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2014-02-05
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What to do when you are on a budget but want a decent meal in a comfortable environment that isn't a fast food outlet? Go to Hot Tomato of course! Its clean and modern decor in its signature colors of orange and white makes it a pleasant and lively place for a casual meal with friends or family. Incidentally, orange is also known to be stimulating to the appetite. Big appetite or not, the menu here is not as extensive as I'd like, but there is still a sufficient variety of meals to choose from,
This came with quite a decent portion of grilled boneless chicken thigh on spaghetti aglio olio with a side of crunchy salad. The chicken chop was juicy and tender, and the sauce was pretty tasty and peppery. The aglio olio was cooked al dente and it was also evenly seasoned, although I thought that the flavour of the aglio olio could be a little stronger. We did like that the spaghetti wasn't too dry or too oily.
Set Meal Upgrade: Mushroom Soup of the Day + Garlic Bread + Ice Lemon Tea (All Day Upgrade $3.50)
We upgraded our meal for a soup of the day, which was Cream of Mushroom, and a choice of Ice Lemon Tea (you can also choose Lime Juice, Coffee or Tea). Unfortunately, we forgot to take photo of the soup as it came after our mains and by then we were busy tucking into the food. The soup was quite creamy and delicious with a generous serving of chopped mushroom bits. We both gave it the thumb up for taste. Mashed Potato with Pepper Gravy ($3.90)
We also got an extra side of Mashed Potato which came in a small bowl. The mashed potato was smooth and creamy and the sauce was quite peppery. I thought that "peppery" seemed to be a common thread among quite a number of their dishes. The Mashed Potato was a nice addition if you want something more with the meal but I personally found the set upgrades sufficient. Chocolate Cake (Upgrade $2.50)
We also upgraded the meal to add a cake for $2.50 which we initially thought was a good deal as the usual price was $3.50. But we were a tad disappointed when we saw how small and thin it was. Taste-wise, we thought that this wasn't exactly a cake and was more like a condensed version of chocolate mousse but nonetheless it was still quite decent in taste. My only grouse was that there was just too little of this melt-in-your-mouth chocolate treat to really satisfy me!
Overall, the food was quite decent and we thought our meals were quite reasonably priced at just $14/++ each (before service charge and GST) for a complete meal with a main, soup of the day, dessert and drink. It was worth getting the set meal upgrade for the soup although we were split on our verdict regarding the dessert. I thought it was decent enough but my friend didn't find it worth the price especially considering the serving size.
Service was also quite decent despite the dinner time crowd and the staff was fairly responsive. But you might want to go slightly earlier as there is usually a queue during dinner time. One other thing is that they will charge for a glass of water at $0.20 per glass. So do take note if you need a drink but do not plan on upgrading the meal!
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