Smoochies Bistro & Bar

I learned about Smoochies while clicking around some of the reviews on the Hungrygowhere forums and thought it might be worth a visit. It's tucked in a small business area just opposite of the PSA building along Alexandra Road, and is perfect for those who really want a quiet night away from... well, almost everywhere. Since it's after all surrounded by offices, the afterhours would be fairly peaceful for you to enjoy your dinner.


It was pretty quiet too for a Saturday night, just a few couples lounged outside listening to a lady sing and strum on her guitar. Me and Daphne sat inside because there was no way I could take pictures of the food in the dark and we had the restaurant all to ourselves for at least forty good minutes (then again, it was 8.30pm by the time we got there) before a group of girls came in for drinks.


No, they don't serve these as food, but Daphne bought them while waiting for me to pick her up from work and they look so cute right! Maybe she was so hungry that she had a similar expression as these brown guys haha. On to some real food then, shall we? =)

Pizza Frutti Di Mare: 3.75/5


Sounds like a fruit-based pizza but it really is seafood pizza. I liked the pizza because it had the optimal thickness to it - not too thick that it would be bread-like, nor too thin that it would be cracker-like. The cheese was well done as well as you can see here, a nice golden brown. The pizza was unique in the sense that it has salmon chunks in it, but to be honest I thought the taste of the salmon threatened to overwhelm the pizza and I found myself eating the salmon separately from the pizza. Probably better to stick to normal fish fillets. The squids were a tiny bit overdone but otherwise okay.

Fish and Chips: 4.25/5


I think this is my kind of fish and chips, as compared to the ones at 15 Minutes that were closer to that of a deep-fried chicken cutlet - it's all in the type of batter. I prefer a smoother texture with a golden brown hue like the ones you see in the picture above, though others may have their own preferences. The fish was fresh and tasty.

Service
Very good, polite and attentive.

Price
$15.00 for the pizza frutti di mare
$16.00 for the fish and chips

* Prices subject to the usual 7% GST and 10% service charge.

Place
991B Alexandra Road, #01-10.

Ikea Restaurant II

Everyone's favourite Swedish meatballs right here at Ikea!

Fried Chicken Wings: 8/10


But first, chicken wings! No wonder this is a best seller. Everyone seems to be having at least one of these, with the usual order of six. Crispy, juicy and tasty. A bit oily but hey, indulgence once in a while is acceptable.

Vegetarian Fried Tang Hoon: 7/10


I was trying to make a choice between the fish fillet (Friday's special; for a list of Ikea's Daily Specials, see here) and this fried noodles, and went for the noodle because I've been having too much "western" food lately. The noodles were a little too dry, but the side dishes like the mock sausages and mock chicken fillet were delicious. And I have to say the chicken wings went very well with the noodles too.

And oh, this is not on offer now. For a list of November's vegetarian dishes, click here.

Swedish Meatballs: 9/10


Daphne's rating. She would be glad to give a full score for the gravy. These meatballs are a mix of beef and pork, that's why I can't eat them.

Kids Spaghetti: 5.9/10


Really small-sized ordinary pasta that I ordered for her to accompany her meatballs.

Daim Cake: 8/10



We were a bit too full to appreciate this, but I still think it's pretty good. Tastes a bit like Ritter Sport's Cornflakes chocolate. This cake is a bit nutty, a bit wafery, and very chocolatey. Nice.

Service
Very quick. Self-service though, and queue's terribly long for a Friday evening.

Price
$1.40 for a chicken wing
$5.50 for the vegetarian tang hoon
$6.50 for the regular meatballs
$2.90 for the kids spaghetti
$1.50 for a refillable soft drink (can share!)
$3.50 for a daim cake

Place
Ikea Restaurant
317 Alexandra Road

Ikea Restaurant

I think when anyone who has ever been to the Ikea restaurant, the first thing that would come to their mind would be the Swedish Meatballs, and that was exactly what the girlfriend wanted when we were en route to Alexandra Road.

Pity the meatballs had pork, so I left it to Daphne to enjoy them herself. Although I wasn't hungry and was supposed to have a light dinner, the smell of fried chicken left me with little choice.

Fried Bee Hoon Set: 7/10. Fried Chicken: 8/10


I decided to go with something light like BeeHoon and it turned out alright. Nothing to shout about for the ordinary otah fish cake and fried fish slice (the sweet waitress said she would "give [me] a bigger piece of fish" because I didn't want the veg) but I chose to give a separate rating for the chicken because it was pretty well fried and marinated.

Swedish Meatballs and Spaghetti: 8.5/10


Daphne was cooing with delight at every bite of the meatballs, and she said she would give a separate rating for the meatball gravy at 9/10. The spaghetti was typical, and it seemed it was more of a side dish as compared to the meatballs. The gravy wasn't given if you bought it with spaghetti though, so we had to pay $0.30 for a plate of it.

Service
Self-service. One of the dish aunties yelped at Daphne when we unintentionally used the plain water drinking cup to fill it with 7-Up. We thought it was obvious that we intended to fill it with drinks but realised we weren't charged for it. Drinks are refillable though.

Price
Cheap. $5.50 for the noodles set, around $6.00 for the meatball spaghetti and $1.50 for drinks (refillable).

Place
IKEA Alexandra Road Level 2
Also: IKEA Tampines Level 4
http://ikea.com.sg/store_services/restaurant.asp

Additional Comments
Kids Menu available.
For those who want to cook some meatballs and gravy at home, these are sold at the Swedish Food Market, Level 1.