I had a long awaited outing with my JC friends today. Some of them had been thinking about going for the New York New York challenge, which involves finishing up an 8 inch burger surrounded by large sized fries. If you manage to finish the challenge, the dish is free. It costs $32.90 if my memory did not fail me. We had been postponing this outing for ages because some friends are busy with their own stuff, and it was really very hard to get all of them to commit to a single timing.

Thankfully we did manage to settle on a timing just a few days before, and so after “work” today at noon, I went down to City Hall to meet them. We settled down in New York New York, and I had a prime location. I was facing the traffic flow out of the restaurant, and I can see who walked past. Needless to say the scenery was pleasant.

The New York New York challenge came with conditions, though. There was a time limit of 1 hour, and nobody is allowed to help eat (DUH). But if one manages to finish the challenge, an extra free drink of his choice is thrown in.

Jiahao decided to take up the challenge whilst Dominic and I opted for a normal main course. Zong Yao and Waikit decided to wait and see how large the portions are before they commit themselves. When Jiahao’s large dish appeared, it looked very sick. Sick as in it’s HUGE. In the end the both of them decided not to take the challenge, and changed their dish to a meat platter for 2.

Even Jiahao, who is the biggest and fastest eater in our clique, didn’t finish the meal within the time stipulated. In fact, we left a huge wad of fries there when we left. The fries had became stale after the long duration, and the whole dish was so oily that Jiahao grew sick of eating it. Therefore our challenge had failed.

It was fun though, and enjoyable. It was good to meet up with them after so long, even though we talk everyday on MSN.

I think this is the first time I actually felt pissed off on my birthday. Even during NS, I wasn’t angry. During NS first year, I was running SOC and I failed, but I was ok with it. During the 2nd year, when the clock struck 12, the whole company sang a song for me. So I have never actually had to feel this emotion – anger – before on my birthday, which, to most people, should be a special day of happiness and enjoyment.

My family and I went to the new Safra at Jurong. There’s a newly opened Jack’s Place there and I was craving for nice steak for a very long time. But they actually showed me how a new team is actually inefficient. I wonder if Jack’s Place is a franchise, so the team would definitely be new, instead of a company by itself where they can assign people to different outlets.

The soup came, which was very fast and good. But after the soup we waited 30minutes and the steak didn’t come. My dad asked for the steaks, the waiter went in and didn’t come out to notify us of anything. And then, the soup came, again.

Which is wtf. The waitress was a PRC so her english was really bad. But she managed to get what we meant when we just said it came 30 minutes ago. The waitress went to ask her colleague and asked us if we just ordered. That’s seriously stupid. How the hell did the order get mixed up until it seemed we just ordered?

We got the manager to check on the steaks and it finally came, and that was when I exploded. My family ordered 1 Jacks special steak medium, 3 garlic steak, 2 medium well and 1 well done. What came was 3 garlic steak, 2 medium well and 1 medium and 1 Jacks special steak well done. I couldn’t stand it anymore because it’s already 40+ minutes and this sort of nonsense can still come. So I told them what it was supposed to be and I think they understood my mood. It totally killed my birthday mood and I wasn’t happy even when the correct order came.

The saving grace for the day was when the manager came and asked us about our steaks and apologized for the delay.

But then, another stupid incident came up. Some guy came and asked if he could serve the coffee or tea. Coffee or tea is normally served when we get a set meal. Initially I thought he wanted to give us complimentary coffee for their mistakes. He actually didn’t know we didn’t order a set. I was like “WTF” in my head. Normally you don’t ask about coffee or tea when we didn’t order.

And then, whilst I was drinking my warm water from the cup, the waitress took the plate that’s below the cup. I was having the “HUH” look and then she put it back, realizing her mistake.

I won’t want to go back to Safra’s Jack’s Place anymore. The whole place actually managed to spoil my mood, and dinner was MY HIGHLIGHT of the day. It was the only place I went to today, and they spoilt it. Well done, Jack’s Place.

I’ve been going to Fish and Co for meals occasionally because everyone seems to like to go to Fish and Co for gatherings. But has anyone actually tried the Manhattan Fish Market? There are only 2 outlets I know of, one in Plaza Singapura and one at Eu Tong Sen Street. Fish and Co, on the other hand, has many outlets, which I believe are franchises?

I went to the Fish and Co at Suntec City last June and I tried the Manhattan Fish Market today at Plaza Singapura. I compared the two outlets and the result is that I prefer the Manhattan Fish Market. The reason is simple. The service is great. The food is also good.

