Arnold's Fried Chicken (Yishun 10 Cinema Cineplex)

I was thrilled when I heard that Arnold's Fried Chicken was opening an outlet in Yishun. The last time I last ate Arnold's Fried Chicken was in early 2012 at City Plaza. With this new outlet, it will be so much more convenient. Arnold's Fried Chicken specialises in serving fried chicken, has been around for more than 25 years and is one of the first Singapore fast food joint to be certified Halal.

Arnold's Fried Chicken in Yishun is located at Yishun 10 Cinema Cineplex (just next to North Point), 5 minutes away from Yishun MRT station. We visited on a Friday evening and there was a queue (around 20 persons) outside which stretched to Wendy's. Nevertheless, we decided to queue after all there was just 20 persons in front of us. Guess how long we queue? You would not believe it... Read on to find out the answer. 

Menu

The menu which looked so much more colourful and appetising compared to their old menu! Easy to read too. Good job! 

The answer to how long we queue: we waited for a total of 1hr 20mins from the point we started queuing to the point we received our food. There was virtually 3 queues in total. 

The first queue was to queue to get a chance to reach the counter to order the food (without making payment). Once you manage to order, you will be given a queue number where you would be placed in a second queue; to wait for a table. When your queue number is called, you would make payment and then be give a buzzer which would activate (shake) to inform customers that their orders were ready. This was third queue. 

2 Piece Meal $6.60

Good news for those who prefer the 2 Piece Meal. It cost only $6.60, a 20 cents (3%) increase compared to 2012.

2 Piece Meal $6.60

The 2 Piece Meal consisted of 2 pieces of crispy fried chicken served with mashed potatoes (normally comes with fries, but we switched to mashed potato) and coleslaw. 

Half Spring Chicken Set $7.10 and a Root Beer (Reg) $2.10

I ordered the Half Spring Chicken Set $7.10 and a Root Beer (Reg) $2.10. The price of the Half Spring Chicken Set has increased by $1.20 (20%) compared to 2012. I am not sure why there was such a huge disparity in increase in prices for the two sets. I should have just ordered the 2 Piece Meal. 

Half Spring Chicken Set $7.10 

Half Spring Chicken Set comprised of a 1/2 deep fried spring chicken served with potato fries and mashed potato (normally comes with coleslaw, but I switched to mashed potato).

Half Spring Chicken Set $7.10 

The freshly fried chicken was still pipping hot when it was served. It was crisp on the outside and the seasoning of spices and herbs made the skin so sinfully addictive! The meat inside was succulent and well marinated. As seen in the above photo, it was still moist, not dry!

I hope they would review the queue system soon. I want visit Arnold's Fried Chicken again as the chicken was delicious. But the thought of the queue system along with a possible 1 hour 20 minutes wait are the deterrence. If you really want to visit, my suggest is to go during non-peak hour or to just order as takeaway (please note, there is a takeaway counter with a way shorter queue. I believe the waiting time is way shorter as there's only 1 queue). Another area of improvement would be the service - clearing and cleaning of the tables so that the turnover would be faster. On several occasions, we noted that when customers have eaten finish and left the table, the staff tasked with cleaning the tables were chatting away and only started cleaning the tables when instructed by another senior staff who was manning the counter. 

Arnold's Fried Chicken (Yishun 10 Cinema Cineplex)

51 Yishun Central 1 

#01-04 Yishun 10 Cinema Cineplex 

Singapore 768794 

Tel: 6757 7732

Delivery Hotline: 6276 6537

Opening Hours: Daily 1130am to 10pm (last order: 945pm)

Website

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Arnold's Fried Chicken (City Plaza)

810 Geylang Road 

#02-99 City Plaza  

Tel: 6746 2372 

Opening Hours: Daily 1130am to 10pm (last order: 945pm)

Arnold's Fried Chicken (Hougang) 

21 Hougang Street 51 

#01-49 Hougang Green Shopping Mall 

Tel: 6386 9015 

Opening Hours: Daily 1130am to 10pm (last order: 945pm)

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A&W Restaurant at Pantip Plaza (Thailand, Bangkok)

I know how some Singaporeans would make it a point to visit A&W whenever they are in Bangkok, Batam or Kuala Lumpur. I am no exception. Here's the good news for A&W fanatics who need their A&W fix. There are several A&W restaurants in Bangkok and one of the restaurant is located 5 minutes walk away from Platinum Fashion Mall!

This A&W restaurant is located at Level 1 of Pantip Plaza (also known as The Computer City). All you have to do is walk out of Platinum Mall and then walk along the main road; Petchaburi Road (follow the flow of the traffic). There is no need to cross the main road. Instead you would just need to cross 3 small alley roads and you would have reached Pantip Plaza. You would be able to spot the A&W signage once you are outside the plaza. 

As this was for our tea break, we ordered the Super Waffle Combo Set 135 Baht (S$5.62) which consisted of a Root Beer Float (which we up-sized), Curly Fries (Small) and Super Waffle (Chocolate). In addition, we also ordered another Curly Fries (large) 55 Baht (S$2.29) and Half Waffle (Strawberry) 55 Baht (S$2.29). We did not order any fried chicken as we were just too full.

