The post Second Visit to Picnic Urban Food Park – Apr 29, 2016 appeared first on The Scribbling Geek.
Right. I wanted to post about Picnic Urban Food Park after my first visit there three weeks ago. But then I got occupied with all my gaming posts about Persona 5 and Uncharted 4. During the process of which, I also accidentally deleted the pictures I took of the place. (!!)
Decided to get down to it, and began by revisiting the place. For those who are unfamiliar, Picnic is a relatively new themed food hall located at Wisma Atria third floor. Tucked away on one side of the mall, it’s quite a large established with different sitting areas, all of which are decorated in an urban park style. The main attraction here is the variety of stalls and food trucks selling both local and international dishes.
Before I get to the food, let me say that I fell in love with the place the moment I saw it. I’m a huge sucker for anything themed, be it themed parks, themed restaurants or themed malls. This stems from my love for video games and fantasy fiction, and I simply love that feeling of being teleported to somewhere, something else by the simple act of stepping through a doorway. In the case of Picnic, it also helps that it has quite an eclectic menu, with both Asian and Western dishes. The whole place gives off a slight adventuring, exploration feel. To relate it to video games, it also felt to be the sort of place those kids in Persona 5 would visit. For an infiltration meeting. A mission success celebration. Etc.
Anyway, I tried the Vodka Rigatoni last night, this being one of the promoted dishes.
Not too sure how I should describe this since I’m no foodie. I’d just say it was flavourful and moist? Some places are obsessed with serving their pasta half soaked in watery broth or half as hard as candy. Not this one. It had the right bite and plenty of taste.
Decided to have a crepe for dessert and this a little bit of a mistake. Nothing wrong with the dish itself, more of how I forgot how rich Nutella is. As you can see from the picture, the lady who made it was really generous with the drizzling. Next time, I’d have to ask for lesser spread or opt for ice cream instead.
Picnic Self-Ordering Panels
One other thing about Picnic Urban Food Park. The striking feature about the place, during my visit three weeks ago, was how the stalls all used a self-ordering system. This system consists of a touch-screen panel working in conjunction with an electronic unit that you get upon entering the place. You order. You return to your seat and wait for your unit to buzz. When it does, you collect the food yourself.
As I noticed from last night’s visit, some of the panels are gone. Some of the stalls have also changed, with the latest addition, Omakase Burger, now occupying a large space. (Omakase doesn’t use the panels, BTW). Overall, the crowd is larger, most probably because of Omakase, which was once hailed as the best burger in Singapore. Regarding the panels, I guess the self-ordering system might have been a tad too troublesome to manage, in spite of the manpower savings it brings. I personally don’t mind them, I find them fun to use. But I do know of people who firmly believe their orders at a restaurant or café should be taken by a human, not a gadget.
The post Second Visit to Picnic Urban Food Park – Apr 29, 2016 appeared first on The Scribbling Geek.
