Monday 26 March 2018

What's So Smart About This Kitchen?


Update : Smart Kitchen has closed down.

A new restaurant opened recently at The Starling. It's called Smart Kitchen and as always, I will go kaypoh kaypoh to check the menu.

It's a restaurant serving Chinese food (non-halal) and I noted that the dishes are more of the Taiwanese sort of cooking. Not really my kind of thing but I am always game to try out new eateries. 

And then I wondered why the restaurant is called Smart Kitchen. Apparently, they have what they call "Robot Smart Noodles". Robot??


As I discovered later, it is rather gimmicky. The so called robot is basically a modified noodle cutting machine affixed to a mannequin. I managed to get a shot of the rather good looking robot.


It was not in action at the time but I have seen the chef placing a board of dough on that slide thingy and the right arm of the robot moves up and down to slice the noodles which fall directly into the vat of boiling water. So it's not those sophisticated robotics that you may be expecting.

I visited one afternoon past lunch hour just to satisfy my curiosity. It took me sometime to make my selection as the menu was quite extensive.


I decided upon the Taiwanese Style Braised Pork (Dry). For drinks, I had the Homemade Soya.


Now let's talk about the robot "smart" noodles. They were thick and a bit stiff though nicely cooked till tender but with a bite. 


The meat was basically shredded braised pork which was tasty enough. I liked the soft centered egg though I do wish that restaurants would serve the whole egg instead of half.

I would rather serve my customer the whole egg rather than have the other half standing around waiting for the next order. But that's just my opinion.

The soya bean drink was nice, not too sweet. 


Ordering here is simple, you fill up the order chit and pass it to the wait staff. Condiments consist of light soya sauce, pickled green chilies, chili oil and pepper. I tried the chili oil on a second visit. No, not a fan of that so I stuck with the green chilies.


The cutlery is housed in a drawer attached to the end of the table. 


I went back again for the Hot and Spicy Soup with Iberico Pork


The soup was just as spicy as it looks but not overtly so. Not bad at all. As for the pork, I don't know if Iberico pork is suited for soups but it was nice enough. I counted 4 slices in my soup.

As for the noodles, yes, "smart" noodles again and this time I concluded that the noodles are too thick and stiff for my liking. But it is not going to prevent me from having more. 


I liked the Barley Longan drink and I was happy that it was not too sweet.

I would say that the food is quite decent and I will be back every now and then for my noodle fix. Besides noodles, this restaurant also serves rice and porridge. And if you are not a fan of the robot noodles, you can choose from the egg noodles menu.

I'll post below the remainder of the menu in case anyone is interested.








25 comments:

  1. I think I will go for the Taiwanese style braised pork...

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  2. Thanks for the details. you are our resident foodie reporting from Starling mall. I believe my lunch friends would be interested to try this as the price is ok. I am interested to have a few bites of the stiff smart noodles so need to bring someone with me to eat the rest of it. My teeth definitely could not chew the whole bowl of smart noodles - just too tiring. Egg noodles would suit me better.

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    1. hah..hah... The noodles are soft enough, so I think you will be fine :)

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  3. Quite an extensive menu. Lol on the robot mannequin.

    I am not into Taiwan noodle dishes myself. Many Taiwan outlets here but I seldom eat in one. I think the last time I went to one was a year ago!

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    1. I find the flavors too mild. I prefer stronger tasting food.

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  4. I guess you need to pay for the gimmicks and the glamour and eating at a fancy place in a mall.

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  5. The noodles look a bit like those thick pan mee noodles. I don't know how one can serve half a hard-boiled egg especially when the yolk is soft...wouldn't they risk some of the runny yolk flowing out when it's cut into leaving one unfortunate customer getting less of the runny yolk? >_<

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    1. Yup, similar to pan mee but thicker. I think they should calibrate the robot hee..hee... Now I am wondering if the egg I got was from first cut or second cut >.<

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  6. What a coincidence when I just pointed to my wife last weekend that a drinks stall at the pasar malam used a cute toy to shake all the ice blended shakes. The toy itself attracted so many kids and uncles like me!!!

    No wonder this handsome robot also attracted Aunty Phong Hong. You might want to order one male robot online from Taobao to keep in your bedroom as your personal butler! Wakakakakaka

    This Smart Kitchen is new for me to check out too. Their menu is quite an amateur job done that could sometimes reflect on their class. I will check it out anyway. So when will you be there again??

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    1. LOL! I thought this robot is female. It's not a classy place and if you look at the decor, you would also say it is amateur ID.

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  7. If you bump into TM, don't forget to selfie and show us, kakaka...

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  8. the mannequin is kinda cool, i guess - reminds me somehow of the '80s terminator movies! :D

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  9. If you understand chinese/mandarin, the way they translate the menu into chinese words is quite interesting/fun, got a pun

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    1. Unfortunately for me, I don't understand Chinese :(

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  10. The smart noodles look like the broad ban mee to me. Smart because cut by a robot wearing sunglasses.

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    1. Yes, pretty much like pan mee except thicker.

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  11. The robot reminded me of Terminator, LOL
    Quite an extensive of menu and those items not entirely Taiwanese food, mix and match of local and Taiwanese I think.

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    1. LOL! Yeah, not all Taiwanese. Not bad actually the food.

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  12. You have such interesting adventures eating out...I do agree about the half egg, and why wait around the other half for the next customer? Makes a lot of sense to me...lol!

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    1. That's how my waistline never seems to trim down! Yes, I do wish restaurants over here would give their customers the whole egg. After all, it is not an expensive item.

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