We were supposed to have dinner here, at Marche Restaurant in Vivo City. The place has a view of the beautiful harbour, and serves Swiss recipes. Justin, who lived in Singapore for his JTA (Junior Term Abroad), said the food is good there, and indeed the brightly lit place with fresh fruits displayed looked very attractive.
We lined up to get a table but something changed my friends' minds and we ended up at Food Republic.
Did you know that Food Republic is a chain owned by BreadTalk? I didn't realize all Food Republics in Singapore are the same. 
There were a lot of stalls to choose from that after going around three times, I realized being faced with so many food options for only one meal when you're hungry and everything looks yummy but you don't even know what you're looking at is very very stressful. And you end up making bad choices.
Take Grace for instance. She really really wanted the prawn noodles which everyone was ordering, but she got distracted by this saucy looking sister. I don't know what it is, but she complained that it lacked flavor, despite its appearance which we expected to be something with hoisin sauce. I liked the flat noodles though, mainly because I'm partial to anything with flat noodles like Pad Thai or Char Kwey Tiao. It has shrimps, beansprouts and other vegetables. Sorry I can't describe it because it's not mine, but it was like instant pancit canton and I liked it.
Grace also got some hakaw, but apparently she was forced to get them because the lady in the stall thought she wanted a plate when she was merely asking whether they were hakaw. She made the mistake of pointing and speaking in English. By the time she realized the lady had punched her order, it was too late. To be fair, the hakaw tasted fresh and were very hot.
Meanwhile, I can't say I got a bad deal with the plate I ordered. It was one of those make your own soups. You can choose the ingredients; maximum of 6 and you pay $0.60 for every additional ingredient, and then the broth you prefer, whether clear, spicy or curry, and finally if you want flat noodles, vermicelli or Chinese noodles. The choices for the ingredients are: vegetables (about 6 types), meatballs (I got mushroom meatballs), different sizes of tofu, whether fried or fresh (I got fresh), yam, seaweed... oh dear I don't remember what else. I'm sure there were no meat cutlets or fresh seafood. Lastly I picked flat noodles.
My order ended up looking like what you see above. I didn't expect them to separate the seaweed and pour broth over it, and then cook the rest of ingredients in spicy sauce. What I least expected was for them to separate the noodles. It was very confusing how I was supposed to eat it, but I managed and it was very good. :) The spicy sauce had a good kick (after I doused it with more chili sauce) and just a little sweet. I didn't care for the seaweed soup or the noodles.
Take Grace for instance. She really really wanted the prawn noodles which everyone was ordering, but she got distracted by this saucy looking sister. I don't know what it is, but she complained that it lacked flavor, despite its appearance which we expected to be something with hoisin sauce. I liked the flat noodles though, mainly because I'm partial to anything with flat noodles like Pad Thai or Char Kwey Tiao. It has shrimps, beansprouts and other vegetables. Sorry I can't describe it because it's not mine, but it was like instant pancit canton and I liked it.
Grace also got some hakaw, but apparently she was forced to get them because the lady in the stall thought she wanted a plate when she was merely asking whether they were hakaw. She made the mistake of pointing and speaking in English. By the time she realized the lady had punched her order, it was too late. To be fair, the hakaw tasted fresh and were very hot.Meanwhile, I can't say I got a bad deal with the plate I ordered. It was one of those make your own soups. You can choose the ingredients; maximum of 6 and you pay $0.60 for every additional ingredient, and then the broth you prefer, whether clear, spicy or curry, and finally if you want flat noodles, vermicelli or Chinese noodles. The choices for the ingredients are: vegetables (about 6 types), meatballs (I got mushroom meatballs), different sizes of tofu, whether fried or fresh (I got fresh), yam, seaweed... oh dear I don't remember what else. I'm sure there were no meat cutlets or fresh seafood. Lastly I picked flat noodles.
My order ended up looking like what you see above. I didn't expect them to separate the seaweed and pour broth over it, and then cook the rest of ingredients in spicy sauce. What I least expected was for them to separate the noodles. It was very confusing how I was supposed to eat it, but I managed and it was very good. :) The spicy sauce had a good kick (after I doused it with more chili sauce) and just a little sweet. I didn't care for the seaweed soup or the noodles.I met a high school friend in the food court. She was returning to Manila the next day, so I was really happy to have caught her. She brought some strawberries which she says she gobbles up for breakfast everyday. I checked them and they were indeed huge and juicy looking. I introduced her to my friends and we chatted a long time about the best things to check out while we were there.
After dinner we shopped a bit but I didn't find anything special with the mall, since most of the stores can be found back home as well. I was also peeved that all the XS/S sizes are gone because the Great Singapore Sale has been going on since May. All the Singaporeans are so skinny, I wonder where they put the kaya toasts and noodles! Not to mention the milo!!!
I took a picture of these buildings on the way home. The first one is Cathay Plaza, the one below is the School of The Arts in Singapore. I just love how most of the buildings are treated like art there, and it seems like they apply no boundaries on creativity. WIth that I bid Singapore goodnight!
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