Kung Fu Paradise- no kick

Bedok Point just opened some months ago. Given the densely populated surroundings of Bedok estate, this mall comes as a welcome relief of sorts to heartlanders from the mid income group who do not mind forking out a little extra moolah for air conditioned dining in the East.

As a food themed mall, easily 80% of its occupants comprise of food outlets,.The usual suspects like Sushi Tei, Killiney Kopitiam, Old Chang Kee, Four Leaves and Yoshinoya dominate. However, also evident are a handful of new entrants like Gong Cha, Paradise Inn, Mr Chicken Rice and Ayam Penyat Ria.

One new entrant which particularly stands out is Kungfu Paradise (a relatively fresh addition to Paradise Group's growing chain of restaurants) strategically located just by the main entrance of the building.

Kungfu Paradise's dining concept is tailored for the young, with its cute moniker, hip chairs, eager young servers in kakis, funky chopsticks and glossy Cafe Cartel-like menu. Captivated by the excellent copywriting in the menu and broad range of Asian and Western dishes, Hubby and I decided to give the restaurant a go.

Check out the chair!

After settling in and admiring the decor, we decided to order a lemongrass drink, a chicken chop noodle (for myself), a lemon chicken rice (for hubby) and a seafood platter to share. We were famished and really looking forward to our meal.

The lemongrass drink failed to stir our tastebuds. Its flavor was weak and unimpressive. We much prefer Baba King's version.

When the seafood platter arrived, we tucked in with gusto. Of the 3 sides featured (calamari rings, wedges and cheesesticks), the wedges and calamari rings were first to disappear.


Couldn't really make out the freshness of the seafood since everything was fried to a crisp. It wasn't the best seafood platter we had eaten but was satisfying nonetheless. The accompanying sauces of cheese, salsa and cheese were a nice touch but tasted convoluted when matched with the wrong side.

Our lemon chicken rice and the chicken chop noodle arrived in quick succession.

My chicken chop noodles

Hubby's lemon chicken rice

Upon closer inspection, we realized that our battered chicken pieces had probably been mass fried and smothered with different sauces and marinades prior to serving. After awhile, the chicken pieces tasted the same. Whilst the runny egg went really well with the noodles and rice, we couldn't help but feel let down by the quick fix method of food preparation and absence of vegetables, which looked like forlorn side garnishes with little nutritional value.

Even for fast food lovers like Hubby and myself, the overdose of deep fried oily food was too much for us to bear. We do not remember feeling this forlorn after a meal at KFC or Macs . It would have been good if the server who took our orders had forewarned us beforehand- perhaps we had just ordered the wrong combination of dishes?

In any case, Hubby and I will not be coming back to Kungfu Paradise again. For the price we paid, we were disappointed with the value and wish the eatery put more love into their cooking rather than advertising.