lacked salt, or much flavour at all. In my defence, good risottos have popped up in rather unlikely places like Oriole, so it wasn’t that way off to order it here.


We ordered a portion of churros for dessert. The portion was HUGE but these were great. Light and crisp, dusted with just the right amount of cinnamon sugar, and a nutella dip – they took a while to arrive but were worth the wait.

They have some pretty good cocktails too. I had a decent ginger mojito, but A’s affrogato martini, which was basically a spike coffee float, was a perfect sissy drink for him. We may try one of their Asian mains next – A was eyeing one of the North Indian offerings, but I think I’ll stick with their tapas.

A says:

Surprisingly good. And sizable portions. It’s definitely an option for when we hit the Esplanade next.

Sevenatenine
#01-10/12 The Esplanade
Tel: 6338-0789
Sundays to Thursdays: 5pm to midnight
Fridays & Saturdays: 5pm to 2am

Two Fat Men

C says:

Two Fat Men is KH’s casual bar that has taken over the space that was occupied by Tian Mi Mi along East Coast Road. Being non-Eastsiders, I was never inclined to drive all the way to the East for desserts, but after sampling the food at Two Fat Men tonight, I’m definitely planning another trip soon, on the pretext of visiting S and her twins :)

Besides serving designer and artisanal beers (as well as a kickass Toffee Apple Cider that I could guzzle all day), Two Fat Men serves bar bites and simple meals with a slight twist. In addition to the usual offerings like wings and burgers, they also pay homage to KH’s professional roots, with a menu of Thai street food favourites.


Everything that we had tonight was delicious, but in particular the Grilled Pork Neck with Tamarind dipping sauce was outstanding. Slices of pork neck, a perfect cut for its blend of fat and meat, chargrilled to perfection and served with a tangy sauce that cuts through the meat. This is perfect bar food and I would imagine beer drinkers going through plate after plate of this.


The burger is also really good. Simple (so obviously don’t expect chi-chi bistro type burgers) but very well executed, and this was even without the optional cheese and bacon, which we forgot to order. This reminded us of our favourite Renaldo’s burger from days gone by.


They do two types of wings here – St Louis marinade and Buffalo wings. I actually prefer the former, but we did feedback to KH that he could afford to make the Buffalo wings a bit more aggressive, both in flavour and in heat.


The basil chicken fried rice is a less greasy version of this popular Thai dish, and I like the healthier spin that they’ve put on this. It may be less oily but it’s still very flavourful and the chicken is very tender.


The tom yam seafood soup here is authentic, and not for the fainthearted. It packs quite a flavour punch, with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf and lots of heat. They’re very generous with the seafood too – 2 large prawns and lots of calamari. KH may introduce a noodle version of this dish if Two Fat Men eventually opens for lunch – I’m thinking of starting a petition because an instant noodle version of this dish is my idea of absolute heaven.

If you still have room for dessert, they do a mean brownie with ice cream here too. The brownie is cake-like rather than fudge-like; just the type I like. It’s light and almost like a very good chocolate cake. A perfect end to a great dinner.

Once a month, they do beer tastings where, for $25 a person, you get free flow of 5 different beers. They just did British beers this month; on 9 June they’re doing German beers. Do check them out if beer tasting (or simply getting sloshed) is your thing.

I’m really happy that KH has decided to do this instead of Tian Mi Mi. I think it has lots of potential to be a great neighbourhood chillout spot, and I wish him all the best, and I’ll certainly be swinging by more often.

A says:

Excellent value for money. The dishes, except for the mediocre wings, were great. I especially like the greasy burger.

As per our last visit (when it was still a dessert joint), my only complaint is the lack of parking in the area. Damn East-siders.

Two Fat Men
376 East Coast Road
Tel: 6346-0046
Open daily: 5 pm to 3 am
www.twofatmen.wordpress.com

Ya Hua Bak Kut Teh

C says:

We came to PSA Building at Tanjong Pagar intending to try the Amoy Street Boon Kee prawn noodles, after hearing Y rave about them. Unfortunately the stall was closed, despite reading online reviews that only close on Sundays. We wandered round and chanced upon the branch of Ya Hua Bak Kut Teh, the famous one at Outram/Havelock. At least our trip here wasn’t in vain then.


