SUPPLY & DEMAND
Mother's Day is just around the corner, and we're sure that many of you are reading food reviews online just to pick a perfect restaurant to celebrate this occasion. Similarly, we were on the hunt for a Mother's-Day-worthy restaurant and decided to give the highly raved about Supply & Demand @ Orchard Gateway a try. Supply & Demand is known to be an affordable Italian-Asian restaurant, receiving excellent views on their dishes, ambience and service. So are they really worth the hype?
We visited Supply & Demand on a weekend for lunch and were surprised to find the place half empty! We chose a table near the entrance to have a view of the whole restaurant as well as the dining area outside. Supply & Demand is designed with a chalkboard, old books and all sorts of classroom paraphernalia. We loved how spacious the place looked and the little decorations they left on the table.
S: The shelves were so clean though gosh, very impressive.
Supply & Demand offers a wide range of main courses from pizzas, pastas, and grilled meat, to Asian rice dishes and even brunch on the weekends (11am - 5.30pm). We had such a hard time choosing from their extensive menu so we went for their chef recommended dishes - Carbonara Classico and a thin crust pizza, half Provinciale and half Tartufo E Uovo (Truffle and Egg) along with the Crispy Chicken Drumlets. But of course, we started out with their homemade drinks.
Iced Spiced Peach Tea ($8) basically tasted like iced black tea with faint traces of warm spice, artificial peach flavouring syrup and pieces of canned peach. Not very impressive, but the Iced Mint Tea ($8) fared even worse. At all. It tasted pretty much like lipton tea except they threw in a lot of mint leaves. It didn't have the minty kick and aroma we expected it to have. Even the Spiced Peach Tea had more of a punch than the Mint.
The Crispy Chicken Drumlets ($12) was served with a spicy, homemade dipping sauce. The initial taste of their homemade sauce was sweet and then you get the kick of spiciness. It complimented the chicken so well, but without looking at its colour, it tasted very similar to the bottled Thai sweet chilli sauce. Coincidence? We sure hope so. What we liked about the chicken was its crispy perfection and the fact that the tender meat didn't soak up all the oil. Despite the fact that it was delicious, it could have been slightly juicier. Although this dish could pass as a decent appetiser, we are not too sure if we would pay $12 (not inclusive of GST and service charge) for these 5 pieces of chicken.
Putting aside the great balance of the dish, we were kind of let down by the lack of a smokey taste in the crust. We don't think they mentioned making wooden-stove pizzas, but it would have been nice to have the smokey flavour that would have set it apart from all the other pizzas in Singapore.
Lastly, we got the Carbonara Classico ($14) at the tasting portion. The carbonara was done in a classic way, with sautéed with crispy bacon, fresh milled pepper, tempered egg yolk, splash of white wine and loads of shaved cheese.
The Carbonara was a huge disappointment. Don't let the picture fool you. They weren't kidding with the LOADS of shaved cheese; the sauce was rough with parmesan with a hint of white wine that stood out like a sore thumb, it failed to blend well with the dish. Someone must have spilled a whole bottle in cause the Parmesan was so strong, it was hard to even finish those 5 mouths of pasta. Plus, the pasta was overcooked and the bacon wasn't crispy. Disappointing, Just disappointing.
Maybe we'll give the Esplanade branch another try. After we've recovered from our Parmesan scare.
Food: 5/10
The price really didn't match the quality! The carbonara was just... disastrous. Tartufo E Uovo and well paired Crispy drumlets with Homemade (still doubtful about this) Sauce were their saving grace.
Ambience: 10/10
The place was beautifully decorated and it felt very comfortable and clean, so no faults.
Service: 6/10
We see Supply & Demand receive so many bad comments on their service, especially on their crowded days. Well although it was pretty deserted when we went, the staff had their faults. They were in a daze most of the time and not very responsive to customers. But there were a few of them that were really sweet, catering to all our needs.
Until next time!
C & S.
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Iced Spiced Peach Tea (left) and Iced Mint Tea (right)
Iced Spiced Peach Tea ($8) basically tasted like iced black tea with faint traces of warm spice, artificial peach flavouring syrup and pieces of canned peach. Not very impressive, but the Iced Mint Tea ($8) fared even worse. At all. It tasted pretty much like lipton tea except they threw in a lot of mint leaves. It didn't have the minty kick and aroma we expected it to have. Even the Spiced Peach Tea had more of a punch than the Mint.
