Have you ever wanted to dine with dinosaurs? Well, now you can with the first-ever Jurassic World Cafe — a pop-up dining and retail location at ION Orchard, dedicated entirely to the familiar dinosaurs from the silver screen.
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Operating from now to 3 January 2021, the themed dining concept is the first in Southeast Asia housed on the 56th storey of ION Orchard, set against the skyline at ION Sky, where you can dine on dinosaur-themed dishes amongst jungle-themed decor. You may even take home exclusive merchandise from the popular movie franchise.
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The pop-up cafe has also included a Jurassic World photo op set up at the entrance where you can get your photo taken (safely) with a cutout of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, or two life-sized versions of Blue including one made entirely out of LEGO!
Being dino enthusiasts, we pounced on the chance to pay a visit to the cafe. Here are the dishes we tried which includes the mains, desserts and drinks.
MAINS
As one of the iconic offerings at Jurassic World Cafe, the Volcano Curry ($23) was served with sunny lettuce (with mini dinosaur cut-outs), alongside an edible replica of a volcano featuring charcoal-coloured rice (for the volcano) drenched in a generous portion of pork and potato curry (that mimicked the hot lava).
Although we didn’t really have much expectations on the food in general, this dish pleasantly surprised us with its fragrant and slightly spicy curry which featured flavourful pork and potato cubes that were cooked just right, soft and tender in texture. Definitely worth an order when you’re next headed down.
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The Christmas Meaty Platter ($25) is part of their Christmas Specials and features glazed pork ribs, honey chicken wings with a side of roasted potatoes. Despite not being fans of pork ribs, we were impressed with the tenderness of the pork ribs which easily fell off its bone with a nudge of our forks.
Though the glaze doesn’t really coat the meat entirely, there seems to be a slight hint of marination which helped to complement the overall taste of the well-seasoned ribs. While the dish doesn’t come with any complementary dinosaur elements, it does come with a holiday-themed Jurassic postcard which you can take home as a souvenir.
DRINKS
Arriving with a cut-out of a Brachiosaurus stuck on the straw (and not a mini-figure like we had thought), we were not quite sure what to make of the Brachiosaurus Mint Pandan ($8) which was concocted using a combination of two strong-tasting ingredients. While it may have taken some getting used to, we eventually warmed up to the drink which had a very fragrant pandan flavour that was further complemented by the mint taste to make it seem like we were eating a slice of peppermint pandan cake.
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The Mosasaurus Soda ($8) was served with pineapple cubes and blueberries with a hint of mint added to the mix to give the soda a refreshing flavour. While we had hoped for the soda to give off a somewhat tropical taste, we were a little disappointed with the slightly muted flavour that made it taste more like a mint soda. Still, the dinosaur cut-out and ombré blue tones of the drink make for a great photo op.
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If you’re not a fan of cold drinks, you could opt for hot beverages such as the Latte ($6), Cappuccino ($6), Mocha ($6.50) or Matcha Latte ($6.50). Although it isn’t something special or exclusive to the Jurassic World Cafe, it is served with special dinosaur-themed designs. A total of three designs — a velociraptor, T-Rex and Mosasaurus — are available and randomly served upon order.
DESSERTS
Topped with Oreo and biscuit bits, the Fossil Excavation Cake ($16) is a vanilla sponge cake that came with a scoop of ice cream. On its own, the slice of cake tasted a tad bit sweet and we felt that the cake should have had a cookie base rather than a sponge cake base to create a balance in sweetness. Although the dessert made for a great photo opportunity, it can become a bit messy since the ice cream melts really fast!
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From the two that we ordered, we preferred the Geologic Parfait ($16) which was not very sweet and had an interesting texture with its mousse-like layers and broken cookie bits. The sponge cake and cookie layers in between helped to break the overall pasty texture though we did feel that more chocolate sponge could have been added to distinctly split the chocolate mousse since we didn’t get to taste the sponge with every bite. We also thought that the presentation for the dessert was on-point as it almost looked like the dinosaurs were chilling on a pasture.
JURASSIC WORLD CAFE MENU
EXCLUSIVE MERCHANDISE
While you’re at the Jurassic World Cafe, don’t forget to take a look at the exclusive merchandise available where you will find Jurassic World-themed LEGO sets as well as limited edition collectibles such as the Snap Squad figures from Mattel, and a Blue plushie keychain that has been specially created for the cafe.
COVID-19 PRECAUTIONS
😷 Mandatory temperature screening and travel declaration at the entrance
😷 Individual tables have been set further apart
😷 Increased frequency in cleaning and disinfecting the venue, especially in high traffic areas
To ensure the cafe stays in line with government regulations on dine-in, Jurassic World Cafe has implemented a reservation-only system where only guests with reservations will be permitted entry to the cafe.
Reservations for Jurassic World Cafe can be made online here.
Jurassic World Cafe is open daily between 11am to 10pm from now to 31 January, and is located at ION Sky, 2 Orchard Turn, Level 56, Singapore 238801.
For more information, click here.
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