Just recently, during yet another team's dinner with D, YN and A, we very last minute headed down to J's Restaurant (discussion was all on Straits Cafe vs Badoque) for a pre-planned 'impromptu' dinner. I wanted to take a picture of the restaurant, but it was full house! Didn't want to snap pictures of innocent diners, so that's all I have of the restaurant interior. The restaurant is not exactly very small, yet not exactly very spacious so reservation in advance is really recommended. With a strong Latin-American influence, there's also an addition of a more refined modern European cuisine. J's menu not only caters for Vegetarians and also removed pork/lard and alcohol for Muslims. A great choice for gatherings with individuals of different dietary requirement!

And now, let's get on with the food, shall we?Poppers - $17

Breaded jalapeno peppers stuffed with mozzarella, fried till golden brown. Served with salsa sauce and guacamole sauce.

I was hoping that I can get some spicy kick from this appetizer, but it was more of a sour shock instead. A little way too vinegary sour for my liking, though generously stuffed with cheese that was melted till molten in the process of frying till crispy golden brown.

I didn't eat with much sauce, because out of the two I'll prefer the salsa sauce and I really need no more sourish tangy taste added to this poppers.

Caution: The molten cheese are scalding hot. Bite into these poppers with care!Chipotle Meatballs - $17

Brasied beef meatballs in spicy chipotle and tomato sauce, served with crispy corn tortilla chips.

I can't comment on this, for I do not take beef. It did look delicious, though.Paella - $39 (for 2 servings)

A traditional Saffron rice dish, with marinated chicken, salmon and tilapia.

One of my favourite food, 'Spanish fried rice'. The rice was cooked till pretty hard, yet drenched in flavourful savoury moistness, and topped up with generous amount of chicken, salmon and tilapia. At just $39 for 2 pax, as compared to $28 for 1 pax, this is a definite steal!Fatijas (Chicken) - $29

Grilled chicken breast with sauteed onions, capsicums, cabbage and mushroom, served with warm tortillas and an array of sauces.

Of course, you don't expect grilled chicken breast to be juicy and tender. But they're still nothing short of being flavourful and tasty. Mushrooms seemed a little sparse as I hardly ate any, but they're obviously (as you can see from the picture) very generous with not just the chicken but also the onions and capsicums. I guess the correct way is to wrap the dish in the tortilla and eat it as a self made wrap with your preferred sauce(s), and so I did. I find that the meat itself is flavourful enough and there's really no need to add on any sauces to further complicate the taste.

However, D was literally piling her serving plate with both the salsa and guacamole sauces. So I guess, to each it's own? Churros with Bananas & Mangoes - $12

Churros, served with salted caramel bananas, fresh mangoes and coconut infused mascarpone sabayon.

The churros are pretty well done, served piping hot right out of the fryer. The outside, dusted in icing sugar and drizzled with yummy chocolate, was crispy and the insides were soft, fluffy and slightly moist.

However, I'm not feeling much for the jar of bananas, mangoes, coconut mascarpone cream though. It was way too creamy and heavy on the tastebuds, and I got pretty sick of it even before I could dig out the salted caramel bananas. Gave up on it after mouthful and mouthful of coconut mascarpone cream with bits of mangoes inside.

Other than D, who tends to like richer, creamy and more flavourful food, none of us really like the jar of mascarpone sabayon.

Would have enjoyed this dessert a lot more if it's served with a pot of rich chocolate dip instead!

This is actually my second time dining at Bangkok Jam, albeit at a different branch. I apologise beforehand for the lack of pictures for this post because I didn't intend to do a review on it, since I've already been there once (PS new wing) and the experience was, well....mediocre. Mediocre service (even at a less packed dining time of 5pm and most of their crew was idle), mediocre food (had their Pad Thai & special item Earl Grey Milk Shake then) Nothing good, nothing bad.

But this time round at Marina Square, the level of service & food seemed to make a turn for the worse. Was actually reluctant to dine at Bangkok Jam, but since YS kept suggesting we go there as they have a shorter queue compared to Hi Fu Mi and the others (with the exception of this sorry looking cafe called Addictions, which was empty) and I sensed that she was eager to try it, I agreed.

There were two couples in front of us in the queue, and from the outside I can easily notice that the restaurant is horribly understaffed. There're dirty tables left uncleaned, along with a few empty tables staring invitingly at us to just walk straight in and take our own seat as those particular few servers just threw us a blank stare as they zoomed by to tend to other seated customers. Finally, one staff dressed in a chef coat came out to usher us to our respective tables. Or perhaps, their restaurant manager dressed up like a chef unlike other servers in black? I doubt so.

Anyway, YS and I ordered similar dishes. Seafood in Red Tom Yum for her (plus an additional sunny-side-up), Clear Tom Yum for me, and we both ordered iced Thai Milk Tea. Our orders took roughly 20 minutes to arrive, yes for a soup dish it is a very long waiting time. Never mind, see how our (or rather my) food was served.Let's not even complain about the tiny bowl of soup (with exactly 2 small pieces of fish, 2 squids, 2 shrimps ONLY) selling at $7.90 (a total ripoff, yes!). My utensils and serviettes were not served, but only a black ladle was given.

