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2013-11-08
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Lunch today with Averie at Benten Cafe! I refrain from school food on Fridays hence, here I am. Benten Cafe is an open-concept restaurant, much more open than the usual kind because you are likely to be seated right beside shoppers walking past you. Stretch your hand out and you can block someone's path - that kind of open-concept. Luckily, it's located on the third floor where the traffic flow is lesser (but where in Jurong Point is completely free of crowds - the answer: nowhere). Weekday lunc
Weekday lunch set menus from Benten, which includes Soup + Bread + Main + Drink + Dessert for the stated prices. GST and service charge not included in stated price.
Mushroom Soup & Garlic Bread The mushroom soup tasted like store-bought mushroom soup with the exception of the sprinkling of parsley herbs at the top. But I profess a secret love for store-bought mushroom soups... though I do prefer to taste the real chunks of mushrooms. The garlic bread was burnt to a crisp at the edges, which screams cancer-causing but at least it is still evenly buttered.
Tomato & Prawn in Tomato Cream Sauce - $13.80 for the set mealThe pasta was cooked al dente and springy, which was good. The tomato cream sauce was teetering on the brink of being too sour - they needed a good dosage of sugar to balance the tomato's sourness. The sauce was also a little too diluted. What they could have done was to blend the tomato a bit more so that the sauce will be thicker. It tasted almost home-made - not exactly a compliment because I was referring to home-made by myself. They were generous with the prawns though, which were sweet and not too artificially springy.
Bacon & Mushroom in Garlic Sauce - $12.80 for the set meal I pinched a small mouthful and agreed with Averie that the pasta was too bland. It was only slightly salted and there was no hint of garlic sauce at all. The bacon had more fats than real meat, which was quite a pity.
Mini Green Tea Ice-CreamI was quite pleasantly surprised that the dessert was much more elaborate than expected. From the description on the menu, I would have thought that the dessert would come in a mini bowl with a scoop of ice-cream. Instead, the green tea ice-cream was balanced atop another scoop of vanilla ice-cream, garnished with some red beans and a slice of peach. The green tea ice-cream was rich and strong in its matcha taste, though the peach was a little sour. The red beans were sweet and not sandy in texture. I don't like red beans but this was surprisingly great.
Mini Strawberry Ice-CreamAverie's choice of dessert
The service is generally quite laidback but maintains their minimal level of professionalism. Overall verdict of this place: The mains are really quite not up-to-standard even for regular pastas, but considering the amount of food you are getting for the price, I guess if you're not too picky it's fine. Their desserts look promising though.
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