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Review: Foo House
By daniel | June 5, 2007
After a tiring but fun day at Jurong Bird Park last Saturday - Esther wanted to catch the ongoing penguin parade - we were craving for a good burger. We passed on Bongo Burgers located in the park itself (it was quite empty when we walked by) and decided to hit Astons Specialties instead. When we reached the East Coast Road eatery however, it was super-packed!
We couldn’t wait so after some deliberation we headed down to Foo House, at Picardy Garden in Simpang Bedok, instead.
We’ve actually been to Foo House before, and remembered that it was a pleasant experience. It sounds Chinese, but it actually serves Western food.
We like its simple if eclectic retro furnishings and decorations. We spotted some English football club jerseys from the late 70s and even an old record cover of Cliff Richard’s “Summer Holiday” album. Since our last visit, Foo House even installed air-conditioning.
But we came for the food and hungrily placed our orders - two Picardy Monster burgers ($11 each, and $1 for each additional topping) and we shared a shredded duck crepe with a side salad ($8.80). Since our wedding photoshoot was coming up, I wasn’t allowed a pint *sob*. I settled for staring at the next table, where a Caucasian couple were thirstily downing a jug of Erdinger.
The shredded duck crepe came fast enough to chase away the longing for a cold draught.
It’s supposed to be a starter, but with two large filled crepes the order could easily satisfy someone with a smaller appetite. Ours weren’t so modest, and we ripped into it with gusto. The crepe skin was soft yet sturdy enough to hold its filling together. The filling was made from shredded duck and stir-fried onions and bell peppers that tasted very…err… Chinese-y, courtesy of a hint of cloves that must have been in the marinade. The crepes were drizzled with a sauce reduced from the same marinade. The salad was pleasantly fresh if nothing out of the ordinary. This was an interesting, if bizarre, play on the Peking duck. We like it.
Then the burgers came (the picture doesn’t do it justice).
I asked for additional toppings of mushrooms and an egg, while Esther wanted additional mushrooms and asked for her burger buns not to be buttered. Well somehow our orders got mixed up, so either they didn’t butter my buns - wipe that thought from your dirty mind! - or they added my egg to her burger. Anyway, we swopped the buns. There, problem solved.
The Picardy Monster burger is worthy of its name. It was huge, and the beef patty was fat and chunky. More importantly, it was handchopped - not minced - so you can taste its beefy goodness! OK, the chef was a bit heavy handed with the salt (we remembered that it was the same with the duck confit we ordered last time) which wasn’t helped by the equally salty cheese that came with the burger. And no beer to wash all that salt down either. No matter. All in all, Foo House’s burger was one of the better burgers we’ve tried.
Esther was quite impressed with her side of mashed potatoes, which was light and fluffy. My side of chips was pretty ok, but the Caucasian man at the next table - the one with the *sob* Erdinger - sent his back, claiming they were not crisp. He had previously sent his steak back to the kitchen as well, saying that it wasn’t cooked right. The chef came out of the kitchen to apologise to the man, who proceeded to rip a chip into two to prove a point. So drama.
In fact it wasn’t a great day for the service staff. Not only did they face problems with the Caucasian, a young child seated at a nearby table puked out his pumpkin soup all around his table. We were impressed with one of the waitresses, who was pretty responsive and quickly cleaned up the mess, but two of her colleagues seemed quite lazy and didn’t budge despite the minor disaster. Pick your hired help with care, we say.
Foo House is not a bad place to relax, really. The food is comforting and affordable, and we far prefer the quiet neighbourhood to the hustle and bustle of most other places downtown. We might come back for another visit sometime this year.
Be warned: make special orders at your own peril.
Foo House is located at Picardy Garden, Simpang Bedok, 6 Jalan Pari Burong, Singapore 488672.
You can also read reviews/blog posts on Foo House at blurbme.com, HungryGoWhere, and Lemniscates are Forever.
Topics: Restaurant, Western |
June 18th, 2007 at 5:09 am
Hey… ping!
I’m going out for a nice yard of Erdinger… yum, yum..
June 26th, 2007 at 10:35 am
Erdinger…. *groan*
I want….