Think The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and immediately images of their ice-blended drinks spring to mind. The cinnamon ice-blended used to be one of my staple drinks as a uni student and still remains one of my husband's favourites.
Well, the coffee chain has decided to branch into food with the opening of an American concept restaurant -- Beanstro. With one outlet at Marina Bay Sands and the second at Ngee Ann City, Beanstro is a full-fledged table-service restaurant with a pretty extensive menu, featuring quite a few all-day breakfast selections, as well as a range of salads, soups, sandwiches, pasta, meats and even dessert.
I had the opportunity to pop in to the Ngee Ann City branch for lunch with a friend (and Noey) earlier last month and when I first had a look at the menu, I really had a hard time deciding what I wanted because there were too many choices!
The only thing I knew I wanted was a cinnamon ice-blended, which I got and enjoyed, naturally.
With the assistance of the very helpful restaurant manager, Steven, my friend and I decided on a soup -- Seafood Velvet (S$9.50) -- and the Tuna Nicoise Salad (S$19) to share. I can't say the soup was very memorable, though I think that was mostly our fault for not tasting it when it arrived hot that the table. I think we were distracted by the rather tantalising salad that had arrived at our table at the same time.
The Tuna Nicoise Salad came in an impressively large serving. At that point, my friend and I started wondering if we were going to be able to finish our mains if this was the size of the appetizer! I really enjoyed this dish, which consisted of a nice mix of greens, green beans, egg, onions, baby potatoes and cherry tomatoes, and was topped off with slices of seared tuna. It was also drizzled with a homemade tangy dressing that I liked very much. You could quibble with the quality of the tuna but I thought it was decent certainly, for the price, and the salad came together well. This is something I'm likely to order again for lunch. We cleaned this up.
For mains, I got Noey, the burger connoisseur, the Beanstro Beef Burger (S$17.50) which was a special promotional item. Noey loves his burger and fries and was pretty excited about this one when it arrived that the table. Touted as a hand cut beef patty, the meat was certainly juicy and flavourful, not the usual processed stuff. This was topped with caramelised onions, a ragout of capsicums and melted emmental cheese. One thing for sure -- it was huge! Noey zoomed in on the fries, which were freshly fried and crisp, but he still managed to finish at least half the burger so I think speaks well of how much he enjoyed it.
My friend had the Prawn Risotto (S$25). Again, the portion size was substantial. Five minutes after she started on the dish, my friend looked up and amusedly commented that she was still shelling the prawns! Indeed, the risotto came with four large and crunchy tiger prawns, and a generous portion of rice. So while it was relatively pricey, I felt the price was justified. It was pretty tasty too. No complaints.
I picked the Seafood wrapped in Cartoccio (S$26), since I find it hard to resist the seafood pasta option. Plus I always think wrapped parcels of food are such a treat! Just a word of warning: this is pretty spicy! Definitely spicier than I expected. In some ways I thought that overwhelmed the taste a little. But I really enjoyed the seafood that came with the dish, which again came in generous portions.
After all that food, we thought we'd take it light for dessert. I got Noey the frozen yoghurt and guess what? It was huge! Noey was thrilled. Mummy here, maybe not so much. I've had the natural flavoured yoghurt at The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf before so I ordered the Vanilla Frozen Yoghurt (S$6.50) for Noey for a change. It came out tasting like vanilla ice-cream, but with the lighter flavour you associate with yoghurt. Yum.
My friend and I shared a Chicago Cheesecake (S$8), a familiar old favourite from The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf menu. It's been years since either of us has had this cake and we were happy to note that it tasted exactly as how we remembered it -- creamy yet light, as a cheesecake should be. It definitely brought back the memories!
It was a satisfying and really filling meal, and Beanstro has been on my list of casual eats to have in town since. I think it's a great place for a hearty meal -- come hungry! -- or a spot of coffee and cake in the middle of the afternoon. Service was friendly and efficient and the food more than decent. I hear they have free wifi too, which is always a plus in my books! While it's probably not somewhere I'd specially make a trip to eat at, I certainly will not hesitate to drop by for a bite if ever I'm in the area.
Beanstro Takashimya
391 Orchard Road
#B1-37 Ngee Ann City
Singapore 238872
Tel: 62351610
* This review is written based on a Food Tasting that I was invited to. All opinions, however, are strictly my own.
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