This Groupon for Bottletree Park appeared somewhen mid October this year. Seeing how close to home it is, I asked hubby's siblings if they were interested in going for a meal. Very nicely, the highest value option was $60 for $120 dining value, with minimum 5 to dine. So even if vegetarian options aren't available, I don't have to recruit one more person to fill in the space for a 6 to dine.
I had initially wanted to go for a so-call 'good meal' before I went for my spinal surgery in November. (I had a herniated disc surgery, which explains my long absence here. I wasn't quite in the condition to blog, and definitely wasn't actively out eating. I had mum's post-surgery diet to keep to.) However, we weren't able to secure a reservation pre-surgery. So we put off the dinner til after Christmas on Boxing day.
The park is actually quite a drive in to get to the carpark from the road behind. From how late C reached, I think it's quite a walk from the main road too. I was pretty surprised when we found the Bistro. It was actually so empty that we could choose our own table. Couldn't understand how it could have been full pre-surgery. Maybe everyone was trying to use their Groupon back then.
It's a photo-less post, partly because I was too lazy to take out my camera cos I wasn't feeling too well. And partly because it was so dark that most photos wouldn't have shown much. Lighting was weak, and the main light we had was probably from the oil jar on our table. Maybe it would have been nicer earlier part of the evening, when there's still light and we could enjoy the scenery. As it was, we met pretty late because it was a work day. And the darkness didn't help with the comfort level either. There was so many mosquitoes that, despite the mosquito coil burning under the table, I left the bistro with 15 mosquito bites! I guess it's rainy season, so mosquitoes are a little harder to control. I'm just glad that none were dengue carrying ones.
Food wise, the bistro serves up very simple western food. Affordable too. We managed to order a salad and two sides on top of our main dishes in order to hit the $120. We were told that the Groupon doesn't include drinks. That's ok by me. We weren't refused when we asked for ice water. What's funny was when we requested for a top up of our ice water, we were then told that required a 50 cents charge. Weird.
And it didn't help that the waiter seems new and blur. He had to run back to ask someone something about 7 - 8 times in total. When we settled down, he hung around (actually just stood there staring at us) while we browsed the menu. When I asked what the Groupon included, he ran off to ask and returned to tell me the answer. Since C and L had not arrived, we ordered some fried chicken mid wings and a crispy chicken salad to start off. The wings were small, but well-seasoned and fried to a crispy skin. It was quite yummy.
I was having a bad tummy so wanted something light. So we asked what flavor their maggi mee soup was. He ran off to ask and returned to tell us - curry. So we asked if we could change the flavor since curry really doesn't cut it for my bad tummy. He ran off to ask and returned with a no. So I ordered spaghetti bolognese and requested no cheese. G ordered sambal fried rice, and W ordered tom yam udon. We then asked for a top up of ice water and he ran off to ask again and returned with the 50 cents information. So we passed, and decided we would pay additional to get a jug of soft drinks instead.
When C and L arrived, they placed orders for another bolognese, a chicken cutlet and another plate of chicken wings. The poor waiter returned to our table twice to ask if C's order is a bolognese. Finally another guy came to ask how many bologneses we ordered. I had to politely say - two. The waiter must really be new.
Anyway the wait after this was really long. It took a long while before G's fried rice arrived. Very normal fried rice, and the sambal wasn't too fragrant. The wings came soon after. And by the time G finished his fried rice, non of our mains had arrived. Finally our bologneses came. The cheese and no cheese plate looked the same to us, although they announced them differently. The two rings I took to be onion rings in the photo in the menu turned out to be calamari so I was pleasantly surprised. The pasta was again normal. I was almost done when W's udon finally arrived. Her tom yam soup tasted instant. W also almost finished hers before L's cutlet finally arrived. He didn't have any comments so I guessed it was normal too.
Overall I find the food mediocre. The ambience could have been nicer with more light. I do think that it can be a nice place to chill a early evening with friends over beer. Just don't expect too much from the food, and do be ready to have time to spare for waiting. The price are generally ok. And please bring mosquito repellent patches.
Bar & Bistro Bottletree
Bottle Tree Park81 Lorong Chencharu (Yishun)
Singapore 769198
Tel: 93277181
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