Now, obviously not very happy, I reminded the waitress about the missing utensils, and also our missing drinks (which restaurants serves drinks later than cooked food, and mind you ours took 20 minutes to come) YS also took the chance to remind her that her red tom yum has yet to be served, to which the waitress interrupted curtly, "I can speak Chinese."

YS and I exchanged glances of bewilderment before she turned back to the waitress and told her again in English, that her red tom yum wasn't served.

Seriously, what has your customer's language abilities got to do with the orders not served? And yes, we do speak Mandarin too, but sorry to say YS doesn't speak it well.

After a few minutes, YS's red tom yum was finally served and our utensils handed over by the same waitress, just as YS pulled out a strand of long hair from her bowl of rice, to both of our horror. The waitress immediately apologised and snatched up the bowl of rice, saying she'll change it for us. She returned shortly after with a bowl of rice that seemed to be 'disrupted' instead of how it looked like in a pretty dome shape. I really hoped that they didn't just pull the hair out and re-serve it to YS.

And yes, with our food served, we finally started eating our dinner. The first sip of my clear tom yum brought a frown to my face. It wasn't spicy at all. Previously when I visited the PS branch with Ade and Boon, Ade had red tom yum and she liked it because it's spicy. I remembered Boon commenting that the clear tom yum will be even spicer, for that's how it's supposed to be, because clear tom yum is cooked with chopped chilli padi. Then, I asked to try YS's red tom yum to compare. Hers was much more spicier than mine.

Clear Tom Yum is spicier then Red Tom Yum. Really?

Being really hungry, we just gobbled down our food quickly. I shan't give much comment on the food because it really isn't fantastic. The ridiculously small serving aside, the fish definitely wasn't fresh as I can taste the fishiness even when it's cooked in Tom Yum soup. The squid was overcooked, hence tough and rubbery. Shrimp was too, but at least not as horrible as the squid. And when we're both halfway into our meal, YS exclaimed, "Where's our milk teas?"

Ahh, yes! Our milk teas weren't served. So once again, we desperately raised/waved our hands at the pathetic few servers, only to have the chef coming to tend to us again. It took a couple more minutes after he has left our table before he returned with our milk teas.Which really isn't fantastic. It's just a tinge sweeter with a slightly stronger tea fragrance as compared to any other milk teas.

And back to my clear tom yum, I finally realised the reason why it wasn't spicy at all when I polished it off (not because it tasted heavenly please, because it's really a tiny bowl!)There's only a pathetic 1/3 piece of a chilli padi inside the entire bowl of soup. How to make it spicy?!

I remembered when I told Sa I enjoyed dining at Porn's (Pornsak's Thai restaurant), she scoffed that I have no taste for Thai food. I don't blame her for being overly critical. She hasn't tried Bangkok Jam.

Set up just like a CBTL cafe with better chairs and tables, it may be hard to notice that it's a Beanstro and not just their usual cafe. To be honest, CBTL has never been on my favourite list, ever, for I'm really not a fan of their coffees. So, will the Beanstro impress me?

Hmm, we'll see.And of course, no coffee for me, thank you very much. I'll go for a cuppa tea! For starters, we got a few 'finger food' snacks for sharing while we waited for our tardy queen to arrive. Hand-cut Calamari - $9

Well, what can go wrong with a basket of well batter, deep fried squids? Near to nothing!

The batter wasn't exactly very crispy and the squid wasn't exactly tender-chewy enough, but it was still packed with flavour to make this basket of fried squid pretty addictive.Mozzarella Fritters - $7

I didn't really get to eat this, because the waiter came and cleared the plate even though there's still 1 whole, untouched fritter left on it. He didn't even bother to ask if he can clear it. Just reached in, grabbed the plate and left while we're engrossed in chit-chatting.

BAD SERVICE, CBB, BAD SERVICE!

Erm, any refund of the (perhaps) $2?

But according to the rest who has eaten it, it's still 'not too bad' for a cheese lover.Morrocan Lamb Casserole - $16

A pair of lamb Marquez in tomato stew done Moroccan style, overlaid with eggs and baked in a hot plate!

CBB is quite a bad place to be taking pictures due to backlight in every corner and every single angle.

But this dish is really delish! However, the serving is pretty small and if it's not for the 2 slices of toasted baguette and with the calamari, I might have left the place hungry. I can't really say I understand the point of adding 2 eggs on top of the dish, for it doesn't complement ANYTHING imo. Well, it might have been for the toasts, which were better off being paired with the tomato stew to begin with. So In the end, I pretty much gobbled down the runny yolks first (I really cannot imagine the taste of it getting mixed into the rest of the stew) before moving on with the rest of the dish. The lamb cubes were tender and savoury, and the tangy tomato stew simply brought out more of its flavour.

If you're a lamb and tomato lover like me, I really recommend that you try this!Bangers and Mash - $18

Oozing with cheese, grilled chicken snail sausage on Idaho mash with caraway sour cabbage and onion gravy.Classic Eggs Benedict - $17

Two softly poached eggs built on toasted Vienna with chicken ham, lime vinaigrette mesclun and hollandaise sauce.

Frankly speaking, I won't say that they're very affordable but the food quality is definitely there for a cafe (even though beanstro's concept is meant to be a casual dining restaurant, I still view CBB more as a cafe), and it makes the penny a little more worth spent. Service wise, they need to train the waiters not to clear off non-empty plates without asking the diners if it's alright to do so.