I've written about the Entertainer app. It gives 1 for 1 promotions for a number of stuff, like food, hotels, spas, etc.
We basically only use the food e-vouchers.
Recently, we somehow have been lead by the Entertainer App. As in, on weekends, we ponder of where to go cos we're pretty bored of our usual hangouts and food places. So we just look at what's available on the Entertainer App or the Fuzzie App to determine what we do and where to eat.
This surprised me, cos usually, my belief is that these apps are tools for us, humans, to use. We should do what we usually do, and when convenient, these additional apps gives us the bonus deals. Somehow, this changed in the past 2 months. We've pretty much been scouring through the apps to determine what and where we go on weekends.
For example, I usually don't like to eat garlic. Well, I don't like the uncooked ones, but I'm ok with the well cooked garlic bits. I've always wanted to overcome my dislike for garlic, well, cos it just gives me more options to eat and cos I find it a challenge which would be fun to overcome. And humans can get used to anything anyway.
So I made a point to go to Suntec to utilize the Mad for Garlic vouchers.
The pizza had lumps of garlic in it, luckily, they were well cooked. The pizza was too creamy and there wasn't much lobster and crab bits. We didn't enjoy it very much. We enjoyed the pizza much more than the pasta. It was quite a pleasant meal.
I was thinking, "Hey! Garlic isn't so bad. I can do this!! We'll come back and try again someday."
Total cost = [$23.50 (+$23.50 -$23.50)] x 1.1 x 1.07 = $27.65
The following week... we went to Suntec for my NATAS Adventure, and once again...
The picture on the left is a tenderloin steak with roasted garlic chunks all around. Not much of a challenge cos I can just choose not to eat the garlic bits, but I made a point to eat some bits of garlic, else no point if I just avoid it right. The steak was pretty sweet due to the marinade so not really to my liking, the garlic was well cooked so no issue with eating this as well.
The picture on the right is a ribeye steak with minced garlic and fried garlic. This one was a bit more challenging. Cos the minced garlic wasn't really well cooked. I intentionally spread the minced garlic on the hotplate to cook them a bit more. However, this steak was much better cos it wasn't sweet. Eating the steak together with the garlic made the steak flavourful although still had the slightly raw garlic flavour which I didn't really like. But it was still a good steak and the whole objective is to overcome my reluctance to garlic so gotta work on it...
Total cost = [$38.50 (+$37.50 -$37.50)] x 1.1 x 1.07 = $45.30
(I forgot which one was the more expensive one.)
So in this case, Mad for Garlic, 2 vouchers down, 1 more to go. We get 3 vouchers for each merchant.
I'll probably go down again soon to use up the final voucher.
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Some time back we went to a couple of Italian restaurants around Holland Village.
Meat Lover pizza on the left (Salami, Cooked Ham, Bolognese, Mozzarella (Option to add Egg & Onions))
(We did not add the egg/onion cos we're cheapo. Need to add $1 or $2, I forgot.
Well actually, that would bring the cost of the pizza to be too much above the other pizza making the voucher less efficient.)
and Brufala e Crudo (Buffalo Mozzarella, Parma Ham, Sliced Tomatoes, Basil)
This was a couple of months back so I don't remember the price. It's probably somewhere at $30-$35 after discount.
Both the pizzas were nice and it was quite a lot and we had to bring home a couple of slices.
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More recently, we went to La Noona. Which was at the Holland Village area.
Tomato, mozzarella, parmesan, asparagus, egg and black truffle.
The other pizza is called Nera, Squid ink, tomato, mozzarella, prawns, scallops and calamari.
La Noona Pizza was nice, fragrant due to the truffle and egg. It was a pleasure to eat.
The squid ink pizza contained bits of my arch nemesis. And they were under cooked.
Yea you probably guessed it. Garlic bits, more importantly, undercooked garlic bits.
Didn't really enjoy it. Still had to bring back half of the Nera pizza cos we couldn't finish it.
Total cost = $28.84 after discount
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Wrap and Roll is found all over Singapore.
It's a Vietnam styled eatery. Super worth it with the Entertainer 1 for 1
Typical cost for a dish is around $12 or so.
Pictures were taken from https://www.wrap-roll.com.sg/menu
This is super worth it. It's filling, and it's nice.
Unfortunately, I've used up all the 3 vouchers for this merchant.
All the vouchers are linked, so I get only 3 vouchers for all the Wrap & Rolls in the whole Singapore regardless of which outlet I go to.
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One of my favourite places used to be Knolls @ Capella @ Sentosa.
They used to have this tenderloin steak with a nice slice of foie gras on top.
They changed the menu recently and removed the foie gras. I think they also increased the price. This was when we were using our last voucher. We were pretty disappointed about this. The circular patties on the top and side of the steak are called thyme panisse, it's a potato patty.
We felt that they changed the supplier of the tenderloin as well cos the meat wasn't as tender as previously. So our last and final visit was quite a let down.
Yes, yes, the picture on the right looks nicer due to the overall presentation. But really, the one of the left was much more worth it.
The latest bill was $52 x 1.1 x 1.07 = $61.20
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We're now searching for a new steak place to go which is cheap and good. We've short listed Napoleon which is around Tanjong Pagar area. This outlet is also on the Entertainer app.
Image taken from https://www.burpple.com/f/5xUUwVo1
It's supposed to be $52 x 1.1 x 1.07 = $61.20, same as Knolls after discount.
Problem is that it is in Tanjong Pagar, which is a hard place to access.
After work is probably jammed up and I'll get hit by ERP.
Saturdays it's open after 6pm and it's closed on Sundays.
So we've kinda been procrastinating to go here. No issues, delay a bit is also considered as savings.
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Last year we used up all our 3 vouchers for Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream.