In order to make it as fair a comparison to Founder as possible, we tried to order similar items – the long pork ribs (which cost more), salted vegetables, you tiao and steamed rice. Taking each item in turn:

Pork ribs: These were remarkably tender. We thought Founder’s were tender but here the meat simply fell off the bone with absolutely no effort. Unfortunately, as you can see from the photo, they were also remarkably tiny and certainly not worth $7 a bowl. At least half the size of the Founder ones. So, a tie here.

Soup: The soup at Founder packs more of a punch. It’s more peppery, but it goes beyond just the amount of pepper. The soup at Ya Hua somehow lacked a richness and depth of flavour that Founder’s has. Winner: Founder

Chilli Padi: Available at both joints. Another tie.

Salted vegetables: I don’t know what Founder puts in their giam chye, but there’s absolutely no comparison here. Founder’s isn’t salty so much as slightly garlicky and very savoury. The one at Ya Hua was more like the very one-dimensional giam chye that you get at porridge stalls – just plain salty, and cooked until almost mushy. Clear winner: Founder.

Service: Yes, at Founder you have to queue to get a table, but once you’re seated they’re very efficient and your food arrives really quickly. At Ya Hua, they’re very keen to seat you but after that, it takes ages for them to (a) notice you, (b) come to take your order, and (c) actually serve your food. We overheard a table complaining that they’d been waiting for their food for over half an hour. I prefer the Founder system because it’s more transparent, so for me, winner: Founder.

Basically, the only thing going for Ya Hua is the tenderness of the pork ribs, but it’s not enough to switch my allegiances from Founder. It was worth a try just to see what the fuss is all about, but whenever I have a bak kut teh craving, there’s no question where I’ll head to.

A says:

I’d rather go to Founder.

Ya Hua Bak Kut Teh
Morning:
7 Keppel Road
#01-05/07 PSA Tanjong Pagar Complex
Tel: 6222-9610
7 am to 3 pm
Evening:
593 Havelock Road
#01-01/02 Isetan Office Building
Tel: 6235-7716
6 pm to 2 am

Tian Mi Mi

C says:

S’s husband KH has opened a dessert cafe recently, and since we were in the East on Sunday we popped by to check it out. It’s called Tian Mi Mi, and it’s modelled after an old-fashioned cafe, from the marble-topped round tables and wooden stools to the traditional desserts that mother/grandmother used to make. Indeed, the recipes for the desserts were all tested and perfected by none other than KH’s mom herself.


We’d already had lunch when we went there, so we could only manage to try 2 desserts – the mango pomelo sago, and on S’s recommendation, the baked baby coconut with ice cream. They certainly didn’t stint on the mango for the mango pomelo dessert. There was fresh mango puree as well as cubes of mango, along with very fresh segments of pomelo. I like that there wasn’t too much shaved ice too – I hate massive amounts of ice because I have to wait till it melts or risk getting brain freeze.


I really like the baked baby coconut, but I’m not sure if it was too subtle for A. It came with a glass and I was wondering why they gave A ice water but not me. Then we realised that it was coconut water! It was coconut ice cream, some kind of coconut jelly-like threads which tasted like nonya kueh, all within the coconut shell. The thin coconut flesh is still intact so you can also scrape that up and eat it too.

Besides the 2 that we tried, there are lots of other enticing desserts like tang yuan in ginger soup, milk custards, orh nee and white fungus soup. They also have a few porridges – chicken, century egg and pork, so next time we’ll come for a porridge and try a couple more desserts. I definitely want to try the tang yuan next and I think A is eyeing the milk custard.

The shop is open till midnight from Sunday to Thursday, and on Friday and Saturday it stays open till 2 am. The best part is while the shop is along bustling East Coast Road, there’s also indoor seating in airconditioned comfort.

A says:

Parking in the east is horrible. Grrrrr...

Anyway, the coconut ice cream is pretty interesting so I’d recommend giving it a try. The ice cream flavour is a bit subtle for my tastes though. I think I’ll try the ah balling or milk custard next time.

