Of Straits Kitchen and its Banquet likeness.

Pardon me, but this entry should really belong in the Review section. But just this once, if you will, allow me to critique on this restaurant in its full Zahidyne-ish splendour.

Let's begin with the food. A restaurant is most memorable for its food, isn't it not? Well, I concurred - until my Straits Kitchen experience. Straits Kitchen fare shall always remind me of Banquet Bedok.

Food is good, but not that fantastic. Chinese, Malay and Indian show kitchens churn out hawker fare such as char kway teow, laksa, chicken rice, tandoori chicken and grilled stingray. That said, the range of food is somewhat limited. To add, one can easily find better tasting food in Geylang or Bedok at more humble prices. I reckon The fare here is recommended for people who are too shy - or not too smart - to pay $3.00 for a plate of Chicken Rice.

To their credit, the Indian butter chicken was the arguably best you can find anywhere on the island and the roasted duck was highly superb with its sweet, juicy and rubbery flesh. These 2 should be highest in your pecking order.

The atmosphere... Well, close your eyes while you are chewing and you'd think you're at Banquet Chinatown. To say that the place reverberates with energy is spot-on: some of the more jakon customers (read: Mainland Chinese) were tirelessly speaking on top of their voices, as usual, like they've never seen food before, as usual. To complement this Chinatown-ness, the piped music was very considerately playing a contemporary Chinese pop CD, meant of course, for the Chinese ears. The other customers - the Arabs, North and South Indians, Koreans, Australians, Malaysians, Indonesians, Filippinos - are secretly expected to make their own music by clicking their own tongues.

To be fair (and I have been fair thus far), the lighting was warm and clever. That keeps you from choking on your shellfish.

A rather kind review by the Straits Times Interactive on Straits Kitchen (they're siblings) quoted: "Making it halal is also a point in its favour. Muslims who can't patronise hawker centre stalls can now check out what they have been missing out on." (emphasis mine)

But that's why Banquet was created.

Tags: Straits kitchen, asian food