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Curry Favor (Stamford House)/Moon River Cafe

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Address:
39 Stamford Road
#01-08/09 Stamford House

Tel: 6883 1087

Website

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  Operating Hours:
Mon-Wed, Sat-Sun: 12pm-10pm, Thu-Fri: 12pm-11pm;

Place:
Restaurant

Cuisine:
Asian, Western, Fusion, Japanese

Average price:
approx. S$ 15 - 25/person (based on 20 reviews)

Recommended by other hungry people:
Type of Meal : Lunch (15) , Dinner (14) , Cheap Eat/Budget (1) , Supper/Night Dining (1) , Take Away (1) , Vegetarians (1)
Occasion : After Work (12) , Children/Family (6) , Chillout (6) , Large Groups/Gathering (5) , Romance/First Dates (4) , Boys Night Out (3) , Girls Night Out (3) , Business Dining (2)
Atmosphere : Quiet/Peaceful (13) , People Watching (3) , Vibrant/Noisy (3) , Hidden Find (2) , View/Scenery (1)
Others : Beer Lists (1) , Wine Lists (1)
 
6.9   based on
22 reviews

Food and Beverage - 7.4
Ambience / Setting - 6.9
Value - 6.7
Service - 6.6

Will you return to this place?
 
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* This place is probably better
The Orange Lantern Vietnamese Restaurant (Harbourfront)
1 Maritime Square
#01-98 Harbourfront Centre

Restaurant, Asian, Indochinese, Vietnamese

Restaurant Set Lunches start at $11.90. Full tradit...
6.1
Overall
5 reviews
 
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   22 Reviews
 
First Reviewed by: wonderdoggy       "I hate food courts cuz they can't cook!"
 
 
pepamint Lee

3 Reviews

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Food and Beverage - 6.5
Ambience / Setting - 8
Value - 7
Service - 7
Will you return to this place? Definitely
I spent about S$30 per person

Review Date: 22 Nov 2008
I love it!

The last time I was there was 5th Nov, so I can't remember exactly what I ate, think was a half portion of chicken curry with rice which was delicious. It came with a miso soup. I thought it was alright but my guy thought it was a bit bland.
We also had the japanese salad. Although tasty, I found it slightly overpriced.
I've been there twice for dinner, what I like about this place is the location (not too crowded), the music, the high ceiling. I also like that they included half portions catering to small eaters like me.
The staff was alright, nothing to shout about, but I'm happy.
I had a look at the dessert menu but wasn't impressed. Wish they can have more Japanese themed desserts...
I also wonder that's the difference between the Moon River side and the Curry Favor side. Both times the waitress led us to the Moon River side *scratch head*

 
I also recommend this place for
Type of meal:Dinner
Occasion:Romance/First Dates
Atmosphere:Quiet/Peaceful
 
 
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WEI REN SEE

1 Reviews

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Food and Beverage - 5.9
Ambience / Setting - 7
Value - 3
Service - 3
Will you return to this place? Not Sure
I spent about S$25 per person

Review Date: 15 Nov 2008
Before dining: Excited After Dining: Disappointed

Everytime I walk from SMU back to City Hall, I will always pass by the a/m Restaurant at Stamford Court.I managed to dine at this place finally after reading a number of reviews. I was very excited before the dining, because I have a craving for Japanese Curry. Furthermore, Curry Flavour seems to be an autentic restaurant that has Japanese Curry as their specialty.

Ambience was fine, the surrounding gives you a pleasant and soothing feeling. I ordered a Curry stewed Chicken with mushroom. Nautrally, I expected the taste too be similar as those that i have tasted back in Japan.
Sadly, the excitement was kind of shortlived.I was really disappointed, because the food that was served to me was not even WARM.However,the taste of the curry was not bad and also the mushroom they used are fresh. However, I did not get the taste of any herbs that I missed a lot back in Japan.In every Japanese restaurant, I never fail to order a bowl of curry rice. But to me, the curry rice served here are only level with most of the well-known Japanese Restaruant.

Another thing was I was very disappointed when I requested for a small extra top up of curry on my rice, the waitress told me a straight no on my face. She added that that's the usual portion of curry they served.

