Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Quentin's The Eurasian Restaurant: A More than AWESOME dining experience for families with young kids!


This restaurant, is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED by yours truly. No, they did not pay me for this. No, I do not work for them. And no, we're not related.

When you are a part of a family nucleus with young children, and I do mean young (below the ages of 3), this would be the go-to restaurant if you want to at least sit down and have a drink without having to worry if your younglings are bored, pulling at you because they want your attention every 5 seconds, or worse, running off while you hold on to your drink in one hand and your baby in the other, shouting at that tod to "stop running", hoping she would listen but getting disappointed each time. But all that's for another story. I'm digressing.

To start, I already love the concept. Eurasian Food. People who know me would know that I like to teach my kids through practical experiences. Always been a strong believer of that. So what can get better than teaching my Eurasian kids about the Eurasian Community in Singapore through food tasting? - was my initial thought. We arrived and were greeted by this massive banner spanning right across the whole restaurant you can't possibly miss it. It was impressive.

We were meeting friends that day and had arrived early, but hey, no matter. No need to wait stressful with a drink while trying to calm your over excited kids down before lunch. Because there is this awesome, AWESOME, indoor play area waiting to be exploited by children.

This is the main entrance to the restaurant (indoor sitting). The entrance of the playroom is to the left.

You should have seen the look on my kids' face when they saw this. They HAD uncovered a treasure trove.
 
Being also a little anal retentive, I like how they had to take their shoes off and that there was a sanitizer so they could clean their hands and feet before entering. It's carpeted, bright, clean, colourful, and has all the basic amenities a kid would deem important ; books, music, a screen playing Hi-Fi, play sit-in cars, a ball pit, slide, kitchenette, stuffed toys, doll house, and so much more! Did I mention this was enclosed and air conditioned? Hallelujah! We literally threw them in and said "see ya later"! All while still being able to watch them through the glass doors from our table, so we know they're not trying to eat pages off a book or rock climb the bookshelves. On a more serious note, I like how this is a one stop play area that can develop their gross motor skills, give them creative/imaginative play, music and movement, or for the book lovers, an avid variety of books too read for all age groups. This is even ideal for kids below the ages of one (accompanied play) in my opinion even if the signage states otherwise. There were toys that were appropriate for kids below 1 year old even. Like a walker, for the budding walkies, and a music station - all this apart from everything else in the room you can imagine to use to stimulate your kids.

Everthing screamed "FUN" here. I felt so tempted to jump into the ball pit myself with my kids had we been alone.
Of course the younglings chose well, and decided to stay in the ball pit most of the time. The cars were a great hit with them too.

Kids playing with the cars. There was a traffic light they could play with to learn about colours and traffic. When to stop or go with their little toy cars. See the little walker on the extreme right? That doubles up as a mini car for the budding infants.
There was just such a good variety of toys for kids of all age groups. Even some older children wanted in on the fun. I would give the management a huge slap on the back here. They managed to capture what it meant to create a wholesome experience for both parents and kids. BRAVO! It was such a breeze having lunch here. We just let the kids play while we watched them through the glass doors in the comfort of our seats. What every parent dreams of at the moment.

Coming back to the food. There is a kid's menu consisting of 4 choices at SGD $15.00 ++, inclusive of juice and 1 scoop of ice cream. We took the nuggets set. They did not try the authentic food in the end because most of it had chilli in them. The Eurasians back then were of Portuguese or Dutch mixed local origin. And most of the locals back then loved spicy food. The portions were really big for what we paid. Between 4 adults, we ordered the pineapple prawn curry (sweet curry dish) at SGD $20.80, prawn chilli garam (I loved this! A savory comfort food-y kind of dish) at SGD $20.80, and a beef stew Kristang style at SGD $16.80 with white rice, and we just barely finished. It was so filling we had no space for desserts. Each dish can serve 2-3 people.

Did you also know that apart from just dining, the venue caters for parties too? They make awesome cakes as well, and there is also a paid group Eurasian Heritage Tour that you could participate it.

My experience overall has been more than perfect at Quentin's. And we will definitely come back with the kids. Perhaps try something non spicy so the kids can have a taste this time. BIG THUMBS UP!

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