Chili’s Restaurant

Chili’s remains as one of Singapore’s more popular Texas-Mexican restaurant. A visit to Chili’s on a Monday evening and it was still pretty crowded as usual.

Jalapeno Chicken Quesadillas

We tried one of their latest creations – Jalapeno Chicken Quesadillas, with onions, peppers, jalapeno seasoning and Jack cheese, served with sour cream, house-made pico de gallo and ranch dressing. The Jalapeno Chicken Quesadillas was labelled as “Wild” and that led us to expect something spicy. Our expectations fell short and we were sorely disappointed. The chicken pieces were rather bland and tasteless. The cheese didn’t add much saltiness either. In fact, the only flavour came from the peppers and jalapeno, which gave a typical bell pepper spiciness. Sadly, we also realized that the portion of Mexican rice and beans were also missing. These were one of the usual accompaniments in the original Quesadillas which we tried previously.

Grilled Baby Back Ribs - Shiner Bock BBQ Sauce

A new flavour offered for Chili’s Grilled Baby Back Ribs is the Shiner Bock BBQ Sauce – sweet and tangy BBQ sauce made from Shiner Bock Beer. We have never tried Shiner Bock Beer, but we definitely did not detect any trace of beer in the grilled baby back ribs. Regardless of that, the ribs was well marinated with BBQ sauce. The BBQ sauce was adequately balanced in terms of richness, tangy-ness and sweetness such that it wasn’t too overwhelming.   The meat was very tender and could be easily removed from the bones.

Chili’s Restaurant
#02-23, Tanglin Mall
163 Tanglin Road

Hummerstons

Hummerstons

Located at a secluded corner on the second level of Robertson Quay, Hummerstons spells of an exclusive yet casual atmosphere. Business seemed rather brisk on a weekend dinner and it would be best to make reservations to avoid disappointment.

Mushroom Garlic Confit

We ordered the Mushroom Garlic Confit ($23) – Tagliatelle pasta, truffle roasted mushrooms, arugula and parmesan. The juicy sautéed wild mushrooms were the highlights of this Mushroom Garlic Confit and the chef was definitely generous with them, providing a right balance in the proportion of pasta and mushrooms. There was no mention of Aglio Olio but this dish felt exactly like one, saved for the fact that it was on the wetter side. In fact, there was a pool of oily residual towards the end which left us reluctant to polish off whatever remained soaked in it. That was the only flaw in this dish. Overall, this was a dish pretty well-done and we particularly loved the juiciness and freshness of the mushrooms paired with the mash of grated parmesan.

Smoked Duck Quesadilla

Smoked Duck Quesadilla ($27)- Crisp flour tortilla, smoked duck breast, chipotle-coriander pesto, roasted pears, charred capsicum and tomato almond salad. The Smoked Duck Quesadilla was a disappointment. It was nothing too spectacular and nowhere near the standards of other true blue Texas-Mexican restaurants such as La Salsa or chains like Chili’s. It may be a twist from the typical quesadilla to introduce smoke duck fillings but it seemed that this very highlight of the dish did not stand out after all. Overall, the fillings including the chipotle sauce failed to bring out the very essence of the dish. The accompaniments such as the gaucamole and sour cream were unimpressive too.

Prawn Pavoratti

Prawn Pavoratti ($35) – Proscuitto wrapped egg battered prawns, farfalle, hot peppers, spinach, tomato and sherry cream. The most flavourful of the three dishes, the Prawn Pavoratti was a very rich cream based pasta with a hint of cheesiness. The pasta sauce was a little on the salty side, but nevertheless stroke a chord amongst us. The butterfly-shaped farfelle, cooked al-dente, was easy and tidy to handle. The dish was accompanied with three big fresh and succulent prawns which were tasty on their own. These prawns had been deep fried prior to having the cream sauce drizzled over them. The slightly soggy batter seemed to detach from most parts of the prawn as a result.

Tart A Roon

We had the Tart A Roon for dessert, which was a successful revamp of the traditional French Tarte Tartin. Instead of the conventional buttery crust, an airy and crumbly macaron was used in its place. The caramelized apple and raisins were mildly sweetened to complement the use of the sweet macaron. A small scoop of vanilla ice cream sat atop the tarte, garnished with a couple of walnuts. The roasted walnuts tasted charred but fragrant. It did not take long for the dessert to be polished off completely.

Hummerstons
#02-14 Robertson Walk
11 Unity Street