The service is really very disappointing, although most of the waiters will smile at you.I have a man who didn't the usual uniform of a waiter, passing me my receipt in the end. I said "Thank you". He seems to ignore me.

Overall, a disappointing dining experience, though I will think of going back there another to see whether they have improved their service.

 
 
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Management Response: 15 Nov 2008 Dear Wei Ren See,

Thank you for visiting Curry Favor Stamford and giving us your valuable feedback. I am sorry to hear that you come away disappointed. You have made some points in your feedback, that we like to take this opportunity to address.

Before we begin, we are located in Stamford House NOT Stamford Court, I am sure as SMU student, it is a typing error and you are aware but for the public we need to clarify this as they won't find us in Stamford Court.

Japanese curry is one of those dishes where there are NO fixed recipes and no two chef's recipe is exactly the same UNLESS it is instant. In layman explanation: It is like my mum's curry chicken and my aunt's curry chicken both taste different because each have their own improvisations and on one has a "right or wrong" recipe.

What you might have tasted in Japan is just one version. More likely that not, it is instant curry if you have dined at some corner curry shop meant for business lunch. Compared to the big instant curries chains, there are not many curry house (in Japan) that cook their curry from scratch for more than 5 hours like we do. And none in Singapore than we know of, especially not any well know restaurants.

Perhaps you may be interested to know that Japanese Chefs do not prepare curry if they are fine dine restaurants as spices "numbs" the tongue for hours rendering them unable to fix subtle tastes in other dishes - a necessity. As such many top restaurants in Japan simply just forgo curry altogether. In Singapore, it is often just one of the items cooked with instant mix by a commis or helper. Being a curry house, we do not serve a repertoire of Japanese cuisines that require carefully taste adjustments so our Japanese chef is able to fully devote to cooking Japanese curry - a luxury no fine dining restaurant can afford for one "humble" dish. As such to compare our curry to instant is just not a fair assessment.

As for usage of herbs, there is again no hard and fast rule about it. Some chefs will use for blending their "curry powders" some totally don't use any. The purpose of herbs are STRICTLY to give a "distinction" or "signature" to their "version" of Japanese curry and does not add the spiciness (chilli powder) or aromatics (fennels and cloves etc). Even if herbs are used it is always in very small amounts because the key spices are still tumeric, coriander, cumin, cardamon - giving the important curry flavors.

Personally, I have had quite a few famous "cooked from scratch curries" in Japan but haven't tried one with extensive use of herbs perhaps you may be able to share where your favorite outlet is so I can try it on my next visit to Japan? As a curry lover, I would really appreciate the info! =)

As with topping-up curry, we have been doing so for customers for the past 5 years and some of our regulars always request for more and we always give. The only exceptions are if your party is sharing main course (less main course than diners) or you have ordered a half size.

The reason is our "cook from scratch curry" costs more than 8 times that of an instant curry and is a significant chunk of our costs. Think of it as you wouldn't ask the chicken rice stall to top-up chicken for free, Japanese curry is our mainstay, the same way as chicken in Chicken rice but as a goodwill we have been doing it for all our full sets. However, as per your feedback, I will brief our service staff again on this point.

I am not very sure from the description you gave but from what I can tell the man that don't wear uniform should be the outlet manager. We have not had complains about his service the past 5 years he is with us, I will personally check with him on this. But I will like to apologize on his behalf if he had not been courteous or attentive to you.

Again, thank you for dining at Curry Favor, we hope to serve you again in the near future.

Regards
The Curry Favor Team








 
 
galinusa

60 Reviews

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Food and Beverage - 5
Ambience / Setting - 5
Value - 5
Service - 4.5
Will you return to this place? Probably
I spent about S$13 per person

Review Date: 27 Oct 2008
Forgettable taste and I was still hungry

The lunch set $12.90 was relatively average around town area. There is a selection of 6 or 7 different curries - pork, fish, tofu or vegetables, plus you also get a soup or salad and a drink.

The salad and curry are nothing special i.e. you can DIY at home with the ready made Japanese curry cubes from Meidiya. I got the tofu curry, which was silken tofu cubes laid nicely on half the plate and drizzled with curry sauce. There were a few cubes of carrots and potatoes as well. On the other half of the plate, a neatly arranged portion of Japanese rice was served with some sweet pickles. Overall, the meal was average but the portion was quite puny. I was peckish in an hour after this lunch.