Tian Mi Mi Desserts
376 East Coast Road
Tel: 6346-0046
Sunday – Thursday: 11 am to midnight
Friday – Saturday: 11 am to 2 am

More from Prive Bakery Cafe

C says:

Happy new year, and just a quick one on a couple more dishes that we tried at Prive for brunch today.


A’s choice of scrambled eggs with toast and smoked salmon was a winner. Granted that almost anything with smoked salmon would be perfect for A, but objectively this was simply and very well executed. The eggs were really creamy but not overly rich, and the smoked salmon was nice and smoky without being excessively salty.


Mine was called The Fabulous Prive Burger, but unfortunately it was anything but. It’s a 200g wagyu patty topped with gruyere cheese and crispy onion rings, which had so much potential but the execution fell flat. The meat was packed way too tightly, such that for a 200g patty it looked pretty tiny.

Then they cooked it to death. When I ordered it they even (almost condescendingly) said they do the burger medium rare, to which I responded that that was perfect. What was finally served to me was more like medium well or even well done – all the juices had either been squeezed out from the tightly formed patty, or dried out from over cooking. The only thing that redeemed this dish was the fries.

The food took ages to arrive today – we had to wait about half an hour, so what was supposed to be a fairly quick brunch ended up taking way longer than expected.

Definitely no “Fabulous” burgers for me here, but I’m not ruling this place out entirely, because everything else we've tried so far has been pretty good. The breakfast and pasta items seem to be a safe bet, and if you come prepared to laze the day away, you won’t get impatient if the food takes a little longer than you’d like.

A says:

Really good scrambled eggs and salmon. Everything else was so-so. Still, the best thing about the place is still the environment.

Prive Bakery & Café
2 Keppel Bay Vista
Marina at Keppel Bay
Tel: 6776-0777
Sun to Thurs: 9 am – 1 am (kitchen opens 10 am; last orders midnight)
Fri to Sat: 9 am – 2 am (kitchen opens 10 am; last orders 1 am)

Prive Bakery & Cafe

C says:

The waterfront at the Keppel Marina is fast becoming our new favourite place. Less than a week after having coffee here with R and P, we met D, D and baby J there for tea, then stayed on for an early dinner after they left.


I wish we were hungrier so that we could try some of their more substantial offerings, but after the Casa Verde lunch we were just barely able to fit in a salad and pasta at about 6 pm. The salad comprised mesclun greens, smoked duck breast slices, fennel, figs and crispy shallots. This was interesting, but not something I’d order again. I must say the duck and the figs were well paired, though.


I was eyeing this since I perused the menu the last time we were here – organic mushroom linguine with white wine cream sauce, and an option to add parma ham with an additional $4. Besides the slightly miserly portion of parma ham for $4, this was much better than expected. The sauce wasn’t too rich and creamy, and they were very generous with the mushrooms. And not just button or shitake mushrooms either. There were enoki mushrooms, and big meaty chunks of oyster mushrooms.

Service here is a bit iffy though. They’re all very polite, but it’s quite a challenge making yourself understood to the non-English speaking waitstaff.

A says:

The food’s not bad but not great. I guess you’re really paying for the ambience. And aside from the occasional fishy smell coming in from the sea breeze, I really like the laid back feel of the place.

Prive Bakery & Café
2 Keppel Bay Vista
Marina at Keppel Bay
Tel: 6776-0777
Sun to Thurs: 9 am – 1 am (kitchen opens 10 am; last orders midnight)
Fri to Sat: 9 am – 2 am (kitchen opens 10 am; last orders 1 am)

Smok’inn Frogz Kitchen

C says:

Coming here on Wednesday night was a last minute decision, and we almost didn’t make it. While we vaguely knew that it was off Old Holland Road, we somehow assumed that it was in the same area as Forture Seafood, near the Brewerkz along Bukit Timah Road. We drove around aimlessly with no other food joint in sight, till A had the bright idea to turn down a little lane, and we found it nestled in the corner. For the record, it’s off Cherry Avenue, within the Maple residential area.

