Spize (River Valley)

Eating Spize for supper makes me extremely happy - reminds me of all the slacker days spent playing mahjong and eating Spize delivery for supper.

One of their must try dishes is their Nasi Goreng Pattaya ($5.50)

Fried rice with a tinge of curry, chicken, fish cake and prawns encased in an fluffy yellow omelette and doused with lots of sweet chili sauce. It reminds me vaguely of Thai pineapple rice, just that it's missing the pineapple. Topped with lots of fried shallots and spring onion, it makes a satisfying late night meal.

Roti John Special ($5)

The roti john special is another must try at Spize. Marinated minced chicken (I hope it's chicken and not beef. Maybe it's lamb? Cos this place is Indian and Halal so hopefully it's lamb...) with button mushrooms all cooked together in an omelette. The ingredients are all 'stuck' together by the creamy and gooey melted cheese. I like the orange sauce which comes with it - it's something like cocktail sauce (tastes like thousand island mixed with sweet chili sauce) and goes extremely well with the roti john. They also give black pepper sauce, though I think the roti john tastes best with sweet chili sauce and the orange sauce.

My favourite dessert prata - the Honey Tissue Prata ($2.80+ 7% GST). It's an architectual feat - normally floppy prata made into a crispy conical structure. One of the few dishes that you can't take away (we tried taking it away before, and it was all squashed and broken by the time we ate it). Freshly made crispy thin prata, coated with sugar granules inside, and drizzled with fragrant honey on the outside. The lovely buttery smell (I suspect it comes from the ghee) of the prata mixing with the floral fragrance of the honey is divine.

The crispy prata is the perfect dessert to share with friends - spear it with a fork to crack it into fragments and pull it apart. Best enjoyed if you eat it using your hands.

They also serve the savoury version of the Tissue Prata, served with the usual prata curry sauce.

Service here is pretty bad, especially if you're sitting in the dark along the pavement outside. You'll definitely get ignored, and the only thing that they'll do quickly is to collect your money once your food is served. Their smoking area is really huge! They're doing a roaring business, with the diners spilling way over the shop front, and up to 4 stores away.

Part of their success can be attributed to their strategic location, just 2 streets away from Zouk, as well as being in the vicinity of all the popular nightspots in Singapore. Also, they have a really extensive menu. They have western food like Burgers and Fries, Steak, Chicken Chop, as well as Asian Food such as hor fun, hot plate tofu etc (tried the hotplate tofu, it's not very impressive).

It's my current favourite supper place (since about 2-3 years ago) and although the service is very bad (nearly all the time), for my nasi goreng pattaya and my roti john special, I'll usually just try to tahan it.

Spize The Makan Place

409 River Valley Road

Tel: +65 6734 9194

Opening Hours: 6am-6pm

Carpark on weekends (especially late at night) is really bad, and you definitely shouldn't park illegally cos the police are always patrolling the area and catching illegal parkers.

Spize - Supper Club

336/338 Bedok Road (Simpang Bedok)

Tel: +65 6445 3211

Opening Hours : 11am-3am

This one has a wider menu, and includes Mediterranean food and some Italian food. It's much less crowded than the River Valley Road branch - probably because they do delivery? Their website is currently down, but it's supposed to be http://spizeconcepts.com/ According to what I've read online, there's a minimum order of $20 as well as a delivery charge.

Btw, did anyone see the newspapers a few months ago? The owner of Spize got caught for evading income tax! Thankfully his restaurant chains didn't close down, or I'll be missing my supper food.