We found this new and interesting restaurant at Wisma Atria by chance when we were passing by. Decided to give it a go since it is a brand new restaurant. At first glance, it looked like the same concept as that of Marche. And true enough, after looking through the map at the entrance, it is indeed a place full of food trucks. Yes, stalls were designed like food trucks with each selling a different variety of food such as Taiwanese, Western, Japanese, Korean and Mexican. The best thing was how they introduced technology and cashless concept from the ordering to the notification that your food is ready for collection, and of course payment. All you need is the "buzzer".
The buzzer is a handheld device that everyone gets when they enter the restaurant, regardless of whether you are the one ordering the food. The buzzer is almost the size of a smartphone. When you are ready to order food from a stall, simply use the touchscreen menu at each stall and select the item you want, place the buzzer on the reader, and your item gets prepared by the staff. You get a receipt from the reader and happily go back to your seat and wait for the buzzer to...buzz. When your food is ready, it even shows you the name of the item and the stall you need to go to for collection of your order. Pretty neat concept. It totally eliminates the need for patrons to queue at each stall, forming long queues and causing a human jam.
And right at the end, at the exit, you return the buzzer to the staff, who lets the machine read off the items you have ordered using that buzzer, before telling you the final amount for payment.
This is how technology improves a dining experience.
We checked out every single menu at each stall and finally decided to order some beef bulgogi tacos from the Korean food stall, mentaiko spaghetti from the pizza and pasta stall, and nutella crepe from the dessert stall.
One thing we noticed was that since almost everyone seems to be new to this concept, everyone would be hogging the one and only touch-screen menu at each stall, scrolling through the menu, before deciding whether or not to even order an item. People might be queuing behind in frustration to find someone at the front of the queue taking their own sweet time scrolling through the menu and end up walking off not ordering anything. The management should probably ensure all stalls contain a physical menu as well. This would prevent a first-time customer taking a long time in front of each touchscreen, and worse if there was a long queue behind them and they decided not to order anything after browsing.
Time to have a picnic!
Let's order some food with this buzzer.
Japanese food stall.
Mexican food stall.
Korean and Taiwanese.
Pastas and pizzas.
Desserts for those with a sweet tooth.
And some pies to go along.
And cupcakes too.
We decided on nutella crepes instead.
A very cosy atmosphere.
Oh! "Your crepe is ready", says our buzzer.
The Nutella Crepe was the first to be ready, which was kind of expected. It was quite a huge piece folded into quarter size, filled with not-so-generous serving of nutella in between and over the top, but still a satisfying dessert.
Freshly made Nutella Crepe $6
Next to be ready was the Beef Bulgogi Tacos from the Korean food stall. This dish was amazing! We loved the taste of the succulent beef bulgogi with the generous serving of veggies. There was also some salad at the side. Loved the combination, but would be better if they provided more beef bulgogi.
Beef Bulgogi Tacos $17 - our favourite item.
Nice quote on the wall.
Last item was the Mentaiko Pasta from the Flour & Water, or the 'Pastas and Pizzas' stall. This was a very disappointing dish as the spaghetti was kinda tough and really dry. There was a generous amount of mentaiko but too little seaweed. Not really an enjoyment to our taste buds.
We didn't really enjoy the Mentaiko Pasta $18 as it was too tough.
A bar area to order drinks like coffee, beer and cocktails.
Finally, when it was time to leave, we proceeded to the exit area where there were four payment machines. All we had to do was to return the buzzer to the staff, who would let the machine read the items off the buzzer, then bill us.
The payment area.
And that concludes our first experience at Picnic. A new experience and definitely worth a try. Our only complaint was that they could probably come up with more dishes/varieties and have more stalls. Also, the mentaiko pasta had to be improved. Something worth complimenting was the way the stalls were designed, the cosy atmosphere and the beautiful decor, and of course the wonderful buzzer. And there was no service charge, so only 7% GST on the final bill.
Website: http://www.picnicsg.com/
Address:
Wisma Atria, #03-15
435 Orchard Road
Singapore 238877
Opening hours: 10am to 10pm (trucks start at 11am, last order at 9.30pm)
Tel: +65 6734 8352
Email: hello@picnicsg.com
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