Paddy Hills, Singapore

Address:

38 South Buona Vista Road, Singapore 118164

Opening times: 

Weekday 10.30am - 5pm
Weekend 9am - 5pm
Dinner 6 - 9.30pm daily

Website: https://www.facebook.com/paddyhills.sg

Our honest review:

Really inaccessible place if you do not own a car. Even with cars, parking will be next problem because there are very limited parking spaces there. I was given to understand that people tend to park at the close-by private estates. Thank goodness I do not have a parking problem during my visit as I went at an odd timing (3 pm). Public transport is no better as there are no MRT station within close proximity and the only bus there is bus 200 (I saw it at the bus stop while driving). I remember the café spot used to be my favourite duck rice, and thus I was already a little sad that the duck rice has closed down and taken over by the café.

I immediately felt the spaciousness of the cafe upon entering. I especially like their concept of having the barista counter in the middle of the café where patrons could see how the barista makes their coffees and other drinks. Another plus point is the variety of table sizes, ranging from counter tables to tables big enough to cater a group of 12. Their famous exterior Wall of Graffiti has attracted many patrons, but sadly, it did not appeal to me. As I went at an odd timing, there were many tables available; the waiting time from ordering to the food on my table was approximately 10mins only.

Left to Right: Kimchi Fried Rice, Berry Ricotta Hotcakes & Milkshake (PB choc banana)

Berry Ricotta Hotcakes

Berry Ricotta Hotcakes

I have to give due credits to them for having such a beautiful plating of colourful berries and flower petals on the hotcakes. Other than that, I have to say that I am utterly disappointed in the hotcakes. It was difficult for me to cut or eat the hotcakes as the plate has high sides. The hotcakes did not have the buttery and sweet taste but was dry and crumbly which was so hard to eat. I wonder where’s the maple syrup in this dish. I could not taste the ricotta cheese at all. The creamy taste of the ricotta to the hotcakes was totally absent. Honestly, the hotcakes just tasted like an over-baked vanilla pound cake on a round plate with berries on top. This whole dish was a total disappointment .I would never recommend it to anyone unless they just want to take some pretty shots for $19.

Kimchi Fried Rice

Kimchi Fried Rice

When I first sat down, I looked over to the next table and saw that the ladies had really big bowls of kimchi fried rice which led me to expect that the portion would be huge. But when ours came, it was just a pathetic small portion of fried rice in a really big bowl. I have to give credits to them for frying the rice really fragrantly. There was very strong ‘wok hei’ (the intense hot wok during stir-frying) taste. The fried rice was really flavourful, however, it lacked one very important thing – the kimchi; so much so that I could not know that I’ve ordered kimchi fried rice. Since it was kimchi fried rice, you would have thought that there would be kimchi-flavoured cabbages in the fried rice, but they were practically non-existent. It should not be called kimchi fried rice because it was just regular fried rice. The next thought on my mind when I first saw the dish was that the steak was overdone. From the photo itself, you could already see how the steak was so overdone. It was not only dry but it also lacked seasoning that made me feel so sorry for the steak for being so poorly cooked.  I thought that the only saving grace was the perfect rounded egg, but this proved to be even more disappointing. The egg yolk was not runny as it was overcooked too. I really suspect if they really used a sous vide to cook the egg, because a sous vide would never cause an egg overcooked in that manner unless you do not know how to use a sous vide. Overall, the dish was a total disappointment in taste and portion.

Peanut Butter, Chocolate, Banana Milkshake

The peanut butter, chocolate, banana milkshake came in a really huge cup. It was really thick and I could taste all 3 flavours of peanut butter, chocolate and banana. However, I felt that it was slightly too thick that by the time I swallowed down 4 mouthful of milkshake, I just could not drink anymore. My boyfriend and I struggled to even finish half of the huge cup. Doing portion control to half the volume of the milkshake at half the price would obviously avoid wastage and I would be alright with it then.

Overall, my experience in Paddy Hills has been a big disappointment. I am not sure if this is just a one-time miss on the food, showing such inconsistency of the cooking, or it has been overrated by Singaporeans as really good. If my first impression counts, they really need to buck up buckets on their cooking skills.

Price: The bill came up to $52 - Berry Ricotta Hotcakes ($19), Kimchi Fried Rice ($20) and Peanut butter, Chocolate, Banana milkshake ($11). For some unknown reasons, my bill was $52 while arithmetically it added up to $50 only. It was probably my own fault for not checking the receipt right. Would appreciate if anyone care to enlighten me why I was charged $2 more. I will not recommend anyone coming here for the quality and price of the food. This would be my first and last patronage unless their consistency or quality of food, including portion control, improves by leaps and bounds.