Brunei Eats Jan 2006 - Swensen's Cafe

Just opened recently when I went back to Brunei in January 2006. It occupied some corner units on 2nd floor of The Mall in Gadong. I brought my whole family there, mum, dad, 2 sis and youngest bro plus Big King and Princess and me. There were 8 of us altogether so we occupied 3 joint tables.


Starter - Fries with 2 dips

Tasty especially with the dips.

Starter - Breaded shiitake mushrooms

My favourite item of the night, mushrooms is delightfully crunchy, taste good with or without tartar sauce.


Starter - Buffalo wings

The size of the wings was dismally small. Taste is ok but not finger licking good.


Starter - Seafood chowder in sourdough bread

I ate it as my main. Soup is forgettable but the bread is very good. The bread has been toasted before soup is poured in so the skin is slightly crunchy and the inside is soft and chewy, That's how bread's supposed to be. Not hard as stone as those sold here or lifelessly soft like those sold in bakeries in Brunei which is just evident of too much bread improver in the dough. However of Swensen's bread, judging from the peforation of holes, there is still room for improvement.

Kid's meal - omelette

Tasteless ham and mushroom omelette which tasted like cardboard (not that I've ever chewed on one, haha) served with tinned fruit cocktail and alphabet potato fries. Tinned fruits and frozen fries from an upmarket restaurant, hello?? My bro only managed to swallow about half of the omelette. Then started eyeing the ice-cream cabinet.......


Baked rice - chicken and seafood

Tasteless stuff and the meat is so dry it's like eating ba kwa (chinese dry roast meat). Seafood is limp and obviously frozen, hello?? How cheap is seafood is Brunei and they use frozen stuff?? It could easily cost more than the real mccoy.


Spicy pasta with battered fish served with spicy sauce

This dish is indeed spicy and taste of nothing else. The battered fish was overcooked and the batter soggy. I can pop Bird Eye's frozen battered fish fillet in the oven and it will taste a million times better than their version.


Lamb chop with black pepper sauce

My dad had this. I kind of sweet-talked him into ordering it as some friends had told me it was tasty. I wanted to try mah. The chops came and my dad just sit there eating and diam-diam (silent). I asked him,"nice or not dad?" He asked me to try some. I obliged and invited my mum to taste it with me. To be honest, I had forgotten how it taste like, I just remembered chewing a piece of rather hard rubber, yikes! Even the smell reminded me of burnt rubber, maybe it's just my imagination. My mum ate a small piece and smiled,"aiyo your dad can cook so much better lamb chop yet you ask him to order lamb." Three lines above my head.......