I had lunch today at Chili’s at Tanglin Mall with Sarah and her brother. I don’t know how long Chili’s has been in Singapore, although I suspect it’s only been around in the last few years. Tanglin Mall was surprisingly accessible for me. The bus (SBS number 7) stops across Tanglin Mall before it turns towards The British Council. Compared to the two who drove – I think I had it easier. Apparently finding a parking lot in Tanglin Mall on a Saturday is a bitch – not that I’d expect otherwise from that expat hangout.
We ordered a lot of food. We each had a bottomless (i.e. free refills) drink, which is pricey at $4.90. So make sure you get as many refills as you can! We also ordered the bottomless tostada chips with salsa.
Bottomless tostada chips with salsa, $6.90
The chips were crisp and light, not at all oily or too salty. So we ate quite a bit and got our money’s worth (based on portions and price of bags of chips at the supermarket).
2 half rack of ribs in different flavours
We got ribs, and these two half racks are supposed to be different flavours. Can’t really tell though. The meat is tender, yes, but not exactly fall-off-the-bone tender. I think nothing I can get in Singapore can beat the ones I had in Applebee’s in New York. I didn’t feel that the ribs were meaty enough, but I suppose the texture makes up for it. The ribs comes with two sides, and we picked boiled broccoli and sauteed mushrooms. I think you’d want to stay away from the sauteed mushrooms because it tastes just a tad funkeh, if you get what I mean.
Fried Chicken something. This is an utterly boring and lacklustre dish amidst the rest. We ordered this primarily because it was on specials, and the brother wanted to eat fried chicken.
Next is my favourite dish from what we had today:
Fajita quesadilla, $16.90 (+ $2.90 for guacamole)
I absolutely love this dish. If there’s one thing I like about Mexican food, it’s got to be their beans and corn products. They make mean tortillas and I could eat tortillas for the rest of my life or something. This entree is light (compared to the rest we had, yes) and healthy. The quesadilla is filled with grilled chicken breasts and sauteed onion. But I have an advice, don’t add on the guacamole. $2.90 for that pathetic portion? Spare me. It’s not like I love avocado.
On the whole, I think Chili’s is a good place for ravenous people. The portions are more than adequate and the food is tasty in the not-tasteless sense. They can be a little heavy on the sauces and seasoning, so this place is more indulgent than let’s-meet-over-lunch. So don’t rush down to Tanglin Mall just yet. You won’t miss much if you don’t go. But if you happen to be at Resorts World Sentosa and need to have lunch or dinner, do check out this place. It’s not half bad.
hehe finally you had chili's. i had a few duds there myself but i particularly love this appetiser called southwestern egg rolls. basically it's western style popiah but tastes awesome. spicy! only drawback is there's only six. i usually share appetiser with company so 2/3 never enough for me heh.
if between tony roma's, tgif and chili's which do you prefer?
There is only ONE Friday's in Singapore and it only opened late of last year so I haven't been there. I don't exactly like Tony Romas or Chili's. The food is … boring. Ok, the Mexican stuff at Chili's is good, but I can get Mexican any day from other places, so that's that.