Singapore Food Blog - Chili's Grill and Bar @ Clarke Quay

Location: Clarke Quay, Central Business District (CBD), Singapore

Note: This post is written base on the dining experience in The Central branch. Experience may vary from that of other outlets.

I had enjoyed my experience in Chili's in the few opportunities which arose. Their food is delicious and addictive, prodding me to revisit whenever possible. With my last visit to the branch in Clarke Quay, I decided that its food deserves to be immortalized in my blog with a post. I am not one for high decibel ambient but my wife and I both enjoyed its food so much so that we braved the noisy environment just to get to their dishes.

The restaurant chain originated from the US, its first operation occurred in 1975 in Texas, serving American food and Tex-Mex cuisine. Interestingly, certain food referred to as Mexican food in USA is, much to the chagrin of the originals, not Mexican, Rather this is a regional cuisine of the American Southwest, blending food products available in United States with the culinary creations influenced by Mexicans, originally invented by the Mexican-Americans who missed their food but could not get the ingredients in the States. The term Tex-Mex lent its name to such a blend, differentiating them from the originals. So bear in mind that despite being served Spanish named Fajitas, you are in fact dining American dishes, not Mexican.

Its name as 'Chili's' may not resonate with what we have in mind, with fire-invoking spicy chillies in the dishes. One of the iconic Tex-Mex cuisine is chili con carne, which is known usually just as 'chili', hence lending the restaurant its name. Too bad this is not served in the local branches of the same restaurant.

Chili's

Malaysia Food Blog - Tony Roma's @ The Curve - Ribs, Seafood, Steak

Location: Petaling Jaya, Selangor

Despite claiming myself as a food blogger, I am quite stingy with my own budget for dinner with the exception of celebrations, discounted vouchers, or if I had no choice. Waltzing myself into Tony Roma's when I was visiting Kuala Lumpur was due to none of the above reasons (it was just a random pick), and I am still surprised that I did so while I am typing out this article.

According to official sources, Tony Roma's started out in North Miami, USA, back in 1972 with baby back ribs as its specialty. With its success, it started floating out of the continent and Malaysia was graced with a few of its outlet, with all of them concentrated in or near Kuala Lumpur.

Welcome to Tony Roma's, famous for "Ribs, Seafood, Steaks", none of which I had tried in the establishment. I wonder if I am qualified for sharing my experience here, but what the heck... ^_^"

Having said that, any restaurant which displays "Ribs, Seafood, Steaks" directly under its name surely will not be a cheap choice for dinner. And it wasn't. The price tag on Tony Roma's menu should not be shocking to patrons of western restaurants in The Curve. Unfortunately, I was not one of those. Still, the experience is well worth the price as I found out after I was done with my heartache.