Thursday, October 24, 2013

PODI @ Raffles City Shopping Centre

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Today marks the official opening of PODI at the basement of Raffles City Shopping Centre by The Bakery Depot Pte Ltd, the same company that brought us Cedele, Toss & Turns and P.L.T Sandwiches. PODI which stands for Pure, Offbeat, Delicious and Infusions offers all day breakfast and grills on the menu.

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The restaurant has a casual and relax ambience offering a dine in section as well as a quick service/retail counter for takeaway. If you love a cup of coffee, you will not be disappointed. PODI offers freshly grinded and roasted coffee beans from Smitten as well as various flower tea.

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Shoestring Fries 3/5

For some light snacks, the Shoestring Fries with Seaweed Nori / Truffle Oil will be a good choice. I thought the Shoestring Fries with Seaweed Nori was more of a gimmick lacking in flavour. Given a choice, I would spend my money on the Shoestring Fries with Truffle Oil

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Baked Egg Pot 3.5/5

Breakfast definitely can't do without eggs, at least for me. The Baked Egg Pot definitely looks very appertizing with baked runny eggs and chorizo in a tomato based sauce. The menu mentioned that there is goat cheese in the dish but it was definitely missing for me. Flavours wise the dish was still good but it could have been better if the goat cheese flavour was stronger.

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Duck Berry Waffle 3/5

It sounds quite bizzare to put a savoury and sweet dish together. The Duck Berry Waffle comes with a waffle topped with duck confit served with egg, blueberry compote and maple syrup vinaigrette. I have a bit of everything together but the combination did not have that wow factor. As a dish, I was puzzled with the concept. Individually the duck confit was flavourful and tender. The waffle was also fluffy and delectable with the beautiful blueberry compote. My comfort was that I got both main and dessert on a plate.


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Stuffed French Toast 3.5/5

The Stuffed French Toast is made with spinach brioche with eggs and stuffed with smoked ham and brie cheese, served with garden greens and maple syrup on the side. Nicely toasted the french toast sandwich hit the right spot for me with the cheesy brie. My only request is to add spinach in between the 2 slices of toast. That will complete the whole enjoyment.

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Beetroot Carpaccio 4/5

I actually quite like the Beetroot Carpaccio. The beetroot was beautiful seasoned, hardly can taste that earthy taste of it.

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Prawn and Crab Spinach Salad 4.2/5

Surprisingly the Prawn and Crab Spinach Salad was the best dish for me. A clean and refreshing plate of greens with baby spinach, grilled prawns and crab meat. The zesty peppermint and lemon vinaigrette was the star that brought the whole dish together, whetting up the appetite.

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Chicken Pot 3.5/5

Chicken thigh simmered in a pastry pot with potato and seasonal vegetables served with toast. It was an interesting cooking technique where the Chicken Pot was sealed around with pastry to lock the heat inside. The chicken thigh was cooked perfectly, moist and tender. Although I spotted rosemary in the pot, the herby flavour was non existence.

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Argentina Sirloin Steak 2.8/5

When I have a hard time cutting into the Argentina Sirloin Steak, I knew it was going to be an disappointment even before biting into it. At least the chimichurri and mustard cream sauce managed to redeem some credits to the dish.

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Spicy Prawn Konbu Pasta 3/5

Suitable for the local palate is the Spicy Prawn Konbu Pasta. The hearty aglio olio pasta was tossed with spicy prawns, konbu ad prawn oil. Spicy and bursting with flavours, the only complain was its too oily.

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King Prawn with Herb Butter 2.8/5

The King Prawn was baked in garlic, butter, cheese, herb, orange peel and finished off on the grill. It was a nice smokey aroma when served. Unfortunately the texture was mushy which spoilt the enjoyment.

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Whoopie Pie 2.8/5

The Whoopie Pie is made up of 2 cake like cookies with a creamy, orange earl grey flavoured filling. I did not enjoy it, I thought it was quite one dimensional and there was no excitement in it. The filling had a lot of the orange zest but the earl grey flavour was definitely non existence.

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Mexican Spiced Hat 3.5/5

The Mexican Spiced Hat comes with Nigella spiced meringue thins with 2 scoops of ice cream. A pretty decent dessert to end the night on a sweet note.

The all day breakfast and grill is not ready a new concept, missing a pull factor for me. Food wise, there are still rooms for improvement given that it's only their pre-launch when I tried their food.


PODI
Raffles City Shopping Centre
#B1-45
Singapore 179103
Tel: +65 63365648
Website: http://www.podifood.com
Nearest MRT: City Hall (EW Line, NS Line)

Opening Hours:
Mon-Fri: 10am - 10pm
Sat-Sun, PH: 9am - 10pm

Direction:
1) Alight at City Hall MRT Station. Take Exit A. Walk to basement of Raffles City Shopping Centre. Journey time about 3 minutes. [Map]

5 comments:

  1. I had tried it recently, a month after its opening, and I would say that your points are still valid at that moment. Maybe I brought with me great expectation seeing that it is affiliated with Cedele. Still I would give it a chance to improve, maybe even visiting once again next year to see if they have made some positive changes.

    I shared my experience in my blog, and I hope it would complement your sharing as well. :)
    Singapore Blog Post - PODI (Pure. Offbeat. Delicious. Infusions.)

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    Replies
    1. Hi Kah Soon, just doing an honest review. However I did hear that they have improved and at this moment offering 1 for 1 which is attracting quite a crowd.

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