Rosti

Located at the quiet and inconspicuous suburban mall Kallang Leisure Park, this hip‑looking café with comfy sofas and chairs, downtempo music and dim lighting (think along the lines of P.S. Café and the defunct Whitebait & Kale) would have been able to draw in the “in” crowd if it was located in downtown Orchard. But the fact that the mall itself draws more of a family crowd and school kids doesn’t do Rosti any favor. Plus, the food here isn’t really very good and can do better. When we arrived for dinner on a weekday evening, there were only three other tables that were occupied; but the vibe was nice and relaxed enough. So the place scored well in terms of mood and service (the servers were nice and attentive, and seemed to know the menu well), but the food was quite the letdown. Unimpressed with the starter menu which comprised mostly salads and predictable fare like soup of the day and beef carparccio, we started with mains: The day’s special honey duck breast with orange sauce and peach, kurobuto pork chop with potatoes, vegetables and mushroom ficasse and the Grand Suprema pizza, which came with toppings of chicken sausage, mushrooms, capsicum and chili. Only the pork chop was good—the meat was generous, tender and juicy, and the ficasse went very well with it. Our pizza was the biggest disappointment—it tasted bland and boring despite the chili toppings, and we’ve had better elsewhere, even at restaurant chains. Our duck too was a letdown—the smell was too strong, although the sweet‑tasting orange sauce and peaches managed to keep the smell down. Thankfully, our dessert fared a bit better: Our profiteroles (vanilla ice‑cream sandwiched between choux buns and drizzled with chocolate sauce), was delectable as the dark chocolate sauce complemented the choux buns nicely. But honestly, we won’t be making an effort to come back here anytime soon. Although places like P.S. Café would probably cost a bit more, at least the food there is more impressive, and the crowd better‑looking, too.