First of all, i must disclaim that this is known as the "ten-dollar-tomato" place to my family...but of course it is now the "thirty-dollar-set-lunch" place to us!
So to write about this experience makes me so excited...of course you guys all know how i lurvvve writing...Here goes:
Food.
The set lunch was pretty okay (how much more descriptive does a science person get???).
At $25-30, it was certainly good value, given the myriad of things presented to us (overheard: "is this salad mine or your's?? what about this sauce???").
But then we spotted everyone huddling around the chef's table.
The very thoughtful waiter informed that these informed customers (read: japanese) were having the chef's recommendations - roughly $180 per pax.
Note: If you're wondering why i thought he was thoughtful, it's cos he actually disuaded us from ordering more food later on!! What a guy!!
Feeling adventurous (i.e. "we have to order at least one thing from the a la carte menu to not look so lame..."), we settled on sharing a cod and snapper head.
The cod underperformed in serving size i.e. it was no different from what someone ordered as part of the set lunch, while the snapper head outperformed i.e. it sure had bigger bones and less meat!!
Service. Easily summed up.
One waitress who seemed pretty assertive & knowledgeable - definitely not japanese.
One waiter who was quite attentive and thoughtful - again, definitely not japanese.
Conversation.
My mind is completely blank on what we spoke about before M (i hope i get the name right) arrived.
I recall there was some speak about something i cannot write any further about. i.e. bosses / senior management. Can someone remind me??
In any case, after M arrived, obviously the conversation revolved around M. Oops. I mean, it was largely about some issues M was seeking our advice on. Which of course we did not hesitate giving.
The critical issue at hand was the definition of several key terms:
- "ambiguous"...is this the new code for relationships??
- "necklace"... with a chain or without?? pre-sent as a pre-cursor to a ring??
- "prada"...nylon or is there anything cheaper??
- "camera"... digital, point-and-shoot (read: idiot proof) or SLR / SRL..?? whatever...
- "expensive"...budget busting, or worse still, salary busting??
In the end, the true definition of friendship was all we really managed to define. i.e. when you are clouded by emotion, you can always count on your friends to offer rational and steadfast advice in line with ANY budgetary constraints.
Now how's that for a set lunch experience...
Monday, November 17, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Cassis, 22 Jul
hope people don't mind that i'm going to break the order of our reviews. but this has been on my to-do for too long, and i suspect M's not going to get a chance to post in a bit, what with more pressing priorities such as saving our nation.
so anyway, i first heard of cassis when my colleague forwarded me their restaurant opening mailer, about 8 months ago. i remember feeling an instantaneous connection with it as it brought to mind images of the small waterfront town in southern provence. a good name is always a good start! when i called to make a reservation for EN's birthday celebration, the lady on the other line highly recommended outdoor seating. i asked if it would be sufficiently cool, knowing that our friends wouldn't appreciate perspiring, and she assured me that the outdoor seats were the best in the house, and very well ventilated.
we had a really good turn out that night. almost all of us were there. JL was the first to arrive, though she almost didn't make it as she felt kinda tired from the weekend. i understood what she meant, but i told her that hanging out with the gang shoudn't sap any more energy from her since we were so familiar with each other. was glad that at the end of the night, she came to the same conclusion =) anw, that talk on introverts vs. extraverts triggered one of our prolonged discussions on personality types. XL knowledgeably pointed out that the myers briggs test reflected perference rather than true nature, and we wondered aloud what type each of us truly were. EK was really late as she was rushing her project. but she arrived with time to spare to settle in, before we cut the cake she had bought. even A made her presence felt through the tennis racquets she had asked JL to bring for me.
the food at cassis was passable (hence, only 1 para shall be devoted to it). the positives were the very flexible wait staff, who allowed a bunch of us to share 2 degustations plus some other mains, without raising a brow. we didn't have to go through too much explanation to get them to understand how we wanted the food served either. by now, i don't remember everything we had. what left an impression was the chewy bread (bad), and the desserts (good). i thought the papaya souffle was special, and the spread that came with the degustation menu was interesting enough.
one huge downside to dining outdoors was the mosquito problem. despite having 2 mosquito coils burning at either ends of the table, and a mosquito patch on EL, we were still not spared. it took me a while to make out the clouds of mosquitoes that were buzzing around, which everyone else was pointing out. we really hope that cassis can address this issue, because it's a shame otherwise if guests can't enjoy the truly alluring ambience that the restaurant has outside.
