Thursday, 4th June 2009

SINGAPORE Geylang Lor 9

Sapo Fresh Frog Porridge

Jl. Pluit Karang Manis XII No. 2

Jakarta Utara 14450

Indonesia

t: (021) 6660 6963

f: (021) 6660 6964

It was half past six in the evening.

Ddee and I went inside the restaurant thinking we'd order their flagship dish, the frog porridge.

But once we sat, we figured we'd order something that are less in the limelight.

Give the underdog a chance, I said to Ddee.

But before we get to the food, I want to share with you about my first impressions.

Parking was relatively easy. I parallel parked in front of the restaurant.

The waiter greeted us warmly with a smile and was prompt in seating us.

Well…there were many empty tables when we got in.

Contrary to the real Geylang frog porridge stall in Singapore, this restaurant is brightly lit.

As an additional pleasant surprise, the place was spick and span!

The clean environment boosted my appetite.

Next to the dining area, there's a bread store Sun Flour.

Service was good. The waiters were alert and they always smile whenever they acknowledge me.

Parts of the menu is a little confusing and descriptions on the food was very brief.

However, I kinda liked the cover page of the menu.

Although the typeface used could be changed for better typography,

I still appreciate the clean design of the menu.

And I also appreciate the CLEAN menu.

You know how dirty menus can get. Not to forget many smell bad.

But thumbs up to this restaurant's cleanliness.

We ordered the broccoli with garlic, fried frog with garlic, two bowls of rice, and mapo tofu.

We also ordered jasmine Chinese tea and they charge us by per person basis.

The wait for our food to be served was relatively short, + - 10 minutes.

First dish served was the garlic broccoli. I thought rice was supposed to be first?

Anyway, no big deal. The rice came together with the second within a minute.

It was the fried frog with garlic. Then came the mapo tofu.

All dishes came on really small plates and garnish isn't in one of the restaurant's priority.

The broccoli was not as great as I had hoped.

The taste was bland and the broccoli was too soft.

I prefer my broccoli to be a little crunchy.

They do look fresh though. So I guess they boiled it a little longer than they should.

The fried frog with garlic is rather alarming.

I consider myself a garlic fan. I can eat large quantities of garlic in any way it is cooked, or even raw.

But I have to say, I was a little overwhelmed by this one.

The frogs were literally buried in slices of fried garlic.

So my thoughts when they served the dish was:

"YES! GARLIC! but hey where are the frogs?"

I thought I ordered frogs WITH garlic and not the other way round?

The frogs were also bland. A little bit more salt might do the trick.

The mapo tofu disappointingly was the best dish out of the three.

The tofu were fried to perfection.

The softness of the inside and the slight chewy fried skin of the tofu provided an interesting texture.

The sauce was fragrant and had a balanced flavor of saltiness and sweetness.

It had minced chicken and prawn in the sauce which added the savory flavor.

In general, the cleanliness of the restaurant scores pretty high.

The taste of the food is in the average curve while service is above average.

The ingredients are all very fresh.

They also have delivery service within the area of Pluit, Muara Karang, and PIK.

It is however, a little pricey for this kind of restaurant.

SCORE BOARD:

Service: 6.5/10

Presentation: 6/10

Quality / freshness: 8.5/10

Taste: 6/10

Portion: 5/10

Cleanliness: 8/10

Price per person: $$