food for thought
foodforthought, 8 queen street, no point going after 5pm really
SO, Food for Thought recently expanded to somewhere bigger and even more artsy. I was of course quite excited since it’s gotten even closer to school and wanted to check out the new place.
The food duo and I went down after our various commitments (at around early 6-ish), and I was feeling pretty sure there’d be no problem procuring a table;
False.
To my horror, the girl at the door asked if we had reservations.
Sorry, what d’ya mean reservations? Since when? Aren’t indie restaurants suppose to be spontaneous?
I then asked if it’d be a problem if we had no reservations, seeing that the place was really just M T (gaping spaces for emphasis).
Apparently right, our FFT has been fully booked out and if we wanted to have normal seats we’d have to rush to finish our food in 45 mins. I really had a good mind to leave then since it was quite ridiculous imho but they said counter seats were available; we agreed to stretching ourselves and risked breaking our backs bending over high chairs.
The interior was contemporary, chic, interesting light feature draping for the ceiling,
artsy, contrived, pretentious, etc.
yes, I said it. gone are the days of bustling, aromatic, chaotic homely comfort. they replaced giant chalkboard menu with a proper menu. they replaced ad hoc art with planned ones.
there was even a corner of a cubby-hole thing. I was too mindfucked to pay attention to indie-esque (perceived) commercialism.
oh and the menu. the menu. it was a compelling one. in a literal, negative (by the) way. breakfast menu ends on 5pm daily, which I suppose is understandable, maybe the kitchen doesn’t want to have pancakes that have hints of pesto or charbroiled chicken (I hope you see I’m stretching it with the benefit of a doubt here).
but how is it that sandwiches aren’t sold after 5pm either? I journeyed with FFT and their pulled pork, chorizo and (some kind of) duck sandwiches through my I-should-have-known-better-than-to-date-you years back in North Bridge and they never had this constraint on their blackboard of a menu. I felt forced to order from their pastas and mains. Actually, you could only order from there if you wanted a proper meal.
Pastas range from $12-$18 and Mains from $15-$25-ish (my memory fails me, the prices put me off anyway: te;dr*). They are basically more expensive than the breakfast and sandwich options. I think they revised the prices upwards in general, but that’s just a feeling.
Being part of counter-generation, and mainly because I’m poor and stingy, I refused to be manipulated.
I ordered the (oriental) Chicken Caesar ($10), which I felt was already a rip off since it isonly a salad, no matter how fusion it is, and we were sitting on bar stools.
E ordered this main of Curry Chicken Cutlet something that was around $18 (I only remembered it to be relatively more expensive).
We waited, bitched, and the food came promptly. My salad looked comfortingly similar to the one I used to have back at North Bridge, it tasted almost similar too, with the smooth-textured chicken breast slices, tangy dressing, oozing semi-boiled egg quarters,
and a weird lingering taste from said chicken and awkward use of spicy ikan bilis (the ones you get in a container, with peanuts, sold at most markets).
there is a sort of love-hate going on here. i’m heartened they didn’t revise this dish, but saddened they never thought to work out its kinks. I’m not sure if it was worth my money, either. It filled me up, but it could be because I’ve become a smaller eater of late (praise Jesus). Also, calling the salad a Caesar is a misnomer: the greens weren’t all icebergs (though I’m not complaining) and good GODGA where are the croutons? or at least some oriental crouton equivalents?
I got to try some of the curried chicken cutlet as well, it didn’t stir such deep emotions since there is no basis of comparison, and taste-wise, didn’t leave any great impressions. it was okay. I mean, chicken cutlet is a dish you can seldom go wrong, and this wasn’t mind-blowing, orgasm in mouth or anything.
it was interesting though lah.
we saw a kindly lady make this peanut butter and jam thing and we were bent on getting it. so we did.
this Peanut Butter and Jelly Bread Pudding ($8, good for sharing) was pretty delish. Anything with PB&J seldom disappoints. And anything with PB&J could always do with more (more, more, more) PB
just sayin’.
it’s not really a traditional bread pudding with real stale bread though. more like a dense, pound cake of sorts. still pretty good.
overall, I may go back to FFT for desserts, but certainly not for food (though E says the risotto was goood, but I’m not a fan of mui fan -okok I know the difference-). I’m a big hater for pretentious settings and this is kinda up there for me. I also have a problem with all the (still friendly) staff wearing the black shirt that says:
‘Cause empathy is so last millenium (in bold, white print)
Sorry, but parading some cause like that is so Livestrong Wristband (to me lah).
Oh, and coincidentally, my exbf was dining there at the very same time as well. This post may be irrationally biased, for all you know. lolll.
