Arbite

Arbite
66A Serangoon Garden Way

28 Aliwal Street

http://arbite.com.sg/

Great Food And Thoughtful Service In A Fun, Casual Environment

(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)
Overall: 9
Ambience & Setting: 8
Food & Beverage: 9
Service: 9
Value for Money: 9
Spent about SGD $22 per person.

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It's easy to see why Arbite is so popular. From the minute you step into the playfully decorated dining area, you're treated to friendly, thoughtful service, with filling and flavourful plates of food. No surprise that Arbite is nearly always fully booked, especially on weekends!

Making clever use of the previous tenents decor and layout, Arbite has built their own style and designs on top of it. Playful use of lego blocks adorn the walls and counters, while contemporary art frames the spaces on the wall. Furniture is casual and comfortable, and good use is made of natural lighting during the day.

I must commend the thoughtful service at Arbite. Staff are friendly and attentive, but more importantly, pro-active and observant. Thoughtful gestures like enquiring if the air-con is too cold if they notice you sniffing, or arranging extra chairs for your bags, all without being asked. The challenge for Arbite is to keep up this same standard of service continually, as most of their staff are full-time students.

Most of the food I've had at Arbite is very good. Ingredients are fresh, and dishes are generally flavourful and well-prepared. The only hiccups I encountered was a personal dislike for a particular type of sausage they used, and a weak overall selection of drinks. Otherwise, I would recommend most of the items on their menu.

Because of its popularity, calling ahead for reservations at Arbite is recommended, especially on weekends. And while they've opened a second outlet, the concept differs slightly, as the menu there features more sharing plates as opposed to breakfast items.

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Decor here is fun and playful, with clean lines, bright colours and welcoming spaces. Watch out for cute little signs explaining the various showpieces on the walls!

Arbite Wall Lego

Lego Designs

Arbite Yum

Arbite Partition Divider

Wall Divider With Decor

Arbite Wired Photos

Picture Wall

Drinks were the weakest link here. The Hot Chocolate was probably the best thing I had, though it was just above average, not outstanding. The Latte was horribly weak, and most of the beers are the fruity, light sort. Nothing too heavy, so their beers would probably appeal more to yuppies or ladies. Range of beers is rather limited too.

Wittekerke Rose Beer

Lindemans Kriek Beer

Latte

Hot Chocolate

The Live Bouchot Mussels In Lemon And Garlic Cream Sauce With Toasted Foccacia had a tasty, fragrant sauce. The mussels were meaty, but small in size, and rather cute looking. The foccacia bread was nicly toasted till crisp, and was great for mopping up the sauce.

Live Bouchot Mussels In Lemon And Garlic Cream Sauce With Toasted Foccacia

Live Bouchot Mussels In Lemon And Garlic Cream Sauce

The Tempura Battered Oysters were plump and juicy, and the batter was light and not oily, allowing the fresh oysters to shine. I liked the unique Yuzu, Shoyu And Wasabi Dressing, with its sweet, salty, savoury and spicy flavour notes.

Tempura Battered Oysters With Yuzu, Shoyu And Wasabi Dressing

Tempura Battered Oysters

The Arbite Breakfast is quite a large and heavy portion, and is well thought out and packs big flavour. Components include soft fluffy bread, sea salt butter, crisp pommes noisettes / potato tots, baked beans in a home-made tomato sauce, sauteed mushrooms garnished with herbs, and fresh salad. The grilled tomato was still juicy and slightly firm, and the eggs were scrambled to the correct consistency. However, I did notice the bacon is rather fatty, and while the veal bratwurst / beef sausage was well grilled, I didn't like the soft, loose interior, and the rubbery texture of the skin.

Arbite Breakfast 01

Arbite Breakfast 02

Arbite Breakfast 03

The Sea Salt Caramel Banana Pan Cakes was beautifully presented, with swirls of caramel sauce around the plate, garnished with blueberries, strawberries, and chopped walnuts. The pancake stack hides the caramalised bananas within, like a package. I liked the burst of flavour from the sea salt and the cream. However, if the pancakes are eaten on its own, they're slightly dry.

Sea Salt Caramel Banana Pan Cakes 01

Sea Salt Caramel Banana Pan Cakes 02

The Croque Madam had a nicely toasted, crisp and warm foccacia bread, with melted brie cheese and thin slices of parma ham. Served with a side salad and a poached egg. Loved the taste and the warmth of the sandwich, though the salad was average. The egg was cooked slightly too long, fortunately, it still had a runny yolk. But stacking the poached egg on top of the toasted bread made it slightly soggy, which I didn't quite like. Overall, quite a good dish still, though it's more suitable for breakfast or a light lunch.

Croque Madam 01

Croque Madam 02

The Gula Melaka Tiramisu was delicious! It has a nice ration of sponge biscuit fingers to gula meleka mascarpone, which resulted in a sweet and creamy dessert. You can also taste the flavour from the rum, brandy and coffee, though I did think there was a little too much liquid at the end. But I would recommend trying this during your visit!

Gula Melaka Tiramisu 01

Gula Melaka Tiramisu 02

Clever use of salad and capers to make a plate of Smoked Salmon look full and well presented. The salmon itself is of acceptable quality, but I liked that they gave large pieces rather than small slices.

Smoked Salmon 01

Smoked Salmon 02

The Arbite Mixed Grill is a heaping portion sufficient for 2 people. I was very pleased with each individual component, as they were all well cooked. The herb rub seems to be used throughout though, as all the meats have that same distinct taste. And with the exception of the chicken, which was slightly dry in the center, the grilling was well done.