Root Beer Float

You may wish to note know that it has been sometime since the writer had A&W. So this post is definitely biased. =P

The signature A&W's Root Beer Float which most of us are familiar with is served in a A&W mug with a scoop of vanilla ice cream added into the Root Beer. Just like how I always remember it (when A&W still existed in Ang Mo Kio), there was a layer of foam on top. Shiok!

Curly Fries

Another favourite of mine is the Curly Fries! It is me? But it's not as curly as before. Nevertheless, this tasted so good (kfc new solgan)! I have not had this for a long long time.

Half Waffle (Strawberry)

Super Waffle (Chocolate)

Waffle with ice cream, another A&W signature dish! The waffles whether Super Waffle or Half Waffle are both served with 2 scoops of ice cream! The waffle was great as it was freshly made and was crispy on the outside. The warm and cold combination of waffle and ice cream was a perfect combination that's hard to go wrong (even with ordinary ice cream)! Maple syrup are available too for those who wish to enhance the taste further.

Glad to have my A&W craving satisfied! I wonder when will A&W make a come back to Singapore. 

A&W Restaurant at Pantip Plaza (Thailand, Bangkok)

Level 1 Pantip Plaza, The Computer City

604/3 Petchaburi Rd, Thanon Phetchaburi

Ratchathewi, Bangkok 10400, Thailand

Tel: 02-250-1190

Opening Hours: Daily 8am to 9pm
Website (other outlet locations)

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East Dawning 東方既白 (China, Guangzhou)

East Dawning 東方既白 (Dong Fang Ji Bai) is a fast food restaurant created by Yum!Brands for Chinese Cuisine. The concept is to prepare the Chinese cuisine easily and serve it out quickly. Yum!Brands is a US company that operates and license out KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell restaurants globally. 

Currently, there are more than 20 East Dawning 東方既白 restaurants in China, mainly Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing and Suzhou.

I visited the outlet at Tee Mall (just next to my hotel; Sheraton Hotel) which is the most popular shopping mall located at the heart of Guangzhou right above the metro station; Tiyu Xilu (Line 1). 

This is my first meal in Guangzhou. Due to the lack of time, I had to settle for fast food. I ordered the Signature Pork Noodles RMB 23 (S$4.60)

Pay RMB8 (S$1.60) more for 2 items. Why not? I choose the first one, egg tart and milk tea.

Signature Pork Noodle RMB23 (S$4.60) + Egg Tart and Milke Tea RMB8 (S$1.60)

Signature Pork Noodle RMB23 (S$4.60) 

The food was atrocious. What a start to my first meal in Guangzhou. The broth was salty. The pork meat was dry, hard and tasteless. The egg look fake and tasted weird. The noodle, cabbage and carrot was not any better. When I ate this, I started wondering where the food came from.. (enough said)..

The egg tart was just so-so. Milk Tea too sweet.

Skip this place even if you are in a rush, try other fast food. I am never eating at East Dawning 東方既白 again.

East Dawning 東方既白 (China, Guangzhou)
Level 6, Tee Mall
208号 Tianhe Road Tianhe
Guangzhou, Guangdong China
Tel: +86 20 8559 2818
Opening Hours: Daily 10am to 10pm
Website
Location
Directions to Tee Mall: Take MTR to Tiyu Xilu station (Line 1) 

Location

A - Tee Mall
Circled in Green - Tiyu Xilu Station (Line 1)

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McDonald's Open Door Kitchen Tour

Went for McDonald's Open Door Kitchen Tour today at the McDonald located at Sun Plaza, Sembawang. You can register for the Open Door Kitchen Tour here. There are limited slots for the tours as each tour is limited to 20 person and is held only once a month, on the 3rd Sunday of the month.

No photography was allowed. Hence, I am unable to have any photos of the kitchen

The Open Door Ambassador (ODA) was the one who conducted the tour, showing us the storage area, crew room and kitchen. He also explained to us how burgers and fries were cooked. Automation seems to play a big role in today's kitchen operations. Even the fries that are dispensed are automated. The duration to cook food, be it fries, patties or even burger bread are automated having a count down timer.The ODA kept emphasizing on hygiene, food safety, quality standard, freshness and best quality ingredients. I am very impressed with the ODA. He certainty did a good job in driving these messages during the tour and did well to engage us.

After the tour, this was given.

Again, it drives the key messages that McDonald wants to send to consumers. Whoever though of this Open Door Kitchen Tour is a genius! What a way to promote their key message and counter 'Super Size Me' without being seen as defensive. Or well, maybe I thought too much, this is not meant to counter the documentary. =)

Food for thought:

1) There are two different stoves. One for cooking only the beef patties, the other for chicken patties. This is to respect those who do not eat beef

2) The stoves for cooking the beef and chicken patties are automated.

3) The beef patties are kept for a maximum of 15 minutes before it is thrown away. This is to ensure that customers get juicy beef patty which are not dry or overcooked.

4) There are 2 sets of gloves. Blue ones for frozen/uncooked food. White ones for cooked food. This is to ensure high hygiene standards.

Conclusion:

I always wonder how McDonald's keep their food standards similar with their high turnover rate in the kitchen and with hiring of youngsters. Now I get it! The answer is due to automation in the kitchen and having count down timers for cooking duration. Moreover, kudos to their training and also supply chain operation which played an important role.

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