Friday, January 8, 2010

The Cafe' Cartel (The Café Cartel) @ Upper East Coast

907 Upper East Coast Road, #01-02, Springvale, T: 64499789

Right, so here's a new review... It's actually delayed (by a lot) because I didn't have much access to my computer... In fact I'm not at mine right now but that's besides the point. This meal was eaten on 11th Dec 2009 (Last year! as of now. lols)

Anyway, this is my first time at the "refurbished" and "revamped" cafe cartel and it does seem much neater and "cleaner" in a sense but I suppose if you give it a few months it will probably return back to what I was used to (bread crumbs stuck in corners of the sofa that nobody ever clears etc.) We shall see.

On to the food! The menu was "updated" as well, along with other major changes. Firstly, NO MORE FREE FLOW OF BREAD! Sadly, that was what I was there for. Things took a turn for confusion after this. The menu indicates that you'd get a serving of a side salad and bread with every main course ordered. Elsewhere in the menu, the same bread is sold as an a la carte item as well. An inquiry with a waiter regarding the discontinued free flow of bread gave me the impression that I would be getting an extra serving of bread with every main course ordered as part of their "promotion" (in his words).

Unfortunately, this didn't happen. Only 2 servings of bread were served with 2 main courses. There was no "promotion". The waiter was referring to the side salad and bread served with every main course - which is serving fries with fish & chips - it's a given! So much for the promotion. The manager initially refused to budge on the matter but gave in eventually and we were given the extra 2 servings of bread. What a breadloaf of confusion.

Sadly, the bread was unremarkable and I'd have preferred the bread offered before the revamp.

The photo of the left is that of the side salad. Her immediate reaction was like "What is this? Chopped Vegetables Ah? Do I look Like A Rabbit?"

It felt like KFC's coleslaw - poured out on a white plate. It doesn't seem fresh either. So much for the side dishes.

Onwards! TO THE MAIN DISHES!


Item 992 : Sizzling Dory Fish & Cripsy Soft Shell Crab

In one word? OILY. In fact, all the items tasted like they were dropped into a deep fryer and served. When it comes to cripsy soft shell crabs, I think I'd go back to the specialty Japanese Restaurants for that. It was so hard to taste any crab at all amid the oil and the everything the crab was suffering in. The fish wasn't any better. Either it was too bland and tasteless, or the oil was too overpowering. Perhaps both.

Item 996 : Sizzling Grilled Dory Fish & Spaghetti in Mushroom Sauce

This item was slightly better than 992 - Perhaps redeemed by the mushroom's natural strong taste and aroma to cover the bad stuff. It was, however, oily to me as well.

Another new change is that the food was served on a hot plate - Much like Jack's Place's steaks. Other than for presentation, i don't see how it helps in the taste at all.





Last but not least, we cannot forget dessert. Here, Cafe Cartel seems to have redeemed itself.


Item 195 : Crème Brûlée (Creme Brulee)

This was the star performer! It wasn't served in a regular white ceramic but a in a simple aluminium base - but that didn't matter. Personally I prefer a harder crust on the surface, but the inside was damn nice. Somewhat like a cold egg pudding. Sweeteningly sweet. Luckily the vanilla ice cream wasn't as sweet or I'd be having sugar overload. It tasted great. Not the best, but great nonetheless.

The Final Bill:



S$44.95 in total. Breakdowns above. Oh and for the record, the manager gave us a pair of their lovely little piggy soft toys. I honestly have no idea whether it was a store promo, card promo, or just CSR (Customer Service Recovery) but it made us all feel better so everything's fine and sunshine after the rain and yada yada (: But if I go back again, it'll probably be just for the dessert.