Oriole Cafe & Bar @ Pan Pacific Serviced Suites, Somerset

Located at Level 1 of 96 Somerset Road, Pan Pacific Serviced Suites. If travelling via MRT, alight at Somerset MRT, come up and walk towards Marche and walk straight out of Somerset 313 building. There's an Irish pub to the right (Broitzeit as well), while Bedrock Bar & Grill and Oriole are on the left.

Was there on a Saturday afternoon and thought it was a good time to have lunch there. The weather was extremely hot, so we opted for indoor seating. Menus were brought out promptly.

mascot on menu

salt&pepper shakers, sugar and cream

Then we realized how noisy this place is. The sounds of people chatting reverbrated through-out the indoor seating area, well, at least at the section where we were! This isn't a place for quiet chatter, unless everyone has the same mind to lower their voices. Lively, I'd say.

the view from our seats

Service was quick and unobstrusive, and the place has a nice ambience if you can tune out all the loud noises. We ordered a chicken quesadillas and a Jamaican jerk chicken.

chicken quesadillas (@$15++)

The quesadillas (spicy tomato salsa, onion, mozzarella, tortillas) were quite pretty looking and served with some fried potato wedges and greens. Had a taste too and the shell was pretty crispy when eaten right away and the chicken pieces were quite tender. Liked the salsa too. Pretty light tasting.

yummy

Jamaican jerk chicken came towering with onion rings.

many rings to rule them all

deliciously tender charred jerk-rubbed chicken

The onion rings here suffered from a case where the batter were thick and hard, and the onions could barely be tasted. The corn salsa with little bits of cucumber and tomatoes, were refreshingly sweet and tangy. Nice. And the chicken, it tasted like baby chicken. Tender. And it was flavoursome, especially the charred bits.

But what's this 'jerk' that the chicken was rubbed with? A check with wiki revealed that the jerk spices had two main items; allspice and Scotch bonnet peppers. Other ingredients in the rub are cloves, garlic, salt, cinnamon, scallions, thyme and nutmeg. Hmm, but the chicken wasn't spicy at all. Some may find it a notch salty but not overly. Iced water would be handy.

The meal costs $40 and we didn't order any coffee as we felt rather full after lunch. It was also nice to have attentive service staff who held the door open when you enter or leave the cafe. Thank you.