This used to be a simple corner coffee shop, but it now houses four stalls – a bar called Bar Bar Black Sheep, Emerald Garden thai food, an Indian joint selling curries and naan, and Smok’inn Frogz Kitchen (can they spell it any weirder?). We ordered from Smok’inn Frogz tonight cos we’d heard pretty good things about their burgers. We shared a beef burger, and a fish and chips.


The fish and chips ($12) were surprisingly good. The fish was fresh and very moist and tender inside, and the batter was crisp and not too heavy, and stayed crisp throughout the meal. My only criticism would be that the batter was a tad salty.


On the other hand, the beef burger was somewhat of a letdown; I guess it’s because it’d been praised sky high in some reviews we’d read. The patty was rather ordinary, though at least it wasn’t dry. The only accompaniments were a slice of cheese, some caramelised onions, mayo and bits of lettuce. Actually everything else was alright; the main thing I didn't like was the bun. It may have been toasted but it was still quite chewy, and even with a serrated knife it just refused to be cut, folding instead under the pressure of the knife. Plus it was after being drenched with the sauce from the caramelised onions.

All in all I just expected a bit more out of a $12 burger. Relish and One Ninety’s burgers may be in the $20+ range, but at least you know you’re getting pretty good quality.

A says:

This place is seriously hard to find and the setup here is a bit strange and bears describing.

Smok’inn Frogz is really just one of the three stalls that service the Bar Bar Black Sheep bar in front. Most people come here for a laid back drink and the food is really secondary.

Having said that, the fish & chips is probably worth it, and because of the amount of chips they give, you definitely won’t leave hungry. I don’t think the burger is worth $12 though.

Anyway, I don’t think I’ll do a full review of the place until I’ve tried the other two stalls as well.

Smok’inn Frogz Kitchen
879 Bukit Timah Road
Mon to Fri: 4 pm to 11 pm
Sat: noon to 11 pm
Sun: 9 am to 11 pm

Hotshots Flame-Grilled Burgers

C says:

This stall in Lau Pa Sat, which is a franchise of a Filipino burger chain, has been in the press of late, thanks to a number of articles featuring ‘belt-tightening’ options of favourite dishes. A was working late one night so we decided to drop by for a quick dinner before heading home.

Turned out to be not so quick, because depending on what you order, the burgers are prepared fresh so you may have to wait almost ten minutes, which we did for the Lamburghini. Yes, that’s the name of their lamb burger…


Because of the extremely misleading description (“2/3 pound lamb patty”), we initially ordered just one to share, cos we figured at $8 and for a 2/3 pound patty, it may well end up quite huge. The real thing was nothing like we imagined, and no way was it a 2/3 pound patty either. It ended up no bigger than a Mac’s Double Cheeseburger; definitely not worth $8, but I must say it was quite tasty. The patty was juicy, quite salty and very fragrant. It would have been a bit overpowering if not for the cool mint yogurt that topped the patty.


Clearly one burger wasn’t enough for the both of us, so we ordered the Crispy Burger Melt, which was a “quarter pound patty” (again I have my doubts), bacon bits, cheese sauce and mayo. At $5, this was slightly more worthwhile, but after a few bites you notice where they cut corners. Sure, the patty is probably of decent quality, but the bacon is in the form of bacon bits, not real strips of bacon, and the cheese isn’t slices of cheese but rather cheese sauce (a bit like Cheez-Whiz). While a combination of synthetic cheese, mayonnaise and bacon bits can hardly go wrong, I can’t help but feel a bit shortchanged at the many shortcuts that are taken.

Still, with opening hours up to 11 pm on weekdays, this is a pretty decent choice if you’re in the area and working late. Just bear in mind that it certainly isn’t the healthiest option, and contrary to how it’s being portrayed in the press, it’s not all that cheap either for what you get.

A says:

The Lamburghini is not worth $8 (although some might argue Relish’s burgers are not worth $18+ too). Maybe it’s just cause it’s a food court stall and there are plenty of cheaper alternatives around.

Anyway, the staff are friendly and the burgers taste good so I’d be happy to come back for the $5+ ones.

Hotshots Flame-Grilled Burgers
18 Raffles Quay
Stall 76, Lau Pa Sat
Mon to Sat: 11 am – 11 pm
Sun: Noon to 9 pm
http://www.hotshotsburger.com/