The only problem is that the 1 for 1 is only for Medium or Large cup of ice cream.
We can't eat a medium or large each, so we typically don't use this voucher.
However, last year, we managed to use up all the 3 vouchers as we brought a bunch of friends and utilized the vouchers all at once.
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My wife loves to use Entertainer App when she goes for her gatherings.
Recently she went to El Mero Mero @ CHIJMES.
It's a Mexican eatery.
The pictures aren't well taken but that's all she has.
(She used 2 vouchers at the same time.)
Which is actually very reasonable for a dinner at a restaurant, cos usually gatherings cost more than when we go out ourselves.
Ok maybe they taste better than they look. The pictures aren't particularly flattering. But since my wife didn't complain about the food, I reckon it was ok for the price.
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I can see myself going to Huggs Coffee or Jewel Cafe when I meet my ex colleagues at the Tanjong Pagar area.
We can get 1 for 1 drinks. Not much savings but why not? It's a free drink. Huggs is all over the Tanjong Pagar region.
And Jewel Cafe is all over Singapore.
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There's also a good chance I can utilize the Paulaner Clarke Quay vouchers.
I used to go to Paulaner for beers in my younger days.
The Entertainer App allows me to get 1 for 1 main menu items (3 vouchers)
AND 1 for 1 (House wine or House spirit or beer)
Quite good if I go with my friends.
But I haven't been drinking. Age is catching up and we don't hang out late often.
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Peperoni Pizzeria is also a good place.
We used all the 3 vouchers last year. It's not accepted for the super big pizzas at Peperoni's.
We used it for the normal sized pizzas and pasta. It's pretty worth it.
Similar pricing as the other Italian restaurants mentioned above.
Around $30+ after the promo.
Somehow we forgot about this place this year and haven't used any vouchers yet.
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We used to go Spizza quite often. The pizzas are light and simple. Not too pricey.
But Spizza doesn't seem to be doing too well. Cos the outlets seem to be closing down one after another. Also they don't have outlets at good locations. I think they may be focusing on delivery, and I won't be able to use the vouchers so it becomes not worth it.
But it's still a good place to go, I enjoy it, IF we ever get down to dropping by their inconvenient locations.
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Hohoho... There's Szechuan Court & Kitchen in the Entertainer App as well.
We used to go to Szechuan Court using the Amex Platinum card which gave us 50% off.
Now that we don't have that card, we can still use the Entertainer App to get 1 for 1.
There's a slight difference though.
Cos with the Amex card, we could order side dishes, dim sum, as long as we ordered 2 main dishes first.
However, using the Entertainer App, we can only order 2 main dishes, anything more would be inefficient.
But we'll definitely be coming here sometime soon.
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Recently we've also been going to Tomoya, this is the udon place on the ground floor of Liang Court.
Pictures taken from http://tamoya.com.sg/menu
That's a super good deal for a nice bowl of udon with free upsize.
Will definitely be using all all of the other vouchers before the end of the year is up.
We go to Liang Court to walk around Meidi-ya regularly anyway.
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Everyone's probably been to Yoshinoya. Entertainer App gives 1 for 1 on a Large bowl order.
I haven't really eaten at Yoshinoya. It's definitely a good deal, cos it's probably going to be around $10 for 2 pax. I just haven't gotten down to eating at this eatery. Cos there's so many other places to go to.
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So it's quite amazing if you think about it. IF I just short list 10 restaurants which I like, I have 3 vouchers each. Meaning I have 30 vouchers. Which means in a year of 52 weeks, I have settled Saturday lunch over half of the weekends. Cos typically, I only eat lunch out on Saturday.
If I save $10 per meal, that's going to be like $300 savings at least, Entertainer has an estimated savings calculator which roughly tracks the savings I have gotten for the year. The current estimate is $533.
This is also taking into account the instances where we go for gatherings and utilize multiple vouchers all at once, so not all the savings are our own.
As the App is a one time off payment, we do not charge our friends for the savings when we use the vouchers, even though we "paid" for the app. Cos it's already a sunk cost.
If we estimate our own savings to be $300, then after "paying" for the app, around $90, then we'd have real savings of $200 or so.
Maybe we might really consider getting the app next year. Although I'm quite resistant to it. Cos I always believe we can find good deals even without the app.
The App probably induces us to spend more though. If we didn't have the app, then we'd probably eat at food courts or hawker centers, but then that means we'll have difficulty with our minimum spend again. So it's really quite a mixed relationship with the app.
One thing to note is that many of the restaurants above aren't great. As in the food isn't exceptionally wonderful. It's nice, no doubt. But they are rather, great DEALS. Meaning, after taking the discounted price into consideration, it is very value for money. At probably all of the restaurants, I would definitely not feel happy to be paying full price for it. My typical budget for a restaurant meal is usually under $40. Which my wife feels is quite low, but it's always a fun challenge to hunt for a good deal.
This is not a sponsored post, I'm just posting cos I feel that the app does have many uses and that it MAY be worth it to buy the app as it is likely that there will be savings if you utilize the app well and go out regularly. If you're already going to the merchants cos you like the food, then might as well get the app.
For example, if you go to Peperoni's regularly, you will likely be spending $60 per meal for 2 pax. If you go 3 times you would have spent $180, which means you could have bought the app for $90 and used the 3 vouchers and spent $90 on the food. Same cash outlay but you will now have an app which you can use to save on other merchants.
Similarly, if you are planning a Thailand trip, you can get 1 for 1 stay at Sofitel Bangkok Sukhumvit.
So you can just immediately buy the app and use the voucher. Expected savings for this voucher is $255. (There is only 1 voucher for this hotel.)
So it really depends on how you play around with this app to make it worth it if you want to buy it.
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