Having used the Philips HD3095/87 Electric Multi-Cooker for nearly a month now, I have grown to like this multi-cooker but also get slightly annoyed by certain aspects of it.
a. WHAT’S INSIDE THE BOX:
Upon the unboxing, you get the multi-cooker, plug for the unit, a steam basket with two pieces, a measuring cup with 180mL (6 fl. oz) capacity, a spoon and rice scoop, a recipe manual and instructions.
b. THE LOOK!
That’s one thing you will notice immediately about the Phillips HD3095/87 Electric Multi-cooker is how sleek it looks and the digital touch screen is attractive.
c. LET’S TRY AND COOK
The multi-cooker has presets and that’s a positive. But one thing that drives me nuts about this multi-cooker, having used it several times is the fact that I don’t know when it’s actually cooking.
With my old Zojirushi rice cooker, it didn’t have a digital display but it had three light indicators to let me know it’s cooking.
This one doesn’t I wish there was a light indicator that the unit was cooking because I wasted a lot of time, thinking I was cooking, because the timer came on and was counting…to find out, it was not even cooking.
I was able to cook my rice, I was able to steam my vegetables and the multi-cooker worked after figuring out if it was heating up and cooking, but this was a bit aggravating to me in the beginning because I didn’t know if it was cooking until I realize, it doesn’t show a timer…it shows this rotating rectangle on the display screen. Wish it said “Cooking” or something or had a different color to show that it was cooking, because otherwise, buttons on the sides remain amber and the display screen, while cool that is a touch screening, would have been nice to show “Cooking” or something than the rectangle going around the display screen.
Despite the problematic beginning I had with using this device…once you understand how it works, you will be able to cook your rice, stews and steam your vegetables.
But seriously…I wish the simplifications of older multi-cookers or rice cookers with different light colors to indicate when one was cooking, would have been included with this multi-cooker.
But aside from pre-sets, changing the time is easy, I didn’t use the 20 minute preset for steaming vegetables as setting the time manually at 10 minutes was enough.
Another thing that was a bit of an annoyance…it takes a while for this multi-cooker to heat up and cook. If you have 20 minutes and hope to get things cooked and done….give yourself a bit more time with this multi-cooker and prepare in advance.
Overall, the Phillips HD3095/87 Electric Multi-Cooker is pretty awesome when it comes to aesthetics, touch screen technology for preparing your meals. It comes with a few extras and a pretty cool cookbook as well.
Granted, it’s not as simple as other multi-cookers at first, but once you get used to how this multi-cooker works, you’ll get the hang of it. Also, if you want fast… prepare your meals in advance because this multi-cooker takes a little longer to heat up than other cookers that I have used in the past.
But if you can get use to this multi-cooker’s technology and heat-up time, then you can actually cook great meals with this multi-cooker.
For its look and effectiveness with meals, I recommend this multi-cooker.
