Review: Kombi Rocks

This is an ultimate throwback post. I was looking at my phone for old photos and happen to come across photos taken at Kombi Rocks - as part of my birthday celebrations... last year.

I think I literally bring procrastination to another level. 

Kombi Rocks Diner has quite a long history behind it, with the present owner taking over from his parents, serving dishes thought by them. It was founded in 1971. Today, it not only serves Thai and Chinese food passed down from 3 generations, it sells vintage collectibles and rents vintage vehicles too. (From their name, it's pretty obvious what kind of vintage vehicles they rent right?) To be honest, that was the main reason my sister wanted to bring me there. 

I have an obsession over Volkswagen. I get happy when I see this brand on the road, especially if the make I saw was a beetle or a kombi van. *Fun fact: I never knew the van was called the kombi van till a friend told me a year ago - I always just called it the volkswagen van*

When we arrived at the diner, I have to be honest and say I was in awe of the amount of kombi vans they had; they were so nicely decorated too! They certainly named their diner well. When I got in though, I felt a little confused. On the right was a display of vintage collectibles, ranging from vintage cars to vintage biscuit tins and  mason jars (ok i dont really get the mason jars, but yeah haha). On the left was a pretty imposing character, the Hulk. I have to admit I took photos with the huge sized sculpture, BUT I was super confused at the same time. Why was there a Hulk in the middle of nowhere? It didn't really make sense to me. Hulk wasn't even vintage. And I wish they would do something about their ice cream booth. I digress - I was quite distracted by the overall decor. The place didn't have air-con and did not have sufficient fans to combat the hot weather. 

On to the food. We had 

Thai Basil Minced Pork Set (with egg and rice) - $13
Wok Hei Seafood Horfun - $6.50
Koon Kee Mee Goreng - $6.50
Wok hei Beef Horfun - $8.50
Shrimp and Charsiew Fried Rice - $6.50

The food was average. I had the Mee Goreng, which I find a little bit too oily. That aside, mee gorengs are usually quite oily. On average, their food is a little on the salty side.
Why the 5 dishes when there were 4 of us? My (rather suay) sister ate her dish halfway and found an insect in her dish (we later found out it was a flying ant). Apparently, it is quite common because of outdoor cooking. I cringed internally when I heard one of the staff say that.

Now, I believe in service recovery. We tried to get the attention of the staff. I was a little irritated that the staff took a while before deciding to attend to us. They then told us they would check and get back to us. And so, they came back and told us they would change a dish for us at no charge. At this point, my sister was a little unnerved and she was really worried the next dish would have some sort of insect again. Still, we ordered a fried rice.

I know I should not expect so much at coffee shops, but this wasn't exactly a coffee shop. It was a non-air-conditioned theme cafe. I don't think I am expecting too much when I expect my sister's dish to be waived. Heck, even a cup of coffee or tea as a form of apology is good for me. It's not that much about the cost. It's about service recovery. I was a little disappointed at their service recovery because it seemed like a common problem they have. It must be so common that they think they need not do much. Alright, if I were to view it as a coffee shop then I wouldn't expect so much.

If your main aim is to take photos with the kombi vans and catch a glimpse of couples taking wedding photos (which we did see!), go ahead and try this place. The food is average though, don't expect too much.

D'Kranji Resort

Singapore is well known for food, shopping, and high rise buildings. In fact, this city is filled with these three aspects almost everywhere that we tend to just stick to these.

We avoid outdoors towards the end of the year because of the monsoon season. People call you crazy if you want to spend your time outdoors during the middle of the year because of the hot weather. 

Basically, most of the year, we are in shopping malls eating, shopping, watching movies, maybe (for me) singing K on top of other indoor activities. 

I figured Melv and I are a little different because we hardly watch movies. I can count the number of times we been to the movies with my hands. We hate crowding with everyone in shopping malls. Majority of our time is spent debating where to eat (cos I don't fancy hawker food that much). He doesn't enjoy K. We often wonder what we can do, especially when he takes leave at work. 

Some time back, I chanced upon this deals voucher for D'Kranji Resort at Kranji area. In all honesty, Kranji is a very far place for me, and I know nothing about this place. The only time I went to Kranji is when the school brought me (in primary school). There is this really big wetland reserve there that your school enjoy bringing you for science purposes (and for mosquito feeding session for me). I hated sugei buloh when I was a kid. I always went home with mosquito bites that itched like mad. 

Melv mentioned this Bollywood Veggies place which he wanted to go try in Kranji (this was along the trail). Soooooo, we bought this stay at D'Kranji resort. 

It was a 2D1N thing which included a Bird Nest Farm tour. The Bird Nest Farm was within the resort itself, so it was very convenient. 

Getting there was pretty straightforward. Take a train to Kranji MRT, then wait for a shuttle bus (freq about 1hr) This is the bus schedule. It costs $3 for a day, unlimited rides. It stops at multiple locations, but we were only interested in the stop for Bollywood Veggies and the resort itself. 

Our first stop was lunch at Bollywood Veggies, and we planned to take a walk in the farm after lunch. I heard that we could get a tour for $1 or $2 but we waited for awhile and when no one appeared we just took a walk on our own in the vegetable farm. 

Lunch at Poison Ivy and visit to Bollywood Veggies Farm

I understand that the veggies at the bistro is supplied from the vegetables that the owner grows in the farm (I think it's pretty cool haha). The food was good and I think it's really quite cheap (especially when I compare it to our dinner hmmm). The portioning was also really big. We tried their warrior platter and a dessert. The platter was really interesting (veg option avail) but I felt the dessert was just soso (kueh kosui). We both liked the moringa tempura in the platter most (I think that's what it was), and there was mixed vegetables and different sorts of curry. I think there is a lot to do there, but we didn't book in advance, etc. The website has a lot of information on the different workshops that they have. This place is open on

Wed to Fri (9:30 am to 6:30 pm)
Sat, Sun, & public holidays (8 am to 6:30 pm)
*They close for a fortnight every year during the Chinese New Year season*

 We then headed to the resort to check in. The resort had prawning and a few restaurants apart from the museum. There is really quite little to do there, but this place is more for relaxation anyway.

 

The room is honestly quite small but it was okay for a night's stay. It was well equipped with the daily necessities, which I didn't expect so I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't like the way the shower facility was located. When we proceeded to our room, one of the employees clearing up the tree leaves was closing a wooden door which had direct view of the toilet (which was just a glass panel away). Call me paranoid - I didn't want to spend a long time in the toilet cos I really felt unsafe. 

 

It rained after we went to the other side of the resort for the bird nest tour - it was walk-in but there was no one manning it so we kinda started on the tour on our own. I found it interesting cos I like bird's nest (smth melv doesn't understand) so finding out more about it (history, life cycle of swiftlet, the cleaning and processing technique, etc.) was fun for me. They had this store as well selling birds nest chocolates and cookies. They gave a very scientific name for it which I cannot remember by now but I didn't taste any birds nest inside (i think it was just a certain compound but I really don't know).

We had dinner at one of the restaurants here. It was really expensive in my opinion, but it could be because we ordered venison. Business was slow there, which I think could be because it was so out of the way and because it was a weekday. 

 

Next day, we had the complimentary breakfast. I was a tad bit disappointed cos I thought I was going to get to eat the traditional kaya toast and eggs cos it is after all the countryside right? But the guy was singlehandedly managing everything, which I find impressive cos there were quite a bit of people waiting around for their breakfast. We then checked out and headed back to the city. 

*Aftermath: The mosquito bites on me lasted super long. Then again, we were at fault for forgetting to apply repellent before sleeping.  So its a must to bring the mosquito repellent and use them!