Wiggy’s Barbeque Restaurant

By Nicole Wong • UrbanWire
email reporter • email story • printer friendly

Imagine your senses being filled with the delicious aroma and taste of quality barbequed food – not your typical chicken wings and sausages, mind you, but seafood, vegetables and thick slabs of both red and white meat. Now imagine experiencing that amid a setting of sand, sea and either a brilliant or twinkling stars and soft candlelight. Think you’re in Australia? Think again.

Mention Big Splash at East Coast Park and images of its yesteryear’s glory days as Fantasy Island’s predecessor are conjured. Unknown to many, however, is a treasure of a restaurant, hidden within its compound – a stylish yet fun eating place known as Wiggy’s BBQ Restaurant

Perfect for dining with your family or for the occasional treat, Wiggy’s is the place to go to indulge fully in its buffet spread. UW’s advice is not to bother about eating ala carte, since you’d only kick yourself for missing out on the quantity and quality of the food available at the $28-a-head buffet.

Wiggy’s
Opened since March, Wiggy’s isn’t just your typical restaurant. It also boasts a separate wine bar, the Wine Hut, that opened in mid-September. Besides stuffing yourself at the buffet, you can also relax at the Wine Hut with drinks, listening to good ‘live’ music (they have entertainers every night) or watching a game (whatever is in season) on its widescreen TV.

Occasionally, you may even be there when a corporate function is on. In fact, when my Dining Companion (from now on referred to as DC) and I were there, Wiggy’s was playing host to the Singapore Press Club annual social event.

Inspiration
With its nautical themed décor inspired by its surroundings and the food served being owner Mr Tan Wee Gee’s (now you know where the restaurant gets its name) picks for “entertaining friends at home”, you know you’ll leave the restaurant fully satisfied.

Mmm… Now Where Do We Start?
Even a vegetarian will have lots to be happy about, given the 18 types of salads, at least 3 cold dishes and 3 soups available at the buffet. Seeing that the dishes are some of Mr Tan’s favourite items, don’t expect the usual variation of salads and cold dishes. With items ranging from baby tomatoes to olives and artichoke leaves for salads and cold crab to marinated scallops for the cold dishes, I guarantee the herbivores among you will be very satisfied. In fact, when faced with the different choices, it was difficult for me to start. All I could do was to follow Mr Tan’s advice to “try everything”.

Dig In!
And now for the main course, the pièce de résistance! Expect the freshest, juiciest meats and seafood here, marinated to perfection. With 12 items on the grill – 4 meats (rib eye steak, lamb rack, roast chicken and chicken chipolata), 7 types of seafood (crab, crayfish, salmon, prawn, squid, mackerel and mussels) and grilled veggies – you can be sure there’s something for everyone. UW’s favourites were the large, fresh squids and prawns. You have to try your luck with the crayfish though because they don’t all come in big sizes.

Be sure to let the chef at the grill section know of your preference. With the food flying off the counter, the chefs generally try to grill the food as fast and as safely possible. On the subject of fast disappearing food, DC and I deduced that if you’re at Wiggy’s on a crowded night, you’ll either need to have great skill and speed to get the grilled food you want, or an immense amount of patience.

Wait a Minute, Something’s Missing.
That would be your carbohydrates. Fortunately, Wiggy’s has got it covered. You can get your fill of carbs at the pasta stand, which offers 4 different pasta recipes. You can place your order and have it delivered at your seat or be entertained by the chef’s skilful flambés. His recommendations were the Vongole (pasta with clams in a white sauce) and the Aglio Olio (pasta with oil and garlic), which the pasta chef says is a great accompaniment to the grilled food. We decided to try the Vongole and the Marinara (pasta with seafood in a tomato based sauce). Our verdict? The Vongole was delicious, with generous helpings of clams, though it was a little too garlicky for our taste. DC and I preferred the Marinara, with its chunky tomato sauce and big, juicy seafood.

The Finale
With the build-up of the delicious starters and main course, the desserts were slightly disappointing for this dessert fanatic. That’s not to say that they didn’t taste good. The mud cake was suitably chocolatey, though it could be richer. The cheesecake was nicely light though a tad sweet for me. The ice creams were creamy enough. Variety and presentation, however, could definitely improve here.

Sure, the desserts were no big deal, but the rest of the meal definitely more than made up for it. On top of quality food, Wiggy’s staff has excellent initiative and provides great service – polite and on-the-ball, topping up your water glass very quickly. When complimented on the superb service, Mr Tan chuckled and replied that he didn’t play a big part in their initiative.

At $28 for adults and $12.50 for those below 12, it’s a pretty decent price for a buffet with such quality food.

Rating: 4.5/5

Photos by Nicole Wong

Wiggy’s BBQ Restaurant
East Coast Parkway at Big Splash

Tel: 6346 6243

Opening hours:
Open daily from 6pm to 2am

Getting There:
A free shuttle bus service that brings you to Marine Cove and Big Splash operates daily from 11.30am to 8.30pm at hourly intervals. You can board it at the bus stop outside the This Fashion store, a short walk away from Dhoby Ghaut MRT station.

Alternatively, you can take the bus - bus Service 401 stops right outside Big Splash.
Route: Travels from Bedok Interchange and passes by Orchard Road during the weekends and on public holidays.

For more information on how to get there, visit the Big Splash website.