My husband and I have walked past this restaurant umpteen times during our visits to Jewel and it always looks so inviting, especially the seats near the edge facing the indoor waterfall. Since we had upcoming plans to head to the Canopy Park (read about that here!), I decided to make a reservation for lunch to try it out! It is recommended to make an advance booking as the restaurant’s capacity is very limited. Given that they don’t occupy much space to begin with, walk-ins can be quite the precarious gamble.
- Our order:
- Original lobster roll with fries and salad ($37++)
- Texan chicken waffle ($21.87++)
- Molten chocolate lava cake ($12++)
- Cappuccino ($6++)
- Spent: SGD$90.48
I requested for us to be seated along the outer rim of the restaurant so that we could admire the views of Shiseido Forest Valley and the HSBC Rain Vortex waterfall. There are also seats on the elevated centre platform that offers a nice vantage point of the mall as well. The ambience was pretty relaxing with the golden glow of natural sunlight and an open feel to the space. Do note that these outer seats can get rather warm with the afternoon sun overhead and at some point, we started perspiring despite the air-conditioning.
I ordered the original lobster roll set that came with fries and a salad. They were generous with the lobster chunks and it went really well with the zingy butter sauce, but that was where the magic ended. Some of the lobster chunks weren’t juicy anymore and had a dry texture even with the Japanese mayo mixed in. Also, the brioche bread was quite dense and hardened instead of being fluffy and crispy around the edges.
My husband ordered the Texan chicken waffle, which was basically a fried chicken burger with waffles in place of the regular buns. I did enjoy the waffles as it had a hint of sweetness but we both thought the dish as a whole was very mediocre. His chicken suffered the same fate as my lobster, where the juices seemed to have seeped out, leaving it tough and dry.
The chocolate lava cake was the best thing we had here (: The cake was moist with a truly molten centre filling and the right amount of sweetness. My only gripe was that it was too small, more of this goodness please!
Service staff were very welcoming and attentive too, refilling our water whenever we were running low. I appreciated how one of them (I think his name is Mickey) meticulously explained how we could go about joining the Changi rewards programme to make the most of what we spent here, appealing to the auntie (ie. deals chaser) side of me. Superb (:
My overall rating of the experience: 3 out of 5 stars. Wonderful service from the staff, chill ambience with an almost-alfresco feel, and an excellent panoramic view of the gorgeous indoor waterfall and its surrounding greenery. It’s the kind of vibe that makes you feel like you’re on vacation. Unfortunately, the food was average at best (except for that tiny but yummy lava cake). At this price point, I didn’t think it was value for money. Not sure if it was just a bad day for the chefs or the standards have indeed dropped, hopefully it’s the former. If you’re okay to pay this slight premium for the food, then it really is quite a nice environment to dine in.
Dania Experiences 