The cat has landed in Singapore!
Last night, I did something crazy. Something which I would never have done in my entire life. That was to queue for 2 hours to get into the latest craze in town -- Hello Kitty Orchid Garden. I am no fan of the cat, but well, friends around were, so ok, in the name of friendship, i joined in the madness.
We were there at approximately 610pm and by approximately 810pm, we were given a place. This was on Day 2 of their opening. Everyone were patiently waiting. Some taking turns to queue. No queue numbers were given out and there was no reservation number we could call. On top of that, they were probably shorthanded as we spied several empty seats for a long while and no one was ushered in. So, we sat down and wanted to order practically everything bowed (the recommended stuff). Unfortunately, several items were out of stock! This included their flavoured sodas, because, they were out of sodas! Could you believe it? Well, with every new restaurant, there are bound to be teething problems and I guess they had been so busy they didn't have time to replenish their stock! Some of their mains were also not available and even no fuss sides like Nachos were not available. The food were mediocre and things like ice cream seemed like they were bought from NTUC. Nothing against that, but I would have expected better quality ones like Hagen Daz, Andersons, Movenpick or Udders perhaps?
Well, at least the food were looking pretty! Feast your eyes on them:
We had two out of three of their desserts: The Cat In Paradise (the one in yellow) which cost $18.50 and a Sundae, "Camping under the stars" which cost $19.50. The Sundae in my opinion was a ripoff! I mean, just a few pieces of biscuits and two scoops of ice-cream cost me close to $20? The other which was actually mango moose was more refreshing. It is light and easy on the palette and was served with a scoop of hazelnut gelato.
For mains, we ordered the waffles and Salmon. The waffles were disappointing as they weren't hot and fragrant. To make a good waffle is not easy but I would have expected better standards from a cafe like this. The salmon wasn't too bad. But again, not warm. The mains were generally well priced. At less than $20, you are able to get a decent meal.
Since there weren't sodas or plain water, we had to settle for tea at $7.80 per pot. The Strawberry Marshmallow tea we ordered tasted like cough syrup while the Kitty's Apple Pie Tea was went well with us. It has a fruit tisane of toasted apple and cinnamon tea.
We were told by the staff that our food would arrive only 45mins later. WHAT? after waiting for 2 hours, I still had to wait for another 45mins? A hungry man is an angry man and I was a bear with sore head! I was literally having a bad headache due to the intense heat the last couple of days and the wait didn't help. The waitress asked if we would like to have our desserts served after our meals but knowing how slow they were, we requested for whatever's fastest to come first. After what seemed like half an hour, our table was filled with all the food we ordered! *mouth agape
This was the crowd after we left at approximately 10pm. It seemed like the later it got, the more crowded it was.
Don't be deceived, the place is filled to the brim!
If you would like to bring home a little something, there were also coffee, tea, and germination kits. Nicely packaged. But, it wasn't too price friendly. $38.50 for a tea gift set? That must be some good tea
Their selection of gelato was pretty wide. They weren't too sweet but honestly, nothing impressive.
Acting cute in line with the theme! haha.
So my final verdict. If you would really like to join in the hype, probably go really early. Else, wait for everything to sizzle down as it is really not worth the wait.
Disclaimer: No monetary compensation has been received. (I queued for 2hours didn't I?) All opinions expressed are entirely my own.
