Tenderbest Makcik Tuckshop @ Jalan Kayu

Ratings: 5/5

Locations:
Mega @ Woodlands (Sun-Thurs: 11am to 10.30pm; Fri-Sat: 11am to 11.30pm)
Jalan Kayu (Sun-Thurs: 12noon to 11pm; Fri, Sat & Eve of PH: Closed @ 11.30pm)

Hey guys! Welcome to my food blog!

Today, we will be introducing you to a place worthy of Instagram photos, your stomach and your crave for western food! This place is none other than Tenderbest.

Tenderbest is part of the Tenderfresh Group which also owns other restaurants such as Tenderfresh Classics and Tenderbest Makcik Market. They also co-manage Kedai Kopi, a coffeeshop and their food kiosks such as Tenderbest and Tenderfresh Xpress. There are only 2 Tenderbest Makcik Tuckshop outlets, the one which we went to was in Jalan Kayu and the other is in Woodlands. Without further ado, let’s introduce to you what we have eaten!

Let’s start with the drinks!

The first two drinks will be Fake Bird Nest Drink and the Smoky Caramel Macchiato.

Now, these two weren’t my drinks so I just tasted a little bit of it and here’s what I thought. The Fake Bird Nest drink tasted like a fake bird nest drink which they serve on a push cart in the 1970s. Fortunately, I am not that old to drink this in the 1970s so this was said by my mum. The Macchiato on the other hand tasted like coffee and it also tasted a bit sweet because it had caramel in it.

Next set of drinks (starting from the left) will be the Hot Chocolate, Toasted Rose Nojito and the Passion Fruit Peach Tea with Honey Lemon.

A lot of people will order hot chocolate thinking that it will taste like Milo. But no, this hot chocolate taste authentically hot chocolate and there is no taste of Milo in it at all. Next, the Toasted Rose Nojito might be one of the best Nojitos and I will tell you why later. My personal opinion of the last drink, Passion Fruit Peach Tea with Honey Lemon was a bad choice. The bottom of the drink was too sweet for me and according to my mum, it does not taste like passion fruit at all. Even after stirring it, the best part of the drink to drink from will be the top because it is more diluted and not too sweet.

The last set of drinks (left to right again) will be the Coco Bandung, Smoky Caramel Macchiato (with whip cream) and the Watermelon Nojito.

Now, we have already introduced the Smoky Caramel Macchiato so we will talking about the other 2 drinks – the Coco Bandung and Watermelon Nojito. The Bandung tastes like bandung, except there is coconut milk at the top. It does not taste special, just sweet syrupy. Next is the Watermelon Nojito. After drinking this drink, I will not order any other watermelon drink other than the normal watermelon juice. This drink just tasted weird and yes, it tasted like watermelon but it felt kind of too diluted and too watery. Usually when you drink watermelon juice, you will get a shiok, cooling and thick feeling. But for this it is really just the taste and I really just tasted watermelon and water. Not sure if it was supposed to be like that but that was what I got.

Now, we are moving on to appetisers!

Usually we do not order appetisers because we will be full just by eating the meal itself. But here are some we have tried!

First, let’s introduce the fries!

This is the Fries with Meat Sauce, Cheese and Mayo ($5.90).

This dish is just amazing. I have always wanted to try Loaded Fries overseas because they look so delicious and appetising, and their portion size is just huge. But this is the closest we can get to loaded fries and just like I thought, it was so delicious and satisfying.

This next one is even better! It is called the Fries with Meat Sauce and Egg ($6.90).

First look, the egg does not look gooey and it wasn’t (which was upsetting). I really wanted to break the egg so that the yolk will just flow on the fries and the meat sauce and imagine how delicious it will taste. This too tasted really great! Just that I hope the next time I go back, the egg will be gooey.

Another appetiser will be the Onion Blossom ($6.90).

The Onion Blossom looks big on the menu but not in the picture, and that was because they chose a small onion. Not sure why I always thought Onion Blossoms originated in South Korea, but it originated in New Jersey. When making an onion blossom, people typically use a large onion and soak it in batter and ensure that every inch of the onion inside and outside are coated with better. This is to make a strip of onion crispy and crunchy. We were not sure how a typical onion blossom taste like but this onion blossom tasted good, it was addictive (a little), and it was definitely too much if each person already has a meal…unless you are on a big appetite day.

The next appetiser we have is the Salted Egg Wings ($8.90).

Salted Egg Wings tasted like salted egg on chicken wings I guess.

And the last appetiser, we have the Cheese Country Mushroom ($5.90).

