Hey Hive!
Even though there are still people getting covid, it's basically being treated like a cold these days so thankfully almost everything is back to normal now! There are no more restrictions on dining these days and you don't even have to wear a mask anymore if you don't want to! It's a huge relief and this allows us to try out different food places again!
So we received a dining voucher from our insurance agent a few months ago and we kind of forgot about it or just didn't have the time to use it until a few weeks before it was set to expire! But every time we tried to use it the crowd was ridiculously long around dinner time.
The voucher could only be used at this place called Swensen's which is a US ice cream chain that started in 1948 by Earle Swensen in San Francisco! It came to Singapore in 1979 and has now evolved to become a restaurant chain offering casual Western food and of course all-day ice cream sundaes.
To combat the long queue times we intentionally went for an early "dinner" before 5pm when no one would be eating and thankfully there wasn't a queue and we were seated immediately!
The outlet we went to was located in a mall and had different tables and booths on the inside but also had some booths along the walkway of the mall which was where we were seated. This was also where the iconic Swensen's lamps were which I think have been the staple probably since its inception.
The voucher has some restrictions on what we could order but out of curiosity I flipped through the menu to see what else they had since it'd been a good long while since I've eaten at Swensen's.
I guess they've fully embraced the all-day western family restaurant image they now have since the first page photo doesn't even show ice cream. I expected there to be ice cream when I opened it but I guess they know people wouldn't be looking at ice cream first since its more of a dessert after all.
They also have quite a selection of pastas including some local flavours like Oriental Chili Fish Pasta and Teriyaki Chicken Pasta.
They also have quite a few different burgers, specifically the Impossible Burgers which are meat-free burgers made with plant-based meat. I've never tried an Impossible Burger before because they tend to be more expensive than a regular burger. I guess the technology required to make it and the resulting patties made it quite expensive but it is good for vegetarians and the environment.
As I theorised, I found the ice cream menu at the back. They also have options to Create Your Own Waffle, which was a pleasant surprise since I love waffles and ice cream!
Of course they also have plenty of ice cream flavours and toppings for their different sundaes - their staple. But they also 'Fried Chicken' ice cream which looked way too real in the picture but I assume it just looks that way and probably doesn't taste like chicken at all.
It trended a while back when it first launched, but turns out the 'fried chicken' batter is actually cornflakes and the inside is pure ice cream just moulded into the shape of a chicken drumstick, complete with an edible 'bone' that's probably a chocolate stick if I had to guess.
Source: avenueone
Anyway, we only had a few options we could try to get a free meal out of our voucher which included 2 bowls of soup, 2 drinks and a main entree each.
Our soup arrived just 10 minutes after we sat down! I guess they were prepared with everyone using the same voucher. The soup was a creamy chicken vegetable soup which wasn't too thick or salty. It was a pretty good appetiser actually but it did also fill us up quite a bit.
We recreated an old photo of us sharing a bowl of soup like this back when we first started dating as a nice throwback.
And before we even finished our soups, our entrees arrived! I did take my time with the soup since I didn't want to get too full from it. Sean had chosen the Salmon 'N' Mushroom Pasta which I think was the only pasta option we could try. It looked and smelled pretty good!
I was kinda skeptical though since I'm not sure how fresh their fish was going to be and was a little fearful it would be too fishy. And unfortunately I was right. While the mushrooms were strong, the fish was initially a good complement, but did get quite fishy after a while.
I decided to try the Impossible Burger instead! It was quite surprising that they would allow users to get it for free with the voucher since its quite a pricey item normally but I guess they must have marked it up on the menu or something.
This was just their basic Impossible Burger with the plant-based patty, melted cheese, tomato slices and onion rings on a brioche bun. I guess the other burgers just have different sauces and some extra fillings but either way it looked really good!
It wasn't a very big burger, but it was really tasty! It also came with some crispy french fries and a coleslaw. I was quite surprised that the patty tasted just like a meat one! If I was blindfolded I might not be able to tell the difference.
But it was a very juice burger and definitely a good substitute for a real burger! If it were just a little bit cheaper I'd definitely forgo the real thing for this Impossible burger.
Thanks to the voucher we had our meal was completely free! I'm so surprised they let people try the burger for free but I'm super thankful they did because it was delicious!
We were so stuffed after that we unfortunately couldn't get the ice cream waffle. Maybe next time we'll come by again for the waffle and another burger?
Thanks so much for reading!
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