Monday, February 12, 2007
The Cafe Cartel - Marina Square
Met up with a few forumers, okay, the owners and moderators wor... and a couple of forumers from www.WantToTrade.sg for dinner and TCSS at The Cafe Cartel-Marina Square last Friday.
Was horrible driving AYE-ECP to Marina area, so many cars in bumper to bumper traffic on Friday evening jam and so many motorbikes zipping in between lanes, that filering took triple-checks on blindspots and rear-mirror. AND it took me 1:15hr to get from office to Marina Square. Heng* heng* parking was all right.
Had never been INSIDE a Cafe Cartel dispite of the many of them around the island. My impression was that they catered to the student crowd who pretended it was good dining. :p
Once there, Paddy and Izel, ChoonLye, Mach5, Philipchai, were already having a drink and chatting away. I was super hungry by then and we ordered some snacks. Garlic Bread, Platter with Calamari and stuff, Potato Wedges, and Nachos with cheese. The were alright, and we soon polished all of them off.
The service was perfunctionary, efficient with no smile from the harried staff. I suppose partly from the time-and-energy-wasting practice of having to reprint and reconfirm every additional order as they are ordered and served. Did they have too many moochers that disputed bills? Or staff simply forgetting too many orders?
The water jug, water glass, chilli and tomato sauce, side plates were stacked in a central island for self service. We didnt know and had asked the staff to serve us those, which to their credit, were given to us quickly without complaining (or the smile).
Then Iris and ShuffleArt came and we started ordering main courses. I couldnt decide at first but chose a sirloin steak.
To my surprise, the dish was served with pasta and some sorry looking veg and baby carrots. And the steak was the size of 2 hot dogs, half of it being the fat from a sirloin steak. It did come medium rare as ordered, but the meat was so stringy that i had to chew it to death before being able to swallow anything. The pasta was drowning in some suspicious sweet brown sauce, and the baby carrots were cooked in sugar syrup. Ew. Bleah. Argh. Worst dish i've had the misfortune of having in a very very long time.
Izel's fish and chip (i asked for a sample) didnt come any better and tasted exactly like very peppery card board. Fish's fish and chip looked better.
ShufferArt's grilled chicken look all right, as did Philip's pork ribs. ChoonLye didnt like his meat platter.
No more gatherings at Cafe Cartel ok? or i'll stick with the side-dishes.
Was horrible driving AYE-ECP to Marina area, so many cars in bumper to bumper traffic on Friday evening jam and so many motorbikes zipping in between lanes, that filering took triple-checks on blindspots and rear-mirror. AND it took me 1:15hr to get from office to Marina Square. Heng* heng* parking was all right.
Had never been INSIDE a Cafe Cartel dispite of the many of them around the island. My impression was that they catered to the student crowd who pretended it was good dining. :p
Once there, Paddy and Izel, ChoonLye, Mach5, Philipchai, were already having a drink and chatting away. I was super hungry by then and we ordered some snacks. Garlic Bread, Platter with Calamari and stuff, Potato Wedges, and Nachos with cheese. The were alright, and we soon polished all of them off.
The service was perfunctionary, efficient with no smile from the harried staff. I suppose partly from the time-and-energy-wasting practice of having to reprint and reconfirm every additional order as they are ordered and served. Did they have too many moochers that disputed bills? Or staff simply forgetting too many orders?
The water jug, water glass, chilli and tomato sauce, side plates were stacked in a central island for self service. We didnt know and had asked the staff to serve us those, which to their credit, were given to us quickly without complaining (or the smile).
Then Iris and ShuffleArt came and we started ordering main courses. I couldnt decide at first but chose a sirloin steak.
To my surprise, the dish was served with pasta and some sorry looking veg and baby carrots. And the steak was the size of 2 hot dogs, half of it being the fat from a sirloin steak. It did come medium rare as ordered, but the meat was so stringy that i had to chew it to death before being able to swallow anything. The pasta was drowning in some suspicious sweet brown sauce, and the baby carrots were cooked in sugar syrup. Ew. Bleah. Argh. Worst dish i've had the misfortune of having in a very very long time.
Izel's fish and chip (i asked for a sample) didnt come any better and tasted exactly like very peppery card board. Fish's fish and chip looked better.
ShufferArt's grilled chicken look all right, as did Philip's pork ribs. ChoonLye didnt like his meat platter.
No more gatherings at Cafe Cartel ok? or i'll stick with the side-dishes.
Labels: to Eat Drink Party
# posted by yojanjan : 2/12/2007 06:12:00 PM