I ordered the Flaming Platter for one, which comes with fish, rice, chips and 3 flaming prawns. I believe this is the rival of Fish and Co’s seafood platter for one. If I were to talk about the food, I would prefer the flaming prawns from Manhattan as they simply blow my mind away with their superb sauce which is burnt right in front of you.

When I arrived at the door of Manhattan Fish Market, there was a couple right in front of us. They were still looking at the menu and deciding whether to enter. When the waitress serving them saw us, she led us straight in when I informed her I wanted a table for two. When I was at the Fish and Co, the waiter took his time to talk and chit chat with the group of people in front of me who hasn’t even decided whether to dine there, nor did they settle on the number of people who is going to dine there. No one came to serve us even when we were ready to enter. Winner: Manhattan Fish Market

When I went inside the Manhattan Fish Market, the waitress promptly informed me of the soup of the day and past me my menu. When I was ready to order, all I did was turn my head and the waitress asked if I was ready to order. At Fish and Co last June, I had to wait for a waiter to decide to come to my area before I could order. Winner: Manhattan Fish Market

For food arrival time, Manhattan Fish Market was fast in delivering their food to my table. Fish and Co took a longer time. Since this is subjective to the crowd at the moment, I will not and cannot decide the winner for this category.

At Manhattan Fish Market, my glass of iced water wasn’t even emptied before a smiling waiter came to fill my glass up again. At Fish and Co, my glass was empty and I had to wait for about 15 minutes before someone walked past me for me to get his attention to my empty glass. Water is extremely important especially when you are enjoying your food. Winner: Manhattan Fish Market

The servers for Manhattan Fish Market came to clear my plates promptly after I finished the food. They even asked me how I found their food and whether I am willing to fill up a feedback form, which I happily did. Fish and Co took their sweet time to clear my plates. Winner: Manhattan Fish Market

The bill for Manhattan Fish Market came fast. Fish and Co didn’t take too long either. (I guess its the money) Winner: None

The bill came with an accompanying sweet. Manhattan Fish Market had 2 flavours, one mint and one honey. Fish and Co’s came with their superb mint sweets. Winner: Tie since both sweets were effectively good

It is no surprise that Manhattan Fish Market won the comparison. They had more staff and their staff are more attentive to customer’s needs. They need no reminder to know that the customer’s glass is going to be empty and they need no prompting to be right there when you need them. Their food is also comparable, if not better, than Fish and Co’s. Their staff wore smiles throughout and even asked for comments on their food with a smiling face.

I had a wonderful experience at Manhattan Fish Market, and a totally unpleasant one at Fish and Co. You can be sure that I will not be patronizing Fish and Co anymore. Manhattan Fish Market won my heart and soul by their excellent service and great food. If you like Fish and Co, you may want to try Manhattan Fish Market. Feel their better service today!

Well the other day I went to Suntec City (at City Hall) for dinner and I went to try out the food at the Food Republic food court. Food republic is a “higher class” themed food court. The food court at Suntec City has an old western design theme.

I went to try the Fried Hokkien Mee stall, which promises fresh prawns. Most food court stalls that sell hokkien mee has lousy prawns that seem to turn to powder everytime we bite into it. This means that the prawns are unfresh and probably a few days old. Fresh prawns have this crunchy bite into it. Smaller prawns have lesser bite feel I think. Fresh prawns also have the ‘fresh’ taste which unfresh prawns do not have.

I paid 5 dollars for the prawn mee and it is the cheapest available already. (See what I mean by high class food court?) The serving is big and the plate is about 30cm in diameter? Its served with 4 prawns and a small bowl of prawn soup.

Now the prawn soup is a bit diluted. You can’t really taste much prawns in it, but it has those herbs like the gou ju zi, which is supposed to be good for the eyes. The 4 prawns (which other food court gives 4 prawns? They normally give 2 and they are stale) are fresh and crunchy. The fresh taste is not as strong as those prawns from hotel restaurants but I’m not complaining. Most of the shell is peeled off, making it easy for you to peel off the remaining shells. You know its fresh when the shells peel off easily and the prawns are still in their nice shape. Stale prawns normally break easily and don’t taste solid.

Thus I recommend people out there to try this Hokkien Mee when you can. It may not be the best hokkien mee in singapore, but it is good enough for me in an airconditioned food court in City Hall.