lunch @ Eighteen Chefs

Had a girls' date today (<3) (plus impromptu movie which I'll write another post on ) and had the chance to try out Eighteen Chef @ Serangoon NEX. For starters, Eighteen Chef is a chain restaurant founded by ex-convict Benny Se Teo in 2007 targeted mainly at youths and has rapidly extended to five branches island-wide. 

Prior to my visit, I've heard plenty about Eighteen Chefs, mainly through friends and what left a strong impression on me was  the concept  this restaurant was based. As it wasn't the lunch hour when we arrived, we were quickly led to our table. Eighteen Chef offers student meals at a reasonable price of $6 for a main: either pasta or cheese-baked rice, an iced lemon tea and an ice-cream as desert. For such a meal, the price is considered reasonable and worthy. 

Eighteen Chefs also employs a refreshing approach of ordering their mains, having the 'Be Your Own Chef' menu, somewhat like Subway, one can simply customize their pasta/ baked rice according to the choice of base, sauces, main ingredients and add-ons, which may incur additional cost. They have a wide selection of sauces, ingredients etc. which allows for many combinations of pasta/baked rice. 

So customizable!  

I ordered their Chicken Sausage Pasta in Spicy Tomato and was quite impressed at how short a time the dish was served! In fact my order took about ten minutes or so, as compared to the baked rice, which took about fifteen minutes, though it's still relatively fast as compared to other restaurants. And go check out their baked rice too, quite an interesting concept there! 

Chicken Sausage Pasta in Spicy Tomato Sauce

I was impressed at how short a time it took for the pasta to be served, considering it is a customized order. And the portion was quite large, though the 'main ingredient' was a tad scarce, not? 

The sauce was rather refreshing, a tomato-base sauce with a tinge of spicy-ness and a garlic after-taste (quite reminiscent of McDonald's garlic chili sauce). Rich, creamy and full of flavour, quite a delightful sauce. I personally felt it is simply a spicy version of their Tangy Tomato sauce, and the addition of chili indeed adds a twist to the taste. The chicken sausage was however pretty average, though it tasted better than it looked. The pasta was however not of my taste, being slightly too thick and chunky for my liking, quite flour-ish and doughy.  Perhaps having a personalised pasta-choice option would greatly spice up and complete their 'personalised pasta' look and add brownie points to their attractiveness. Nevertheless, the sauce was a winner and as evident from the picture, there was abundant sauce and the pasta was practically bathing in sauce! Not the perfect analogy, but you get my point :) In other words, the sauce made this pasta enjoyable and scrumptious. 

With good ambiance and service, great food and  great company, the whole dining process at Eighteen Chef was a great enjoyment, and all these came at a reasonable price tag! And did I mention, there's no service charge??! Yes!! I would give it a 4/5 considering their service, their privileges offered to the youth (Special Student Meal Price and also $2 off for non-student meals), and also the overall ambiance and decor. Taste-wise, perhaps a 3/5. 

A great option for youths and families!