This is a quick restaurant review about Everything With Fries (duh). Located at a shophouse along Joo Chiat Road (close to Katong Mall). See www.everythingwithfries.com for details.
Read the review in the papers on Friday and told Hub that we should try to check it out over the weekend since a) we LOVE fries and b) its really close to our home.
Dropped by on Saturday for a late lunch (3pm) and turned out that the kitchen was closed for that day as "they were overcrowded for lunch". Was kinda upset cos we had walked quite far to get there (no parking spaces nearby). But things turned out for the better in the end cos we tried Aston's for the first time for lunch which was nearby.
Went back the next day to try to have some fries, but turns out that only open at 12pm! We managed to get a nearby lot so waited in the car til 12pm before heading to the cafe. Unfortunately, at 12.05pm, the shutters were down and even though we could see that there were staff milling about inside through the shutters; it did not seem that they would be opening anytime soon. We waited outside til about 12.15pm and still nothing. We were gettinmg quite upset by this time mainly cos it was a really hot day! and we were really hungry!
Finally, a boss type person came out (after I stood very close to the shutters with my hands crossed for about 3 mins or so) and told us that the ktichen was not open but we could come in and sit down first. I told her that I would love that , given that we were standing outside in the sun for at least 10 mins. Thankfully, she apologised about it and let us in immediately.
We placed out orders immediately when we sat down and had :
Hub:
Cheeseburger with salt and vinegar fries and baby caesar salad
Nutella shake
Me:
girlled ham and cheese sandwich with garlic and herb fries and coleslaw
cappucino
The food came about 20 minutes later (which was OK given that they did tell us the kitchen was not ready) and in light of the fact that the drinks came promptly after our order was placed.
Unfortunately they got our fry orders wrong. I ended up with sour cream and onion fries and Hub got my garlic and herb fries.
But that said, the food was really good! My sandwich was nicely grilled, cheese well melted and ham was soft. Bread was heavily buttered and yummy!
The burger had melted cheese on it too and meat was relatively tender.
Fries were nice, with the interesting seasoning but would have preferred it to have been warmer and softer.
We were glad that the trips and wait was well worth it and we will definetely go back. But probably not in the next 3 months or so. Singaporeans obviously love their food and this 2 week old 60 seat cafe simply did not stand a chance. If we had not been there within 5 mins of opening time, it would have been impossible. By the time we left at 1pm, there were about 10 - 15 people outside and we overheard the staff telling the new customers that they were full and would have to wait for at least 30 minutes... Wow...
Felt sorry for the staff though, they had 3 very young looking kids, who were very eager and really quite competent but were simply understaffed. They ended up running around like mad and could barely cope to manage the crowd even with 2 boss type ladies joining in...
Verdict - great concept, lovely ambience and decor, good food, pleasant service, OK location (no parking but close to Katong food stretch) and good value for money.
Worth a try.
