Re!Fill at Pearl's Hill

DATE VISITED: 280210
ADDRESS: 175A Chin Swee Road Hotel Re!, Pearl's Hill

Its the 280210 (if you are in the Armed Forces before, you should know it means 28th February 2010). It is special date because three people in my family are celebrating their birthdays. My Brother-in-Law (28th Feb), My Maid (28th Feb) and myself which technically doesn't have a birthday this year, 29th February. My sister is on a budget and she wants us to celebrate by eating out. After searching Hungry Go Where, we found Hotel Re!, other options also include West End at Pasir Panjang and Zenden Restaurant.

AMBIENCE :
Despite being in the CBD Area. Hotel Re! is hidden away from the view of Chinatown and it is like it is on a world of it's own on Pearl's Hill. The exterior of the building is plain featuring some green-tinted glass panels here and there for their balconies. The overall outlook is simple and clean. No fanciful decorations, just plain rectangular block with green-tinted windows and balcony railings. The interior however is a total contrast to the exterior.The interior is styled like a 1970s Disco with colourful disco lights. Pink and Yellow dominate the interior's palette. The restaurant is devoid of people when we arrived. So we were wondering with a rating above 7, why is it empty? Nonetheless, the place is rather well-decorated with details like Popcorn machines and the whole place matches the hotel's interior with its retro style decor. Thumbs down for the dimness of the restaurant though.

FOOD:
HALAL : NO

The menu was rather colourful with its funky, retro fonts and food photos. It is a plus point. My sister and I decided to start off the meal with a light Caesar Salad with Smoked Salmon only to find out it is rather heavy with the overwhelming dressing. Taste wise, would have been better if the dressing is lighter. The lettuce was fresh. The taste alternates between the sweet and crunchy with the saltiness (bacon).How can we not have some soup.

Now lets have our soup of the Day, The Mushroom Soup, I didn't enjoyed this. They serve bun with butter with this bread, I would prefer garlic bread to dip in the soup though. Comparing my experience with other restaurants, this soup is more fluid, the mushroom bits are rather small too. There is a taste of mushroom but the stock seemed to overpower it.

My brother, being a fan of the fried and crispy decided to have some ZING Wings. I think he thought it would be like Zinger Burger or something. The Zing Wings came out normal for me. While the meat was alright, and there is a touch of spiciness to it. I didn't enjoy that much but my mum does.

Something we have off their Asian menu is the Crabmeat Fried Rice with Salted Fish. This dish scored high points among all of us. It is very fragrant with sharp constrasts of salted fish during alternate bites. It is not too oily too comparing it with the Egg Fried Rice we had at Crystal Jade (J8) and I must also mention that the portion is huge, but still rather expensive with its 9.80 price tag.

Next up is the Fish and Chips, what could go wrong with a classic dish and since it is a classic in a Western restaurant, I think it can more or less tell me about the standards of the Restaurant's food. This dish is generous with its tartare sauce which is rather sweet and thick. The accompanying salad is more for decoration. The wedges are average and now for the Fish and Chips, the batter is simply too hard. Difficult to cut and the the fish falls out of the batter with the batter still intact. While the taste is more or less alright, I think the texture didn't make it
We also had the Atlantic Seafood Platter, Grilled Boneless Chicken Forestiere.....which I didn't really try. You can find the comments by my mum on HGW.

The worst performing dish of the day is the Pan Seared Sea Bass Fontina. This dish failed badly because the meat was too tough. With its price-tag we expected better. The fish itself is rather tasteless too. I thought, my tastebuds are getting tired after all the dishes when I tasted it but I was wrong. This dish just didn't make the cut, a definite miss. The accompanying sauce was odd too.

SERVICE :
In the beginning, when we arrived, the service was good. They took the initiative to make us feel comfortable by adding one more table when they realized 3 tables is abit uncomfortable for us, quite cramped. They refilled our glasses of water promptly and cleared the plates.Towards the end of the dinner, however it wasn't as efficient anymore. Despite so, the service here is generally above average, they are willing to accept our requests for say rice as sides instead of mashed potatoes, over chili sauce etc and most importantly they are rather friendly.

OVERALL :
Looking at the price, this place is abit cheaper than other restaurants but the food standards should be improved simply because cheaper value doesn't mean compromise on food quality. The dish we enjoyed the most at the end of the day was the Crabmeat Fried Rice with Salted Fish which we ordered for the second time as a takeaway. The place is rather nice if you are looking for a quiet venue to relax and chill out and for alcoholics, they do serve beer, wine and cocktails.