Food Review - Kopi Tiam Restaurant
Was at Raffles City Hall Shopping Centre. Went to have dinner with family after the ladies have their bachelorette party at a Nail Spa. Decided to go to the Kopi Tiam Restaurant since its the nearest eatery joint. Located at 2nd floor right above the hotel lobby. Haven’t been there before so why give it a try. Looks very upmarket restaurant. Do not get confused with our typical food court Kopi-Tiam, this is the original restaurant that have opened for many years.
When I first walked in, there were many aquarium tanks at the front desk which you can see all the live seafood but one tank caught my attention and it was very disturbing. There was a huge dead fish lying upside down in the fish tank. Was a BIG turn off! The restaurant staff didn’t even notice? Shhesshh… not going to have any fish related meal. FAIL.
Nice ambience and cosy, the whole place has the reminisce of the old days of the local coffee shop scene, example : grammaphone, tin kats, wooden slippers, old chinese almanacs, etc… PASS.
Service staff was attentive and courteous minus the fish incident. PASS.
What we order :
Nasir Padang - A plate with fried rice, sunny side egg, prawn crackers, ahcha, chicken satay, fried chicken and sambal chilli. Honestly speaking, this is a very expensive dish at $17+++, you can get this dish outside at $5. The fried rice was plane and dry, there were no curry sauce to go with. The fried chicken was overly fried though it taste good inside. The ahcha (preserved vegetables) were bland. Overall, not worth ordering. Notice the ladies didn’t get to finish their meal. FAIL.
Fried Beef Kway Teow - Flat rice noodle fried with beef slices and bean sprout. Another expensive dish at $15+++ which outside you can get it at $4. Its oily and bland. The beef was over cooked and I was struggling to chew the beef pieces. And its wasn’t filling enough for me. FAIL.
What we didn’t order :
Cup of Kopi-O (black coffee) - Goodness gracious, a cup of Kopi-O is priced at $5.50+++! That is daylight robbery. Outside you can get it for just $0.60 for the same taste and cup size. I hope the price wasn’t the reflection of their restaurant name, pricey and excessive.
Overall, it was an expensive mistake in here. But I guess this restaurant caters more to the tourist who wants to try our local food at exorbitant hotel prices. We locals are not suckers for pricey local dishes. Coming back again.. NO.
