Viva Business Park looks set to become a popular destination in the somewhat unfashionable Chai Chee Estate. Decathlon, the French sports retailer, has opened its doors there. Right next to the 35,000 square feet sporting goods megastore is Source Restaurant by Melvyn Lee, the celebrity chef from the local food and travel show – Accidental Chef 偶当大厨. Source restaurant itself is huge and doubles up as a sports bar with a big TV screen. Source shares the premises with Offside Sports Chai Chee – which means diners also get access to a bank of e-darts machines and even an indoor softball and baseball batting cage.
Opened in May 2016, Source is helmed by Melvyn Lee. He was trained at culinary school At-Sunrice and was a private chef operating under the name Funky Chef. He had starring roles in a number of travel and cooking shows including the Accidental Chef. His showbiz personality was evident when we visited Source as he was barking orders to his assistants and giving instructions and words of encouragement – like in a TV cooking show.
Source Restaurant is spacious with very high ceilings. Tall glass panels let in plenty of natural light. The interior decor is in the modern industrial style with the use of wood to make the place less cold and hard. The atmosphere is casual and relaxed.
The menu is not extensive but has sufficient variety. The interesting item is the Fresh Catch – apparently Chef Melvyn visits the wet market every morning to get the freshest fishes he can find to prepare the Fresh Catch of the Day. Photos of random sections of the menu are below.
We wanted a light lunch and ordered a White Wine Tiger Prawns Pasta ($23) and Meat Dumplings ($10 for 5 pieces) to share. Coffee Americano was $4 per cup. Service charge, but not GST, was added to the bill. Iced water was served.
The White Wine Tiger Prawns Pasta was served in a Japanese glazed dish and looked attractive. The portion size was reasonable though slightly smaller than expected. The pasta used was spaghetti though it looked more like Chinese yellow noodle to us. We would like it better if it had been a bit firmer to the bite. The sauce was quite tasty even though no hint of wine could be discerned. The prawns were fresh, plumb and juicy. The best ingredient of the pasta dish were the sweet small tomatoes. The colour, flavour and texture of the tomatoes all helped to make the pasta dish quite an enjoyable one.
The Meat Dumplings with Chilli Vinaigrette was quite good too. The skins were thin and smooth without any flour taste. The meat filling was tasty and had a nice texture. The chilli was really spicy.
Source restaurant served Puro Fair Trade Coffee. The coffee had a mild balanced flavour and was smooth.
We like Source Restaurant. We think it reflects the personality of the Chef – serious about food, multifaceted, confident but unpretentious, well put together but casual – on the whole rather interesting and quite easy to like. Here is a photo of the man himself.
Ratings:
Food: 3
Service: 3
Value: 3
Atmosphere: 3
Overall Rating: 3 TOPs
Source Restaurant
750A Chai Chee Road
#01-03, Viva Business Park, Chai Chee Estate
Singapore 469001
Tel: +65 6241 1866
Opening Hours
Tues-Fri: 11:00 – 14:30; 17:30 – 23:00
Sat-Sun: 12:00 – 14:30; 17:30 – 23:00
The Ordinary Patrons
Singapore Food Blog by Ordinary People looking for Places to Eat