Wandering Fel

Showing posts with label Solo Eating. Show all posts

I Eat Alone at Comnam Vietnamese Street Eats, Raffles City

Small plates and value lunch set menu from Comnam Raffles City

Fragrant rice menu from Comnam Raffles City

Buzzer to collect food at Comnam Raffles City

Lemongrass chicken fragrant rice from Comnam Raffles City

The blazing sun recently does not make me feel like going to have lunch at hawker centre or the famous fish soup stall at Arcade (although it’s air-conditioned but you won’t feel it because of the heat from the kitchen + crowd). So when I have no lunch appointment, I ended up wandering in the shopping mall because oh boy, I think all the shopping malls in Singapore blast their air-conditioning system to the max because I really feel comfortably cool inside the mall. So with the blast of air-conditioner in Raffles City, I am deciding what to have for lunch by myself. I’ve been spending me-time so often at Saboten Express, so I decided today is not the day to go to Saboten Express.

That’s when I saw that there is no queue line at Comnam. I quickly scanned the eatery to see if it can be considered friendly enough for a solo diner and ohh, there’s a guy who’s eating alone there. Comnam has table for two/ section with high chair/ communal table which I feel will not make solo diners feel uncomfortable. Since seating seems to be no problemo, I just walked inside and reserve a small table while thinking of what to order. There’s ordering chit and menu on each table so you can take your time to decide what to eat if you manage to reserve a table beforehand.

Comnam has a variety of rice and noodle dishes in its menu. You can order small plates to go as side dishes for your main noodle/ rice too. But since its sister restaurant Nam Nam (which is located right beside Comnam) specialises in pho, which is a form of noodle, I would think that Comnam should be better with its rice dishes. So with this way of thinking, I chose lemongrass chili chicken fragrant rice for my lunch. It costs SGD 9.90 so I suppose it’s still within my SGD 10 budget for lunch in shopping mall. I left my cute Cony to guard the table while I made my way to the counter to make order and in return, the cashier gave me a buzzer. That’s good since I don’t have to stand there forever to wait for my order.

The lemongrass chili chicken fragrant rice comes with onsen egg which I don’t think it’s delicacy in Vietnam, so I suppose this dish must have been touched with an element of fusion-ism. But the lemongrass and chili sauce that they use to marinate the chicken soak into the meats perfectly. The rice that Comnam serve is not normal white rice. It seems to have a bit of quinoa texture although I don’t think they are quinoa (because quinoa would make the price of the dish increase exorbitantly). I quite like the whole dish and polish it together with Cony (ok kidding, I polish it all by myself).

Atmosphere wise, since there are many solo diners having lunch there, I don’t feel awkward at all to eat alone here at Comnam. So I think I would probably come back again for another visit here when I’m by myself.

Unagi omelette from Koh Grill Wisma Atria

Do you know why I love the concept of Japanese restaurants? It’s because they usually have counter seats which are the most suitable seats for introvert diner who happen to feel like eating alone. Yay. Good news for the introvert souls living in Singapore because there are many Japanese restaurants in the country. I suppose who can hate Japanese food after all. Hehehe.

I have actually visited Koh Grill before when the restaurant has just opened in Wisma Atria, one of the shopping malls in the bustling area of Orchard. We went to try out the famous Shiok Maki and the queue for seats was well...kinda long. But i suppose that’s because we came in a group back then.

Today I decided to check out the restaurant after my gym class ended at 8PM. I find this timing to work well because it should have past the peak dining hour on weekend although to be honest, sometimes it’s hard to fix peak hours at eateries in Orchard. The area is flocked by tourists and they are known not to follow dining rules. But thankfully the counter seats are available and I could quickly get my seat. Counter seat is really good because nobody care about what you are doing there. You can watch how the sushi chef cut the fresh sashimi, play with your phone, take picture of you cute companion, daydream or even dose off until the food arrive at your table.

