By Janness Koh
Are these really worth the hype?
Wanted to do something different today and am going to name my top 4 overrated food spots in Singapore rather than the best or the usual food review.
It’s no question that Singaporeans love queues, they flock to wherever there’s a crowd and a long queue. I personally feel that a lot of people don’t actually taste what they eat with utmost honesty but go with the crowd either through friends, family or public reviews.
Being a foodie with a curious mind I always try my best to taste all the new food that locals are fussing about and I do so sticking to my truest opinion and never let other people’s opinion of how good the food is stick to my head before trying them out myself. But then again, everyone’s taste bud are different and hey this is just what I think of them; no offence if any of these are places you would queue hours for.
4. llaollao
When this chain first started in Singapore, the queues were absolutely crazy and I mean crazy. I’ve seen queues in the morning even before the stall opened. Come on guys, seriously do you need to queue that long for some frozen yoghurt?
I managed to get a taste of it to see about all the hype one day when I saw one there wasn’t any queue. And nope, nothing magical happened. Honestly it isn’t even that healthy considering the amount of toppings you include. I’ll take Yami Yoghurt any time any day over this.
Do you even see much of a queue these days? NO.
3. Bake Cheese Tart
Yet another chain that Singaporeans went ga ga over when it first started and the queue was unbelievably long that they had to set up a separate queue far away from the stall so as not to obstruct people walking. I could only get my hands on them with a 20 minute wait during a weekday at an odd time.
However, I walked past the stall on a weekend recently and there were less than 10 people in the queue and they no longer needed the queue area away from the stall. Guess the fuss is dying, huh?
Honestly, there was nothing special about the taste. Just a whole whip of cheese curd with pastry skin, it didn’t even make me want to buy again. I would queue for the famous Pablo cheese tart in Japan, that one is so much more delicious and unlike any other cheese tart or cake I’ve tried.
Huge pass for me.
2. Ding Tai Fung
Friends who know me know how much I love xiao long bao and how much I dislike Ding Tai Fung. I’m the most non picky person you can find when it comes to food but I give no chances for xiao long bao.
Regardless of which outlet you go to, there’s always a queue outside Ding Tai Fung. I used to like the outlets in Taiwan where Ding Tai Fung originates from because they taste good and so different from the standards here. But a couple years back when I last had it in Taiwan, I would say the standards dropped too and queues over there can be worse than in Singapore.
Their xiao long bao lacks flavour and has hints of an overly porky taste to me. I won’t even try comparing to other restaurants when a simple market stall at Bedok 85 selling xiao long bao and dumplings taste way better.
The only time you will see me in Ding Tai Fung is because my friends wanted it with a very unwilling me. Meh…
And the 1st spot on my list for overrated food is Hai Di Lao. People queue 2-3 hours for this and I still can’t apprehend the reason.
This place is freaking expensive since they go by a la carte and the portions are rather small. For an amount of $40-$50 per person, I wasn’t even half full. Sure, the food is good but I think you can find equally good places without the queue and half the price.
There’s a lot of gimmicks to this place which could probably be why it’s so expensive because you pay to basically watch some entertainment (like the popular noodle guy that goes around each table flaunting his skills in dough tossing and shaving noodles into your pot, not forgetting the additional tools you are paying for like hair ties for long haired ladies.)
I for one will never queue even for an hour to eat at this place. Gimmicks are not gonna impress me.
Are there any other food places that have all the hype but you don’t think it’s worth queuing for? Comment below!
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