It was late on a Thursday night when we decided to try out the new ‘Café Court’ at the revamped Star casino. Figuring we’d missed the dinner rush, but noting that the place is open til 11pm, we trundled in to see what might take our fancy. Suitably adorned with stars, Kampung is one of the more modestly sized shopfronts in the court. We were very eagerly served and not too surprised to note that our meal for two(spring rolls, two mains and two soft drinks) came to exactly $ 50. «The Casino surcharge» my friend called it. Still, the food was mostly worth the inflated price tag. The spring rolls were the best I’ve tasted in a long while — perfectly crunchy. From the ‘Hawkers Favourites’ we opted for Hainese Chicken rice, but while I really enjoyed the ginger and chilli sauces, I didn’t know if the dish was supposed to be served lukewarm. I might stand corrected, but I would have preferred both the chicken and the rice to be much hotter. The same could be said for our second dish, the beef rendang. Now given it was after 9pm, we wondered if a bit of reheating might have been going on — but temperature issues aside, the delicate flavours in both dishes were lovely. I’m not a huge fan of foodcourts, but The Star has certainly put its money where its mouth is in terms of its swanky new layout. You just have to be ok with the Casino surcharge.
