First post for Lynn and Victor's Food Haven and hope that people appreciate it.
Today's lunch brought us to the posh Singaporean Mall - Paragon. Lunch though was not posh at all but of course people will always have their own opinion on what expensive is and what is not. So lets start.
Tambuah Mas is currently one of the highly rated Indonesian restaurants in Singapore (according to TripAdvisor). So we headed down to Paragon to have our fix of Indonesian cuisine and see if this was worth the trip or not.
We arrived just before 12 noon and the place was quite empty (I think we were table 5). This did raise a small concern cause normally very good restaurants in Singapore would have long lines in them regardless of day and time (just take a peek at Din Tai Fung which is Tambuah Mas' neighbor in Paragon).
The menu was well organized. 4-5 pages and all are with their original Indonesian name but each described very well in English. We ordered 4 dishes: Rendang Lembu (Beef Rendang), Sop Buntut (Ox-tail Soup), Kepala Ikan Istimewa (Fish head with Asam Sauce), and Es Apokat (Avocado Shake).
Rendang Lembu (Beef Rendang) - SGD 8.50
The beef rendang was cooked really well. It had the sweet, salty, and spicy taste of what a good rendang should taste like. The beef itself was tender. I have little to no complaints on the beef rendang. I would think that there would be people who would criticize this to be not spicy but I hope you can order this to be extra spicy.
Sop Buntut (Ox-tail Soup) - SGD 6.00
The ox-tail soup was also very good. The soup was very rich but it didn't leave a heavy oily taste that you would expect when you see it. There was a nice garlic and onion taste which made the soup really easy to eat.
Kepala Ikan Istimewa (Fish head with Asam Sauce) - SGD 27.00
At first glance, I was disappointed with the fish head dish. I was expecting like a fish head curry dish which is quite normal here in Singapore. What arrived was (at least visually) a watered down version of a fish head curry soup. That is where the disappointment stopped. The dish was very well prepared as well. The sauce just had the right touch of spice and the fish head meat was firm and flaky (sign of a good fresh fish). The eggplant and ladyfingers (ocra) was also a good match for this dish. I've never had this before so no points of comparison.
Es Apokat (Avocado Shake) - SGD 5.50
The avocado shake was nothing special though. It had chocolate at the bottom and some drizzle on top but that made it just too sweet to my liking (Although wifey did enjoy this a lot).
Price and Value
All-in-all the bill amounted to SGD 60.50 including GST and service charges. We should have passed on the appetizer (some kropek style munchies worth SGD 2.00). The plain rice is SGD 1.20 per cup (if you order one for each person in the table it becomes eat-all-you can so not bad).
Half of the bill was because of the fish head dish. Was it worth it... no, will I order it again, not on my next visit. I will order either the beef rendang or the ox-tail though on my next visit as I really think those were worth it. Just between wifey and me, we were actually full already even if the fish dish was not there. So in theory we could have walked away from the restaurant full and satisfied with just SGD 30 for both already.
So I'd still say that this was good value. The food was very good and the staff and even manager was very attentive and friendly.
Rating:
Food - 4 of 5
Ambiance - 3 of 5
Value - 3 of 5
Service - 3.5 of 5
Overall 3.5 of 5
Repeat Factor (No!! No! Yes Yes! Yes!!):
Yes!
Restaurant details:
Official Website: http://tambuahmas.com.sg/
Address: 290 Orchard Rd (Paragon Mall) #B1-44, Singapore 238859
Tel no: +65 6733 2220
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