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Food Review: Mel’s Drive-in, Universal Studios Singapore

I remembered clearly that it was the first day of Lunar New Year which was also the first day Universal Studios Singapore (USS) was open for preview to the public. I managed to get hold of a ticket for the first day of the preview which includes a $10 dining voucher at any one of the restaurants in USS.

After one hour of touring around USS with the resort management and reporters from the media, I was feeling tired and hungry so I asked the guy from the management if there’s any restaurants which he like to recommend. Lo and behold, he showed me to Mel’s Drive-In located at the Hollywood Boulevard in USS.

Mel’s Drive-In is a American Diner with a long history started out in San Francisco by Mel Weiss and Harold Dobbs. It started all back in 1947 when they built their first carhop eatery inspired by similar restaurants serving motorists in Los Angeles. Today, there are 9 outlets in Northern and Southern California including one located in Hollywood which was part of the set in Moulin Rouge!! How can I not have a taste of what the Hollywood celebrities ate when we have one right in USS?!!

Hurriedly, I enter Mel’s Drive-in went to the order counter and the warm and friendly staff asked me to have a choice between a Cheese Burger or a Fish Burger. I chose the Cheese Burger set as it was a classic in Mel’s Drive-in. I was also offered a choice of my drinks and I chose the Ice Lemon Tea. For the desserts, there were three choices, Apple Crumble, Brownie which both are topped a scoop of ice cream and a Chocolate Mousse Cake. I ordered the Brownie with Ice Cream.

With the receipt in my hand, I proceed to the collection counter and here is it!!

I was thinking to myself, with the $10 dining voucher, this is surely a good meal as it’s American size!! By the way, just the Cheese Burger set with the french fries and a drink will already cost $8.60 as stated on the menu board. For the Brownie, If I am not wrong, it cost about $3.

I was very thirsty and hungry and I couldn’t wait to tuck in the food. Their ice lemon tea tasted just like Season’s. Not too sweet and I like it.

I had my first bite on the chunky French Fries which tasted very good. It’s very authentic and it’s close to Amercian’s French Fries. It’s not very salty and the edges of it gave it a slight crisp while the middle of it still has the goodness of the US russet potatoes.

Next, the classic Mel’s humongous Cheese Burger!! It’s so stuffed with… wait, it’s just the top layer of hamburger bun which is very thick. Inside, you’ll find the usual Cheese burger stuffs like the grilled beef patty, cheese, onions, lettuce, tomatoes and pickles. It’s a very filling burger which is good enough for my meal by itself. The taste of the burger, however is quite balance for each bite even though the top layer of the bun is thick. This is due to the taste of the beef patty is slightly on the saltier side. The top bun is also slightly grilled to give it a slight char-crisp sensation and it went very well with the pickles and tomatoes in it. I would say that this burger is definitely worth trying!!

Lastly, for desserts, here is the Brownie with Ice cream. I am very amazed that the ice cream took quite some time before it started to melt. Then I found out why. The brownie isn’t hot like the one I had at NYDC. The brownie should be slightly sticky with the chocolate chips slightly melted. The nuts in the brownie tasted alright but it lacks the strong chocolate in it. I just feel that this brownie is just not the usual brownie I know of. However, it did made up with the delicious vanilla ice cream after a hot day touring USS.

Having tried the Brownie, I came into USS on another occasion and tried the Apple Crumble with Ice Cream as it tasted very good. Love the combination of the sweet and sour taste from the apple, the crispy crumble crust and vanilla ice-cream. It’s the heaven that I know of.

Overall, Mel’s Drive-in is a very family theme American diner with huge portion of food serving at reasonable prices. Why not try this 63-year-old legend when you visit Universal Studios Singapore?

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