I was invited to a private event, hosted by a tour operator for its loyal customers, at Ninethirty by awfullychocolate. For those who are familiar with Ninethirty, it is the latest F&B venture by awfullychocolate, traditionally known for its famous chocolate. However, from my recent experience at Ninethirty, awfullychocolate should have just focused on baking and forget about cooking.

As it was a private event, the menu was understandably limited. It’s a simple three-course menu with two choices for each course. For the starter, it’s a choice of Mushroom Soup or Tandoori Chicken Salad. Frankly, the Mushroom Soup is forgettable runny. The soup is so bland even the generous amount of diced mushrooms cannot save it. Maybe the Tandoori Chicken Salad taste better since it’s near impossible to get a simple salad wrong.

For the main, it’s either Pink Salmon Linguine or Beef Bourguignon. The Pink Salmon Linguine might have tasted better… I don’t know. But all Beef Bourguignon servings were sent back to the kitchen. The Beef Bourguignon came out cold. After 20 minutes, a hotter version was served but the potato puree remained cold. By then, I was so hungry that I couldn’t bother to return the dish.  The Pink Salmon Linguine didn’t look any better. If quantity is an indicator of quality, then it should be good since it has a palm-sized salmon on top of a lump of linguine.

Finally, it was the dessert.  Here I assume that they couldn’t possibly get this wrong since they are known for its chocolate cake.  Unfortunately, I was wrong again. Between the Superstacked Chocolate Cake and White Chocolate Butterscotch Block, I chose the latter. It was a mistake! The white chocolate tastes more like hardened cream and it just drowns the tiny amount of chocolate cake. To me, it just tastes like a badly made swiss roll.

My only consolation is that I didn’t have to pay.  I would have walked out of this questionable restaurant if I had to pay for the awfully substandard food. For those people who enjoy good food, you wouldn’t want to waste your daily calories on this.

Ninethirty by awfullychocolate
Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay
8 Raffles Avenue #02-14 Singapore 039802
Tel: (65) 6336 9563
www.ac9thirty.com