'The Kitchen' is the name of the bright and airy food court at Star Vista. Operated by Koufu, the food court has about ten stalls sellingbeverages, desserts, Chinese economic rice, vegetarian food, Japanese food, Korean food, Thai food, nasi padang, etc.

The Thai food stall has several set meals priced at $6.80, $7.80 & $8.80. Drinks served in 500ml cups eg lemongrass drink, Thai iced tea, cost from $1.50 upwards. Each set meal comprises rice with a meat/fish dish, a vegetable dish and either curry or tom yum soup. I picked the $7.80 pineapple rice set meal with thai style fish, which was, based on the wall mounted, lighted signboard, suposed to be served with stir fried thai kailan & green curry. After paying for my order I stood at the counter for nearly 15mins waiting for my order to be assembled.

The pineapple rice was served with several chunks of deep fried, battered dory fish with thai style chilli sauce poured over them, a small portion of hastily blanched shimeji mushroom drizzled with oyster sauce and a small bowl of green curry.
(see photo). I enquired about the kailan but the stallholder explained that they had none left & proceeded to serve the next customer.

Though I did not complain, I was dismayed with her for not telling me at point of order & prepayment that they had run out of thai kailan, and for not offering me an alternative choice of veg such as stir fried eggplant or thai salad.

Pineapple rice and green curry were ok. I've had tastier versions at other food courts eg Food Republic at comparable prices. However the thai style fish was a disappointment - batter was too thick so cant taste the fish, while the mushroom was tasteless so I left them uneaten.

Overpriced and substandard food that was not worth the wait.

Should have paid a little more to dine at Porn's Restaurant which was offering $9.90+ weekday set lunch of a rice dish with a canned soft drink - better food quality, service & dining environment.

The casual European bistro chain Ambush is a popular & successful addition to the mass market western restaurant segment, posing fair competition to its peers like Aston's Prime, Pepperdine and Saveur. Two new Ambush Restaurants have opened in the short span of three months, first in the Atrium@Orchard, new wing of Plaza Singapura and now at heartland megamall JEM.

Ambush has a broadsheet menu listing its F&B offerings. The menu is not extensive but nevertheless offers a fairly representative and adequate range of European favourites from paella and pastas to hearty staples such as sausages & rosti, pork knuckle and fish & chips. The menu may not be large but most items on it are well executed and affordably priced - all that matters to the budget conscious but discerning heartland diners.

Mini Lamb Shank ($8.90++) was an appetizer or tasting portion of their famous Braised Lamb Shank. The meat was juicy, flavourful and tender, served on a bed of mashed potato to soak up the hearty rich gravy, and a generous side of thick cut frites.

Vongole pasta au vin blanc ( $13.50++ / weekday afternoon special price of $9.90++) needs no introduction - lots of fresh clams coked with butter, finely chopped onion & garlic and white wine sauce poured over your choice of pasta - spaghetti, linguine, fusili or penne. Delish! An a la carte order of a pot of clams or mussels cooked this way or in your preferred style, will set you back $14.90++.

Apple Crisp ( $6.90++) is actually an apple crumble pie made of buttery short crust pastry, served with vanilla bean ice cream and a drizzle of caramel syrup. The contrast of flavours and textures is great and I liked the light hand with cinnamon so that it did not overwhelm the refreshing tartness of the granny apple filling.

Well, Ambush has certainly got their culinary concept and pricing done right. What I would like to see is the inclusion of four or five homestyle hearty soup or chowder on its menu eg borsch. Afterall, soup with crusty bread or rosti is a popular lunch combo in Europe and is catching on among office ladies in Singapore too.

All BK outlets had a burger promo on Tuesday 07/05/2013. With purchase of any XL Coke or Coke Light at $2.90, an XL Mushroom Swiss Burger would be on the house for one day only. Most customers went for the promo that day. The XL burger came with sliced button mushrooms, lots of melted cheese and a grilled beef patty that was bigger & thicker than that found in a whopper junior. However I found the beef patty too dry. So had to add lots of chilli sauce to moisten it. No complaints since it was such great value burger & coke combo.

We ordered three items for sharing viz caesar salad $5.90, kungfu wings $6.90 for 3 wings and potato wedges with nacho cheese dip $5.90.

Long wait for food in the late afternoon on a Sunday, so had to remind staff to check on.our orders a couple of times. Caesar salad was ok but not worth raving about. Deepfried chicken wings were tasty if a tad too salty. Potato wedges was the best, tiny bowl of naxho cheese dip.probably redundant.

Hungry Jack has four promotional rice meals of either chicken or fish with rice costing $5.90 per portion. I picked the Grilled Fish & Rice and added $1.50 for a bowl of cream of mushroom soup (no chpice of soup everyday).

The portion was big but the rice was bland, with a small dollop.of coleslaw served at the side. The grilled dory fish fillet came smothered in a mildly spicy black pepper sauce though the picture on the stall's signboard showed a reddish gravy (tomato or salsa sauce?). The mushroom sauce was too concentrated with plenty of cornflour added to thicken its consistency. Nice topping of crunchy croutons.