Temasek

2.3 Not Recommended

Food  3      Ambience  3      Service  1      Value  2     

Haven't been to this place in years and thought it would have improved, Nope. Seriously the place looks dull, no smiles from any of the waiters. We ordered 3 meals and 3 chendol drinks (malaysian style drinks). We got the food, my char kway teoh was way too sweet for a spicy rice noodle dish, we were half way through the lunch meal, hello where's the drinks, after having to raise my arm straight in the air for a period.

I asked where is our drinks, I saw the guy walk away and started to make the drinks, go figure they must have forgotten, not happy. You can't complain about the service, cos there is none. There are much better malaysian places to go to, definitely won't be coming back in a hurry anytime soon or in fact in the next few years. Temasek take a course in customer service and food cooking, maybe Gordon Ramsay can come visit.

Feb 08, 2009 

6 Average

Food  8      Ambience  4      Service  4      Value  8     

Food: The food is great. The Hainanese chicken is the best place in Sydney to eat at.

Ambience: Very noisy place due to the busy nights they have and popularity of the restaurant. It is quite squashy just like eating in the markets (worse than eating at a food court).

Service: The waiters and waitresses POOR service. Seems like needing to know the owner or one of the waitresses or waiters to get good service. Service has been overrated. Management level should really get their floor people to go for study on a hospitality course. Make I more professional. This will bring back your ratings.

Value: Based on the tasting and results of production. The value of it is equalled.

Jan 28, 2009 

4.3 Below Average

Food  2      Ambience  5      Service  7      Value  3     

This restaurant is plain overrated, don't bother walking in. We ordered beef rendang and it was average at best. The other dishes included kway teow, it was your average kway teow. Worst of all the chilli crab, it was the worst crab dish ever tasted, worst of all cost $110! This place was ok many years ago, it closed and reopened again. The food was terrible, you have been warned, stay away.

Jan 26, 2009 

6 Average

Food  8      Ambience  5      Service  5      Value  6     

Very busy restaurant hidden in a laneway. Great food, though we felt a little rushed. Will give this one another try, be it just for the food alone.

Jan 26, 2009 

4 Below Average

Food  6      Ambience  5      Service  1      Value  4     

The food was just ok, not spectacular. The service, however, was shocking. Waiters and staff were just plain rude and/or arrogant, they need to be trained in hospitality and customer service.

One time we ordered a beef sambal and it tasted rancid, it was obvious that it wasn't right. Informed the waiter and he didn't believe us. I told him to taste it for himself and instead he bought the cook out to inspect the dish. After the chef had confirmed that the dish was off, there were no aplogies made, no complimentary meals or drinks offered, just a nod of the head with an accompanying "order something else from the menu". This was just not good enough. This happened a few years ago and we haven't been back since.

Overall, I think this place is overrated, preferred DeLaksa around the corner when it was still open.

Jan 06, 2009 

6.3 Average

Food  8      Ambience  6      Service  5      Value  6     

Have eaten at this restaurant a couple of times. Don't bother with service because you are not going to get anything more than your food served to you. No chit chat no nothing. Ambience is like any eating house in Singapore or Malaysia so we were not surprised when we ate at this place. In fact it is in familiar surroundings, so is the service. You won't get any better service at a kopitiam in singapore or malaysia.

Now we come to the most important part, the food. It is good and we enjoyed our meals, especially the chicken rice and the laksa.

Jan 02, 2009 

5 Average

Food  7      Ambience  3      Service  2      Value  8     

Food: When you're in the mood for Singaporean food, boy does this place hit the spot. It has several standout dishes, but the more I sampled the menu, the more disappointed I was. Hainanese chicken would be one of the best I've had. It was very tender and the chilli sauce goes well with it. Chicken rice is up there but can get abit 'wet' sometimes, curries are good (but hot) and spring rolls were full of meat (good if you love meat). Satay had an overwhelming nutty flavour while the sour soup was bland.

Service: Shocking, even by Asian standards. Being Asian myself and thus experiencing alot of Asian styled service before, I thought I would be bulletproof against bad service but apparently not. It helps if you dine regularly and know the owner.

Overall, Temasek would probably be the best Singaporean restaurant in that area. When you do crave some Singaporean food, this place really hits the spot. However, the food isn't exactly the healthiest type of food you can have, so I personally wouldn't dine here too often.

Dec 27, 2008 

5.3 Average

Food  6      Ambience  5      Service  4      Value  6     

Authentic? Who knows? What is the measurement to authenticity where food is concerned. As we all know there are many hawkers in Singapore and Malaysia and each have their own style of cooking. It also depends on who your favourite hawker is, for example in Singapore - is it Newton Circus, Holland Village or your favourite stall at Ang Mo Kio etc etc.

Yet again the style of cooking between Singapore and Malaysia is different and yet again, the style of cooking amongst the Malaysian States differ again. Therefore, authencity is very subjective. If the food is tasty and you enjoy it and comes close to what you are familiar with, then it is authentic to you, not necessarily to others. Therefore, I think most of the reviews are too subjective and personal. Just go and try it yourselves.

There is no such thing as a rating of 1 which I feel in this case the reviewer is being vindictive for whatever reasons. There is also no such rating as a 10 or perfect 10.

We have been to Temasek on and off over the years and have always enjoyed their chicken rice. We have tried other dishes but have stuck to this dish only. As for the indifferent impersonal service, well, you got to live with it if you want to eat at Temasek.

Dec 11, 2008 

4 Below Average

Food  6      Ambience  3      Service  3      Value  4     

I've heard a lot about this place through my friends, only to be mildly disappointed when I recently went. Expecting a much high-class restaurant, this place is a family-run, noisy and cramped eatery.

The price was a tad high for the food although the portions were good. I had a deep fried Hainanese chicken with rice and thoroughly enjoyed my meal. We had to ask the waitress twice to bring over a bucket of ice for our wine and they had to be asked again for wine glasses. Not too impressed.

Nov 30, 2008 

7 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  7     

Went here for a farewell party, we were seated in the function room opposite the actual restaurant. The room, while clean and carpeted, was a little crammed and felt quite bare, and the air conditioning was freezing! Do bring a sweater.

We had pre-ordered the $27 banquet some weeks ago, but for some reasons they served us the $29 banquet and insisted on charging us for it. Hmmm.

However, the food was not bad, although of course it isn't 100% hawker style authentic. The spring rolls were very porky (this is not a bad thing), the curry puffs were ok but needed salt. We had a very generous portion of beef rendang (I prefer a sweeter rendang, but it could be that I'm used to the Indonesian style), and a huge basin of assam seafood with well balanced flavours and a good variety of fish, prawns and squid.

There was a large dish of satay chicken - they hadn't threaded the chicken onto skewers, but stir fried it with the peanut sauce instead. I found it too sweet but it became a favourite with the non-Asians in our party. I prefer the smoky kiss charcoal lends to satay when it's done the traditional way.

We also had a plate of ngoh hiang - I have never seen ngoh hiang this big before. I enjoyed this one a lot, the rolls were of a good texture and the pork was highlighted by the requisite five spice powder.

Service was fine, we had two young men who were very helpful. All in all, we went away stuffed and happy and with 4 boxes of leftovers.

Oct 20, 2008