Fennel Restaurant in Singapore
An Indian friend organized our get together at Fennel restaurant. Fennel is a plant and the restaurant is vegetarian.
What is fennel? A plant with a large white root and fine hair-like branching green growth.
The seeds can be sugar-coated in colours and eaten as breath fresheners after a meal.
If you want to grow a plant, or identify a plant, this is what you will see when it is flowering.
Fennel
by Komalavilas
Here is the interior of the restaurant. It grows on you.
The menu shows pizza.
And lots of other options.
What we ordered:
The Drinks
Coke light.
Bilterbitch (New Zealand beer) Long glassful. Thirst quenching excellent.
The coffee (brand Brut, which my friend likes, was in a tall, slim coffee mug, more than she expected so she shared it with her husband. We were all given water which was refilled. I liked the idea of the mango lassi or the coconut.
I also wanted the bread but my husband persuaded me that my diet did not allow these as well as rice and potato.
Biriani
I opted for the biriani with vegetarian 'chicken' flavour sauce. I can't say I detected any, but I didn't miss it.
Masala Dosai
My husband ordered the masala dosai and the potato stuffing was great. If I were to return I would opt for that dish. I had potato in my platter, which was like a thali, several small bowls.
Gobi Manchurian
After we enquired about the gobi manchurian which our friend ordered, she offered to let us taste it. I used a clean spoon to take a mouthful. It was spicy and sweet, excellent. I remembered from Hatch End tandoori restaurant in Hatch End, London, years ago, I used to order alloo gobi. Aloo was potato and gobi was cauliflower. I would never guess that this dish contained cauliflower. But it is a must for next time.
Dessert - carrot - full marks
I chose my biriani platter option because it included the carrot halwa dessert which was terrific. Probably cheaper to order it separately, but my husband might have argued me out of it so I went for the set meal.
I liked the way the dessert dish was on one side. Less danger of accidentally eating your sweet with the savouries. But perhaps this was random, because the other small bowl on one side was savoury. it would help if staff explained which was the savoury dish.
Our communication was hampered by the fact that we were wearing masks and so were the staff. the bill ends with the words:
Thank you. Please Visit Again.
One of our group has a partner who works in customer relations and we started discussing this. One person said that people in customer relations are trained. If the staff are not smiling, greeting you with welcoming words, saying good bye with polite words and a bow of the head, it is because they have not been trained.
One of our Indian friends said that back in India, service is worse than at restaurants in Singapore. I was surprised, because in England the restaurants which used to give the best service were the Indian restaurants.
There the owner-manager would open the door and greet you and escort you to the table even if you were joining your friends who were already seated. The restaurant owner, or the waiter who served you, or both, would race ahead of you as you left and bow and say thank you and please come again. the top Michelin restaurants would also do that. And the five star hotels.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere was relaxing.
Soothing blue and Perfect Pink
The walls are brick but painted a soothing blue with an amusing saying in pink:. Order dosai and tell me I'm pretty.
The children's high chairs would be useful if you have children. Usually high chairs at the back are clutter but these were pink which matched the pink writing on the wall. Perfec
Return visit? Yes.
Directions
How to get there? We thought the venue was out of the way. So we took a taxi.
However our friends took a 65 bus from Dhoby Ghaut station. If you want a guide to buses, the bus stops have posters showing the bus directions search websites.
Address
413 River Valley Road
Singapore 248311
Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_New_Year
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_New_Year
About the Author
Angela Lansbury teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Member of many toastmasters speaker training clubs and speaking contest judge.
Angela Lansbury, the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations, has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore.
She has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:
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