The service staff was cordial with the group but I can see the obvious look of impatience on the face.

I guess what keeps CF going is the lack of competition and a ready-curry fix in town.

 
Must Tries: curry
 
I also recommend this place for
Type of meal:Cheap Eat/Budget, Lunch, Dinner, Vegetarians
 
 
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Management Response: 27 Oct 2008 Dear Galinusa,

Thank you for dinning at curry favor Stamford, we would like to take this opportunity to address some things you have pointed out.

Firstly, we take extreme pride in our curry being the only place in Singapore that cooks it from scratch with loads of fresh vegetables over a 5 hours long process and we even have a Japanese chef to cook it to ensure authenticity.

We do understand that taste is very subjective (and some really do prefer instant curry) but we are rather shocked that our curry is being compared to instant stuff from meidiya. We have been at Stamford House for over five years and over this time we have seen many curry shops (instant ones) come and go so we are rather certain that we serve a better product than "instant curry".

We only started a curry shop (5 years ago) because we could not find a decent curry place in Singapore and we want to share authentic gourmet Japanese curry to fellow Singaporeans. If we are as instant/easy to DIY as meidiya we would ourselves choose not to be in business as it does not coincide with our passion or mission.

Our portions being "puny" is a first of such feedback as well. We have tons of feedback over the years that our potions are too big and we need to have a small size portions (many of our regulars always ask for less rice), which is why we introduced a $9.80 "half-size" curry with a reduced portion. Our feedback for the half-size so far is, "just nice" so we are rather surprise to have a first feedback that our portions are "puny".

Honestly, we have "given up" on adjusting our portions to "just nice" a long time ago since there is no carpet solution when it comes to the "right" portioning where everyone can be happy. So we do have a running policy that as long as you don't share your food (as in order one dish and two person share), we give free rice top-up and a small curry top-up as well if you request for it. If you do happen to pop by next time feel free to ask for more rice/curry if portions are too small for you. =)

As for what keeps us going, we really doubt it is the lack of curry-fix in town as EVERY Japanese restaurant in town sells Japanese curry (as one of the items in the menu) and IF we are as instant as they are instead of cooking our curry from scratch in our 5 hour process, we would have been long gone since.

Again, thank you for dinning at Curry Favor and the important feedback, we are in the process of refining our lunch menu (for even better value) so do hope to serve you again in the future. =)

Sincerely,
The Curry Favor Team

 
 
WengFoo Wong

1 Reviews

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Food and Beverage - 4.9
Ambience / Setting - 2.9
Value - 3
Service - 5
Will you return to this place? Definitely Not
I spent about S$15 per person

Review Date: 29 Sep 2008
Not so hot curry

After reading so much (nearly all were) positive reviews about this place, I think it'll be hard to put in a 'bad' word without being judged as biased. In any case, I had dinner there a couple of days ago with a few friends and I just had to write something about my visit.

To begin, I have to confess I've never been to Japan so I can only compare the food here with other Japanese establishments in Singapore. All of us had miso soup with our meals and all of us agree it's practically tasteless. Granted, the ones I had at other places are usually quite salty(some extremely) but I'm talking about the other extreme end here. So, my question is this; just how salty is miso soup in an authentic Japanese restaurant in Japan? I don't have the habit of sharing my food so I didn't have the chance to taste what my friends had. I had the Katsu Curry. True enough, serving the curry seperately was a nice touch and the meat was nicely fried and crispy. But, my main complain is the curry in which I ordered the 'spicy' version. Even my friend who can't take spicy stuff don't find it spicy at all!!! Perhaps being born and raised in Singapore, I've learnt to take pretty spicy stuff though I don't really have the stomach for really hot and spicy food . So, shouldn't there be at least a hint of spiciness in the 'spicy' version of the curry? If spicy is like this, then 'mild' would be......? I like Japanese curry for it's tinge of sweetness and of course not too hot but enough to make me feel I'm eating curry. The other places I've tried have on the whole achieved both objectives.

