Hey Hive!
Even though there are still people getting covid, it's basically being treated like a cold these days so thankfully almost everything is back to normal now! There are no more restrictions on dining these days and you don't even have to wear a mask anymore if you don't want to! It's a huge relief and this allows us to try out different food places again!
So we had another voucher to use courtesy of our insurance agent, and since Sean has never tried Jack's Place before we thought we'd go there for dinner! Jack's Place is a casual family Western restaurant chain here in Singapore and has been around since the 1980s! It used to be my family's go-to for Western food and we'd go there for someone's birthday every year.
Source: FoodieFC
But the branch we went to was not technically a Jack's Place, but a sub-chain owned by Jack's Place called Eatzi Gourmet Bistro that is Halal-certified. This particular outlet was located in SAFRA which is a public social, recreational, sports facility that most Singaporeans have access to as long as you have a membership. But the restaurant itself is free entry so you don't need to be a SAFRA member to eat there.
The restaurant was quite nice and inviting, with two or three areas with plenty of seats. We went by on a weekday night so it wasn't crowded at all, given the slight inconvenience to get to SAFRA.
We were seated in the first area beside the door and counter so we didn't have to walk too far in but the restaurant was bigger than we thought. They didn't have the classic green plaid tablecloths you'd find in Jack's Place though.
We browsed through the menu even though we kind of already knew what we wanted. The voucher we were going to use had some T&Cs of course and only limited us to a select few dishes. After all it was free and beggars can't be choosers.
They had quite a menu with a wide variety of drinks, appetisers,
soups and salads.
But their special was definitely the steak I think.
They also had chicken steak, chicken cutlet and fried fish.
Their menu looked pretty reasonable, with some good prices. But since we were using a voucher we were only limited to order from this menu. Even so there was still quite a variety, with chicken, fish, pasta, rice and salad that you could choose from. And you even had a choice of drink and dessert!
We decided to choose different meals so we could try more of their food. Sean chose the grilled chicken steak while I chose the battered fish which also included a chicken steak. It worked since I wanted to have the chicken too.
There was a family celebrating a birthday nearby and it was nice of them to play a birthday song for the little kid who had a birthday. It was a custom Jack's Place birthday song too, which shows how many people have come here to celebrate. I guess that shows how well targeted to families this place is.
After about 15 minutes, our meals were served! Sean got his grilled chicken steak served smoking hot on a hotplate:
The grilled chicken came with a baked potato and some vegetables topped with either brown sauce or mushroom sauce. And since it came with a baked potato, a server came by to see with the fixings like bacon bits, sour cream and chives.
It looked and smelled so good! And after a little while, my order came too. What I didn't realise from the picture was that the set I chose of battered fish and chicken steak also came with a side of aglio olio on top of the salad! It was quite a bit too.
It looked like quite a decent portion for this meal and we were excited to dig in! The chicken was nice and juicy and tender, and paired well with the brown sauce. I thought the baked potato could've been a bit more crisp on the outside though but it was still good. Sean didn't really like the sour cream but I thought it was fine.
I know this is supposed to be a steakhouse so I didn't have high expectations for the fish but it was surprisingly good! The battered fish was fried to crispy perfection but wasn't dry at all and was nicely seasoned as well. The chicken was good too and had a nice char on it even though mine wasn't served on a hotplate. The sides were a little cold for my liking though but that's a given since they're sides.
I wasn't sure whose dish was better since they were both so good, and since we both had the same chicken. They were both really delicious though and I think we made the right choices from the menu.
After that very satisfying meal, we had our scoop of strawberry cream gelato for dessert which was also part of our set.
Although I'm not a big fan of strawberry-flavoured stuff, this was nice and light and not too sweet.
They had some other flavours as well but we weren't given a choice for which gelato we wanted unfortunately. It's alright though since it was still pretty good.
They also have a case of other desserts like cakes and some local flavoured swiss rolls as well.
After that very satisfying meal I was full, so we took a nice walk outside on the way back to the train station.
Overall, I thought Eatzi Gourmet was a very nice place to eat and hang out. And their lunch sets and student prices are pretty affordable. Unfortunately they only have this branch for now, but Jack's Place does have quite a few different branches still. So if you don't have to eat Halal, I'd recommend Jack's Place for a nice casual Western meal here.
Thanks so much for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
