I have been walking past Curry Times at ARC, Singapore, for a while now, and was curious about their automatic ordering system. This is a very interesting intuitive touch screen system that allows you to order the sets or you can also order ala carte. I still had to look up at the menu to see what the sets included though, and the "drink" in the set was not described, so I opted for ala carte instead.
Pay with flash pay or nets! Really fast and easy.
After making payment via flashpay which was really super fast but posed a security issue as anyone with your atm card can just flash it on the machine to make payment. However, payments via flashpay has a cap, which is at $100, so your risk exposure isn't that high. The receipt that is dispensed has your order number, so remember to wait for your number to be flashed before taking your food. You will also receive a nets receipt, so remember to take both receipts.
After playing with their automatic system, I decided to bring home their curry. They had a pretty good range of different curries, so I opted for a normal curry and a dry curry chicken so I could make a better comparison. After ordering, you can get little snacks from the normal cashier counter ( you can order the normal way too ) while waiting.
All you have to so is wait for your number to flash on the LED board and you get your food. It is all done "tinkat" style, so that means you can choose to eat there, but they are all packed in takeaway boxes.
The whole process took just 2-3mins which I thought was quite impressive - and without need for human interaction too! Plastic bags, utensils and tissue is all available at the DIY counter, so you can pack your own food too! The only downside I can think of would be picking up the wrong order, because when you pick up your order, you have no idea what it is and no one tells you what is inside either. The staff didn't check that my order number 28 is what they served at the takeaway counter either.
The plastic bowl fits on top of the bowl like a lid!
There is a very interesting and nifty packaging afoot! The bowl doubles up as a lid as well. However, though this invention is interesting, do be careful, as the curry at the bottom of the bowl-lid will stain your floor or table!
The yellow stain on my floor that wouldn't go away. But oh well, things happen. I was extremely hungry and wanted to "attack" the curry straightaway, so here's the curry!
The curry chicken had 3 pcs of soft tender chicken and 3 large quarters of potato, so portion wise it was adequate.
However, it did not quite taste like curry, and it felt like something was totally missing. It tasted like they bought curry powder, added water and flour to thicken it instead of using coconut cream. Or perhaps, salt, chili and coconut were all lacking.
However, it did not quite taste like curry, and it felt like something was totally missing. It tasted like they bought curry powder, added water and flour to thicken it instead of using coconut cream. Or perhaps, salt, chili and coconut were all lacking.
The dry curry on the other hand, was salty. It also reminds me of the filling that they put in their curry puffs. ( Curry Times is a creation by old Chang Kee ) in fact, it was so salty I couldn't finish the mixture of boneless chicken and cubed potatoes stir- fried with what tastes like bean sauce, curry powder and salt.
I decided that their flagship Old Chang Kee curry puffs were still better... Cheaper too, at $1.40 each! I also bought two curry puffs in the event that the curry was not filling enough.
Verdict: Curry in curry puffs is very different from what people expect to taste in a normal curry. Perhaps Curry Times should have done a tasting with a test group before launching, thus preventing a situation where people feel sore that they have forked out $8.50 for a curry that doesn't taste like curry.
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