As to the ambience of the place, I'm not saying it's bad but as a cosy place to chill out with friends? Well, I wouldn't pick that place. However, to be fair the location is central so meeting up is rather convenient. Other then that, I'm quite sure there are quite a number of places nearby with a better ambience (at least in my opinion) to cosy up and just relax.

Overall, I find Curry Favor a bit of a letdown. Especially with all those favourable reviews previously. Hope my review can put a little bit of perspective to balance out the place.

 
 
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Management Response: 30 Sep 2008 Dear WengFoo Wong,

Tank you for dining at Curry Favor Stamford. We are sorry to hear that you did not enjoy your visit. I would like to take this opportunity to perhaps answer some of the queries you posted on your review as well as dispel some misconception about curry.

First off there is no such thing as an authentic miso soup. Miso soup's varying degree of "saltiness" depends on the region in Japan you have it. In general, the historically richer regions eat lighter than the rural areas. There is no such thing as an "authentic" miso soup really (with 2 basic ingredient of dashi water and miso paste) - it depends on preference. That being said, we will look into the issue as we seldom have complains in this regard and we strive to achieve consistency in our product.

As with comparing our curry to what you have had locally, it is like comparing apples to oranges. What you typically have in Singapore are instant powder curry that is out of packet tested on thousands of people to meet the general preference of the masses and your "two objectives of sweetness and not too hot" are important for this reason. If you like to know, Japanese curry does not necessarily have to be sweet. The instant ones in supermarket are commonly sweet so it is easier for kids to eat at home. With instant mixes, you can also add any amount of spiciness or extra curry powder at will but we can't do as it will kill the taste of our vegetable base.

We pride ourselves as the only place in Singapore to cook Japanese curry from ground up using fresh vegetables (our curry thickness comes from potatoes, sweetness comes from carrots, and onions accentuates the spices) in a 5hour long process and cooked by a Japanese chef to add.

With regard to spiciness of the curry, it may be a case where there is a mixed up and you were served the regular instead of "spicy". If so we apologise for that. However, we do not have a mild option. We serve our curry in one form only. While we don't recommend it, we will increase the "spiciness" at the request of our customers. As we do not use instant mix Japanese curry that requires only adding water, making it too spicy will kill off the taste of cartons of vegetables that is used to create the curry.

While we understand that each individual has their own preference (food & ambience), and we can't make everyone love our food. We also know from day one (we started) we will be fighting stereotypes on Japanese curry (since Singapore knows little about Japanese curry in general) but being around for 5 years and having a good number of Japanese and Singaporean regulars we like to believe that we have made some headway here and more Singaporeans already know what is gourmet Japanese curry vs fast food instant ones.

Again thank you for dining at Curry Favor and your important feedback. We hope to serve you again in the future. If our response is a little long forgive us as we are passionate about our curry. =)

Regards
Curry Favor Team
 
 
shbubba

51 Reviews

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Food and Beverage - 6.8
Ambience / Setting - 7.2
Value - 7
Service - 7
Will you return to this place? Definitely
I spent about S$15 per person

Review Date: 20 Aug 2008
Sure won my favor

Finally had a chance to come here after reading so much abt it! Though it was "bright daylight", but I was nonetheless rather captivated by the atmosphere. The blue tiles, the huge blue painting. I would think that this place will exude more charm at night! Only grievance is that the tables seem SLIGHTLY too short / seat too high?

Anyways, services was not bad, full of smiles and made us feel welcomed. I ordered a stewed pork curry and my friend the katsu. My only other experience with Japanese curry was what my hall mates and I prepared for block supper. I remembered the instant curry to taste really "instant" thus never developed much of a liking for it but wow, this curry sure won my favour! ;)

The spicy was not at all spicy (i LOVE spicy food) yet still very pleasing and strangely my nose ran! ;p My friend and I finished every bit! The pork slices were very tender. The hardly even notice the fatty portion cos' it was so light and smooth but well, when I did, it was out of habit that I had to get rid of it. Nonetheless it didn't pose that much of a nuisance actually. The potato firm (though I personally prefer the mushy kind). OH. Did I mention that I liked their salad? Vinegrate dressing never goes wrong with me. Light and refreshing!

That hearty portion with a drink for only #15? I think i'll be back for more. =)

 
 
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