I did not feel like eating Shiok Maki (which is basically a maki filled with either unagi or jumbo prawn tempura drenched in sauce depending on which version you choose) so I chose something different, unagi omelette. It’s grilled unagi served on top of egg omelette which is cooked on top of a hot plate. Hmm I wonder why is it so difficult to explain the dish so thankfully a picture speaks a thousand words. I did not know grilled unagi goes well with fluffy omelette but I wish the portion of the eel can be a bit bigger after all I’m greedy hehe. But then again, it feels like the right portion after I finish my bowl of Japanese rice. Ok, now I’m confused. The overall feeling that I get is warm comfy sensation in my stomach. Japanese rice is awesome and its awesomeness can enhance the dish that it’s served with.

Since Koh Grill is always bustling with customers, you won’t get peaceful quiet environment when you are enjoying your food. It’s okay, just imagine it like you are eating in an izakaya in Tokyo. They are loud too. Ok overall, good food, nobody care about you eating alone, counter seat, I guess I will give another visit to Koh Grill. Either alone or with Brown. Woots!

Eating alone may used to be unthinkable in the past but as we are living in the modern society, it has been somewhat more accepted nowadays. Some articles from Huffington Post and Elite Daily have even encouraged the perks of dining solo without any other human being to accompany you. Being an occasional practitioner of eating alone, I know that sometimes the key to eat alone comfortably is to dine in when most people are bounded to their desk (i.e. Off peak hours) but obviously that may not be an easy feat to perform if you are also part of the corporate slaves with similar working and lunch hour.

If you happen to work in the vicinity of Millenia Walk and you are in a lookout for a nice place to eat and chill alone around noon, you may want to consider the Green Bar.

Singapore Eats: Eating Alone at the Green Bar, Millenia Walk

I actually had no plan to visit the Green Bar at all but as far as I remember Millenia Walk tend to have lesser crowd in busy lunch hour so here I am. Anyway, I am also in urgent need to shed some fats, so why not feed myself some salad. I opted for the 4+1 carbo salad which consist of 1 carbo selection (mine is fusilli with pesto) and 4 toppings as you can see from my receipts below. Anything below SGD 10 for a salad bowl served by restaurant which has air-conditioner is considered pretty good so I suppose I had to accept this high cost of living in the country.

4+1 carbo salad from the Green Bar at Millenia Walk

The will call your number (the table number reflected on your receipt) once your order is ready for collection. The Green Bar is not really big and it has pretty limited seats however, there are a lot of two seater table which makes it suitable for solo dining. People will not look at you weirdly since you don't hog the table for 4 or 6 after all. In addition, as the seating area is designed in the shape of a reversed L, the Green Bar actually has some seats at the corner section. When I dined here, the whole seats at this particular corner are occupied by fellow solo diners.

Eating alone at the Green Bar at Millenia Walk

Most of the solo diners are busy with their phones as there are nothing much to people watch if you sit at the corner section to be honest with you. Oh right, how about the food? I chose Japanese sesame sauce to go with my salad and the whole combination taste so good as I believe that sesame goes well with any kind of salad toppings. There were nobody who force me to eat fast (plus there's not much queue) so I could leisurely enjoy my meal bit by bit. Do note that the staff will clear your empty bowl if you eat too fast and you self-conscientiously will decide to go out once that happen unless you're eating during non busy hours.

Mix your own salad at the Green Bar Millenia Walk

Overall, I really enjoy my solo dining experience at the Green Bar and would like to do that again in future. Hence, the Green Bar is approved for eating alone. Woots!

The Green Bar is located at:

9 Raffles Boulevard

#01-91 Millenia Walk

Opening hours:

Monday to Friday 11AM - 8PM

Closed on weekends

Subscribe to: Posts ( Atom )

Wandering Fel

I Eat Alone at Comnam Vietnamese Street Eats, Raffles City

I Eat Alone at Koh Grill, Wisma Atria

Singapore Eats: Eating Alone at the Green Bar, Millenia Walk