I love mushroom, especially when they are deep fried. However, this ain’t my favourite because there is no mushroom juice and it was not that hot. But it was still good because I love mushrooms!

Now moving on to the main courses.

First main course I am going to introduce will be the Roasted Leg of Beauty with Mayo Fries ($9.90).

When I ordered this, I was going for minimal carbs and good chicken. The first time I ordered this, I expected the chicken to be tough and dry. But I was definitely wrong because the meat inside was just so tender and it can be easily taken off from the bone (see my Instagram below). And the meat nearest to the bone is always the best.

Moving on, we have the Cheesy Chicken Cutlet ($10.90).

The first dish which I ate from Tenderbest and it was dabao-ed (takeaway). I don’t usually eat the skin of fried chickens because I would like to be as healthy as possible when eating fried food. So instead, I remove the skin which has sauce on it, cut my chicken and dip the meat on the sauce on the skin. The meat tasted like normal chicken I guess. It was good that it had thickness to it unlike some other chickens, and yes mayo and cheese – my favourite combo!

Next on the list will be the Beef Burger ($10.90).

Mmm burgers my favourite. But unfortunately I did not order that because I decided to order something else (better), which will be next. This beef burger is definitely better than another certain place (link here if you are interested) and that is already so much better for me. It is definitely cooked through because this is not just a slice of beef, and the beef in the burger is better fully cooked anyways.

Fourth main course will be Grilled Sirloin Steak ($17.90).

Eating this dish made me insanely happy because I am a beef fan! I ordered this beef medium rare so it is red in the middle (see my Instagram below) and the sauce is black pepper, just how I like it. (By the way, you can choose either brown sauce or black pepper sauce.)

Fifth main course is…(drum roll) Feesh & Chips with Curry Tartar ($10.90)!

Now what kind of tartar sauce??? Yes, curry. Usually we eat fish and chips with tartar sauce but not with curry so this is a new kind of taste and it is surprisingly good! Maybe next time I eat fish and chips at Fish & Co., I’ll bring McDonalds curry sauce to mix it with the tartar sauce. (Just kidding)

There are a lot more dishes guys but let’s go with 2 more dishes and then…we (still) aren’t done yet.

Next up will be the Honey-Glazed Roasted Whole Leg Sedap Lemak ($10.90) (top) and the Ayam Masak Merah ($9.90) (bottom).

These are not the ordinary western food you will get so there is a variety of food fit for everyone at Tenderbest. We did not order but there too are pastas and and fragrant chicken rice series. So do try them and let us know what y’all think in the comments below!

If you have read till here, thank you so much for reading through so many reviews. And you are just in time for the best part of every meal – the desserts!

First dessert we tried was the Sizzling Caramelized Pisang Goreng with Ice Cream ($9.90).

It was delicious and it is similar to eating (vanilla) ice cream with lava cakes, hot and cold. This is their star dessert I would say.

Next will be the Fried Chicken Aisi Kreme Cup ($4.90).

Probably one of the weirdest food combinations I have seen in a restaurant (actually when have I seen a weird food combination before? But it tasted normal I guess. Because we ate the fried chicken skin and vanilla ice cream separately. But definitely a weird food combination. Try them both together and let me know how it is in the comments!

The best dessert (in my opinion) will be the cakes!!!

I love cakes and there is a whole assortment from them. They are all from The Cat and the Fiddle and their cakes just looks so good!!! I really want to try their cakes from their actual stores. So I couldn’t choose between the Oreo cake and the burnt cheesecake and in the end, I chose the burnt cheesecake which is called Charred Eclipse!

First, I did not expect them to decorate the plate at all. I thought that they would simply place the cake on the plate and serve it so wow! This burnt cheesecake was so much better than the other cheesecake I have tried (it scarred my tastebuds for life, link here is you are interested) so this definitely is good. However, I am not so sure about the crave about burnt cheesecake. If you were to ask me if it is worth the craze? I will say no because it just taste normal like any other cheesecake. I believe an actual burnt cheese cake should have the crusty outside and have the caramelised, glazy(?) outside. But I have not tried one before so who am I to judge. But it tasted normal to me. Prove me wrong and recommend me better burnt cheesecakes please!

Anyways, phew, that’s all for now. You must be overwhelmed and so am I. If you were thinking I ate all these in one meal, no I did not. We went back a few times because the food is just so good! So I would really recommend you to go down and try it, come back here and comment below! 5/5 stars so what are you waiting for? Go down now because it is worth it!

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We might have tried more food!

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