Orchard Road located in SM Mega Mall recently opened in February 2010 and is aptly named after the main shopping and entertainment district in Singapore. The concept was developed by the same financiers of California Pizza Kitchen and provides a better food experience than Makansutra located at Manila Ocean Park. Orchard Road serves classic Singaporean fare influenced by the indigenous Chinese, Malay and Indian communities that live there but literally only provides a very small slice of the cake.

Chef Tony Wong displays his skills on the heavy duty woks and nitrous charged burners. The open kitchen setup is an essential aspect to this restaurant as it provided a sensory experience for the food by watching various spices and sauces infused into the ingredients by the high heat of the wok. Did you know that some stir-fried dishes take less than two minutes to prepare and cook?

Orchard Road has a simple yet extensive menu including noodles, soup, curry, dimsum, stir-fried rice toppings, and tongue tickling desserts. As an appetizer, we had the Poh Pia.

Poh Pia (Fresh Spring Roll) – PHP 45.00+ ($US 1.00)

Looks were quite deceiving as this was not as flavorful as we expected it to be, thus we would not order this again.

Black Pepper Beef Rice – PHP 165.00+ ($US 4.00)

This dish was flavorful and rich but the serving size was quite small as the amount of beef could hardly satisfy an adult.

Hainanese Chicken Rice – PHP 155.00+ ($US 3.85)

Normally a benchmark dish for a Chinese restaurant, we were shocked to see how small the chicken was especially when you compare this to the same dish served at the Manila Polo Club. Taste however was authentic served with a choice of heated oil with grated ginger sauce or hoi-sin. The Hainanese Chicken Rice is way better at Wee Nam Kee.

Char Kway Teow (Stir-Fried Rice Cake Strips) - PHP 150.00+ ($US 3.50)

These famous noodles traditionally served in hawker stalls was probably the best dish that we tried. Take note though they are reputed to be quite unhealthy due to the high saturated fat content.

Sago Gula Melaka – PHP 65.00+ and Kopi Kosong – PHP 40.00+ ($US 1.00)

The Sago Gula Melaka was absolutely delicious and is known to be quintessential Malaysian Dessert, in other words please do not leave Orchard Road without trying this!!! Aksana also had the Kopi Kosong (dark coffee) to complement the sweetness.

How did you like Orchard Road? What were your favorite dishes or no so favorite? We suggest focusing on their noodle dishes as the pepper beef and Hainanese chicken were just so disappointing.

Orchard Road
2nd Level
SM Mega Mall
Pasig City

In our next post, we visit Amici, a casual Italian Restaurant known for their pizza, pasta and gelatos. Please click here.

Remember life is way too short, don’t let it pass you by. Enjoy Hour Philippines!

Sincerely,

Lord and Aksana
HOURPHILIPPINES.COM
FOOD | TRAVEL | LIFESTYLE
All content is the sole property of HourPhilippines.com, any reproduction in whole or in part shall be subject to prosecution.