C: If those mint leaves serve no purpose I rather they work on its presentation, drowned leaves in murky pond water is not a good look.
Crispy Chicken Drumlets
The Crispy Chicken Drumlets ($12) was served with a spicy, homemade dipping sauce. The initial taste of their homemade sauce was sweet and then you get the kick of spiciness. It complimented the chicken so well, but without looking at its colour, it tasted very similar to the bottled Thai sweet chilli sauce. Coincidence? We sure hope so. What we liked about the chicken was its crispy perfection and the fact that the tender meat didn't soak up all the oil. Despite the fact that it was delicious, it could have been slightly juicier. Although this dish could pass as a decent appetiser, we are not too sure if we would pay $12 (not inclusive of GST and service charge) for these 5 pieces of chicken.
C: *Cuts open drumlet to reveal bone* Look at the greyish hue of the meat and bone. Compared to fresh chicken, the bone is darker. This is definitely frozen chicken that was not defrosted well which explains its lack of juiciness.
"Thin Crust, Crispy Yet Fluffy And Freshly Baked To Order."
2 Flavours in 1 Pizza
We gotta admit that the pizza crust was indeed crispy. We got the 2 Flavours in 1 Pizza ($23) and it looked so delicious. The Provinciale half contained tomato sauce, mozzarella, onion, chicken chunks with a soft egg set in the centre. The chicken chunks were disappointingly hard and dry, but the combination of ingredients was undoubtedly delicious, especially with the onions that weren't deadly strong yet aromatic. The onions were soft but still retained a slight crunch. The Tartufo E Uovo (Truffle & Egg) half had tomato sauce, mozzarella, black truffle paste, rucola leaves and was finished with a soft egg in the centre as well. The rucola leaves were only slightly bitter but it brought great balance to the combination of the truffle pizza.
C: The base kind of reminds me of prata though. More dense than fluffy. The Provinciale lacks something though maybe it needs a more tangy tomato base or spices. The dry chicken is only seasoned with lots of salt and a little pepper.
Putting aside the great balance of the dish, we were kind of let down by the lack of a smokey taste in the crust. We don't think they mentioned making wooden-stove pizzas, but it would have been nice to have the smokey flavour that would have set it apart from all the other pizzas in Singapore.
Cabonara Classico
Lastly, we got the Carbonara Classico ($14) at the tasting portion. The carbonara was done in a classic way, with sautéed with crispy bacon, fresh milled pepper, tempered egg yolk, splash of white wine and loads of shaved cheese.
S: My mama always said, if you have nothing nice to say, keep your mouth shut. Then again, I never listened to her.
The Carbonara was a huge disappointment. Don't let the picture fool you. They weren't kidding with the LOADS of shaved cheese; the sauce was rough with parmesan with a hint of white wine that stood out like a sore thumb, it failed to blend well with the dish. Someone must have spilled a whole bottle in cause the Parmesan was so strong, it was hard to even finish those 5 mouths of pasta. Plus, the pasta was overcooked and the bacon wasn't crispy. Disappointing, Just disappointing.
C: Soggy tasteless pasta, lacks salt and pepper and needs more flavour that is NOT Parmesan (Garlic would be nice). If this was Hell's Kitchen this dish would be hurled back at them frisbee style
Food: 5/10
The price really didn't match the quality! The carbonara was just... disastrous. Tartufo E Uovo and well paired Crispy drumlets with Homemade (still doubtful about this) Sauce were their saving grace.
Ambience: 10/10
The place was beautifully decorated and it felt very comfortable and clean, so no faults.
Service: 6/10
We see Supply & Demand receive so many bad comments on their service, especially on their crowded days. Well although it was pretty deserted when we went, the staff had their faults. They were in a daze most of the time and not very responsive to customers. But there were a few of them that were really sweet, catering to all our needs.
Until next time!
C & S.
-
Located at:
277 Orchard Road
#02-13/14, Orchard Gateway
Singapore 238858
How to get there:
Nearest MRT - Somerset
Contact:
+65 67026218
Opening hours:
Everyday - 11.30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
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