Hey Hive!
Now that a lot of people here have already gotten vaccinated, I'm very happy to hear that Singapore is now allowing in-house dining again, but up to 5 people and obviously you have to be vaccinated. But at least this allows us to try out different restaurants again!
So the other day, we decided to go check out a newer mall that opened recently, not too far from our house. And they even had an A&W fast food restaurant!
If you're not familiar, A&W is an American chain of fast-food restaurants distinguished for its burgers and root beer floats. Apparently it first originated in 1919 when Roy W. Allen set up a roadside drink stand to offer a new thick and creamy drink, root beer, at a parade honoring returning World War I veterans in Lodi, California.
Source: A&W Franchising
Allen's employee Frank Wright partnered with him in 1922 and they founded their first restaurant in 1923. The company name was taken from the initials of their last names – Allen and Wright. The company became famous in the United States for its "frosty mugs" – the mugs were kept in a freezer and filled with A&W Root Beer just before being served to customers. (Source: Wikipedia)
I think we have actually tried A&W before but in Malaysia. And since they recently opened in Singapore after a 16 year hiatus, we thought we'd give it a try! It was actually located outside of the mall right next to a McDonalds and was quite easily accessible.
I was kinda surprised that they would arrange it in such a way because that would minimise traffic inside the actual mall, but I guess this is better in these covid times since they know many people would queue up for fast food.
When we arrived there was quite a line though, and the restaurant was packed so we had to wait a while. The food pickup counter was right next to the queue too, so we could see everyone picking up the delicious food and it smelled soo good!! I was getting hungrier by the minute just waiting there.
There was also this very cute logo! I'm not sure who these characters are but I guess they're called the A&W Burger Family? Apparently their names are Papa Burger, Mama Burger, Teen Burger, and Baby Burger and they debuted as A&W's brand mascots in 1960. What original names LUL.
This was the front of the restaurant, and there was a bear mascot here too!
Apparently this bear is named Rooty,the Great American Root Bear and originated in Canada in 1974 as a counter to the Ronald McDonald and first appeared in the United States in 1976!
Apparently, he almost didn't exist because of poor results from focus groups! However, the marketing director at the time covered up the report and Rooty was presented to franchisees and proved a marketing success! What a twist!
Anyway, after 20 minutes or so of waiting, we could finally enter the restaurant and order our food!
We actually didn't even know they made waffles but we couldn't resist after smelling the waffles while waiting in line so we decided to get a waffle to share, along with a burger and hotdog too, just to try a little bit of everything they had.
Here's the menu:
Source: greatdeals
Here's the inside of the restaurant! There was a long bench in the middle dividing the restaurant and a bench at the back as well, with tables along the benches on either side.
It was quite spacious, and had a more modern look compared to the diner look that I remember in Malaysia.
There was a also a wall with a display of merchandise, most of which featured Rooty the Bear!
We had to go to the counter to collect our order and the first thing that was ready was of course the root beer.
We watched as the staff member took out a frozen mug and fill it to the brim with root beer! I'm not a huge fan of root beer but in a frozen mug it looked really cool (no pun intended)!
And this was what it looked like!
It wasn't that cold to hold which was a relief, but the root beer tasted like any other root beer tbh. Again I haven't drank much root beer so if there was a difference I wouldn't be able to tell.
Surprisingly, the next thing to be ready was actually our waffle! We ordered a plain waffle with ice cream and chocolate sauce and it came out fresh and warm!
It also had that perfect crisp to it as well! The ice cream was melting so we tried some while waiting for our main course. And it was perfect! The inside was warm and fluffy, and outside was crispy and the vanilla ice cream paired perfectly with it of course.
And shortly after that, the rest of our order was ready!
We ordered 1 piece chicken with curly fries, which was alright.
a beef coney dog, which tasted like a normal hotdog with something similar to spaghetti bolognese and onions.
and an A&W Cream Cheese Chicken Burger:
that actually had 2 chicken patties and a piece of bacon in between them, with lettuce, cheese and of course the cream cheese sauce. It was actually pretty yummy! The chicken patty was nice and juicy, and the bacon was crispy too. The cream cheese sauce wasn't so overpowering and blended well with the regular cheese sauce they used too. Overall, it was a really delicious!
The fried chicken was pretty average; it was nice and juicy, and the batter was alright but I'd say it's similar to KFC while being a bit more pricey.
Overall, I'd say my favourites were definitely the burger and the waffle! The only downside about the burger is given the price and since I like spice, I'd rather just get a McSpicy from McDonalds instead.
I was actually pleasantly surprised with how well the waffle was made! KFC here also sells waffles for breakfast, but since these waffles are available anytime, I think this will definitely be our go-to waffle place from now on!
If you're ever in the mood for fast food and want a good dessert too, try A&W!
Thanks for reading!
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Check out my previous post in this series!
Posted via foodiesunite.net