Hip Diner USA

24th December, Thursday

Hip Diner USA is a diner by Billy Bombers, so the kind of food served is pretty similar. It's located at the basement of Bugis Junction.

Mushroom Burger
A beef burger with sauteed mushrooms, lettuce, and mayo. The bread was nicely toasted, and the beef was done medium rare - just as I asked for, so it was still juicy and not too cooked.

The fries were not bad, but I would prefer them not to be so thickly sliced. Overall, quite good. $14.90

V's verdict: 7/10

Swensen's

28th October, Wednesday

Swensen's had the 30% discount promotion, so I went to their Bugis Junction outlet with a few of my colleagues.

BBQ half chicken
My first impression when I saw this was: the presentation sucks. They can't even bother to put the chicken in the centre of the plate, or at least spread out the side dishes such that the plate didn't look so empty on one side!

Taste-wise, it was average only. The bbq sauce was decent; the breast meat was quite dry. $14.90

V's verdict: 5.5/10

Chuan Yi Pin (川一品）

14th June, Sunday

This is a bbq and steamboat restaurant, run by Chinamen. It is located at 530 North Bridge Road, just opposite Bugis Junction.



We chose tom yam as the soup base, and goodness, it came with a thick layer of oil on top, which I had to scoop out. The meat was a bit different from other BBQ restaurants like Seoul Garden; there's a meat counter, and when you request for meat (beef/pork/lamb) the staff will take a chunk of meat from the freezer and slice it into thin slices using a machine.



The plates were very hot, so I was at least a bit more assured of their cleanliness. I think they use very hot water to wash their dishes.

It was not bad, overall. Their meat (chicken, beef, pork) were not bad. Drinks were free flow, and there was ice cream as well (I am always bought over by ice cream). They had other standard stuff like vegetables, fish balls, crab sticks, etc. As for seafood, there was actually crayfish, which tasted quite good, despite its small size.

They also served some cooked food, like pasta, prawn crackers, etc. They had a stir-fried crab which was actually quite good too, though it was a bit too troublesome to eat. One of their beef internal organs (I dunno which part) was horrible though, both cooked and uncooked (for the steamboat). The cooked one was practically soaked with oil and I had to spit out the oil (discreetly, of course). The uncooked one, after cooking in the steamboat, was so tough that I felt like I was chewing rubber. So obviously I had to spit this out as well.

One last thing --- it's freaking hot. $21

V's verdict: 7/10
K's verdict: 7/10

Bishamon, Ah Chew Desserts

12th June, Friday

Bishamon:

Located at the basement of Bugis Junction.

Oyako Don



From the picture, you probably can't tell how big it is. Well, it is tiny. It definitely wasn't enough for me!

Taste-wise, it was still all right. The chicken was average, and at least it didn't have the defrosted taste like the Oyako Don I had at Waraku (Central). $7.30

Something interesting --- do you know what does Oyako mean? It means 亲子 (parent and child). Why this special term? Because this dish consists mainly of chicken and egg --- the parent and the child!

V's verdict: 6.5/10


Ah Chew Desserts:

Outside Bugis Junction, along Liang Seah Street. The exact address is 1 Liang Seah Street, #01-11, Liang Seah Place.



Ah, the cold desserts granted me a brief respite from the sweltering heat. This had large pieces of honey dew inside, and topped up with a scoop of ice cream. Overall it was quite all right and wasn't too sweet even after taking the ice cream into consideration. $3 + $0.80 for ice cream

V's verdict: 7/10