Review: Botak Jones

Location:
Kopitiam
Blk 325, Clementi Ave 5
#01-129
Singapore 120325
Tel/Fax: 6774 1225
Opening Hours: 11.30am - 10pm (Closed on Mondays)

Cajun Chicken by Botak Jones

The girlfriend and I finally managed to try out Botak Jones at Clementi and we were quite pleasantly surprised by the quality of food. The cajun chicken we ordered was a surprisingly tasty piece of chicken breast. It was well-marinated and not dry. Every bite was bursting with flavor. The best part was it wasn't oily as it was grilled. It is has how good food should be.

Another look of the cajun chicken

On a separate occasion, I ordered their Botak Burger. I was served with a generous beef patty that is well-marinated and juicy. Personally, I thought the beef may have been too finely ground. I would have liked chunks of beef within the patty for a more interesting texture.

I would also like to make special mention for their fries, which is crispy and well-flavored with their spicy seasoning. It is a welcome change from the usual salt. I wiped the mountain of fries when I had the cajun chicken, but was unable to do the same at the sitting for the Botak Burger, but that's because I didn't have them with a drink.

So far, I have to say that the food I've gotten at the Clementi outlet has been good. The fries do well to make one full while their mains left a good impression on me.

Service-wise, I appreciate their efforts to ask customers for feedback, though I think that was probably the stakeholder. Waiting time still needs to be improved. The wait during peak and off-peak hours is still around 30 minutes. I suspect this is due to the processes in the kitchen.

Then there are other areas I hope they could improve. For one thing, they brought in a restaurant system which does not really work for a kopitiam setting. It basically gets customers to see the flaws of their process because people have to queue up before the system to order. The menu contains too much text of the same size and too much narratives. I had a bit of a problem identifying the items. Yes, it is visually irritating.

So if you do go down to Botak Jones, be mentally prepared for the wait. I guess I was ok, thanks to the "training" I had been through at The Donut Factory. After you've been through that kind of a queue, this is just a walk in the park.

The queue when you come in the evening.