so anyway, i first heard of cassis when my colleague forwarded me their restaurant opening mailer, about 8 months ago. i remember feeling an instantaneous connection with it as it brought to mind images of the small waterfront town in southern provence. a good name is always a good start! when i called to make a reservation for EN's birthday celebration, the lady on the other line highly recommended outdoor seating. i asked if it would be sufficiently cool, knowing that our friends wouldn't appreciate perspiring, and she assured me that the outdoor seats were the best in the house, and very well ventilated.
we had a really good turn out that night. almost all of us were there. JL was the first to arrive, though she almost didn't make it as she felt kinda tired from the weekend. i understood what she meant, but i told her that hanging out with the gang shoudn't sap any more energy from her since we were so familiar with each other. was glad that at the end of the night, she came to the same conclusion =) anw, that talk on introverts vs. extraverts triggered one of our prolonged discussions on personality types. XL knowledgeably pointed out that the myers briggs test reflected perference rather than true nature, and we wondered aloud what type each of us truly were. EK was really late as she was rushing her project. but she arrived with time to spare to settle in, before we cut the cake she had bought. even A made her presence felt through the tennis racquets she had asked JL to bring for me.
the food at cassis was passable (hence, only 1 para shall be devoted to it). the positives were the very flexible wait staff, who allowed a bunch of us to share 2 degustations plus some other mains, without raising a brow. we didn't have to go through too much explanation to get them to understand how we wanted the food served either. by now, i don't remember everything we had. what left an impression was the chewy bread (bad), and the desserts (good). i thought the papaya souffle was special, and the spread that came with the degustation menu was interesting enough.
one huge downside to dining outdoors was the mosquito problem. despite having 2 mosquito coils burning at either ends of the table, and a mosquito patch on EL, we were still not spared. it took me a while to make out the clouds of mosquitoes that were buzzing around, which everyone else was pointing out. we really hope that cassis can address this issue, because it's a shame otherwise if guests can't enjoy the truly alluring ambience that the restaurant has outside.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
SWR - Sage May 24
Yes, this is a long overdue post. From like a month ago. And today is the deadline as we have the next SWR tonight! Which means if I don't post this, I'm going to create backlog! *shudder*
I'm going to try to recall our wonderful dinner from sage, with the aid of my pictures (luckily I took pictures!), the menu online and my wonderful memory to create fillers in between the reality as some of us are fond of doing.
For the record, SWR for May took place at Sage Restaurant. Recently moved from Robertson Walk to along the main Mohd Sultan Road, this restaurant is run by a husband and wife team (Jusman & Kimberly) and has won many accolades locally. Recently during World Gourmet Summit 08, Jusman was also named Rising Chef of the Year! So it was with great anticipation that we had our SWR. I personally had been wanting to go there for the longest time but never got the chance to. There were 9 of us - SB, ML, YY, EL, JL, WK, XL, WZ & EN although JL actually went home before dinner started as she wasn't feeling well. We definitely missed your presence!
Back to the food... Ok I suspect that Sage has changed their menu since we ate there, which would explain why the dishes don't really match the menu. But let me try...
We had a couple of appetizers - the Pumpkin & Foie Gras soup, which I really enjoyed (it was my fave app!), the Mushroom cappucinno with truffled infused eggs, and a Risotto of Escargots and Prawns and poached egg with parsley foam. The truffled infused scrambled eggs housed in the eggshell was really super yummy. And of course we also had Foie Gras, topped with poached figs.
For the main courses, we had (first row) the Cod Fish, topped with prawn and cognac butter, Duck Confit, (second row), some sort of beef (but doesn't look like the Beef Cheek item on the menu) and seafood tomato pasta (the special of the daty). I think I had the cod which was very tender and fresh. I think everyone enjoyed their food, not sure if I took pics of all the mains. On that note, neither do I have pictures of dessert, did we order dessert? How come there is no evidence?
Anyhow, despite being unable to recall the food nor the exact conversations we had (I'm setting a new low here, M should be pleased as there would be vey low expectations of the Xi Yan entry. According to M, that should be the whole point of recording it down, in order to document our frivolity, retardedness and intelligence (depending on occasion) for posterity.
The company was good as usual and it would be accurate to reflect that the consensus was that the food and service were great. It wasn't cheap tho, but definitely worth it.
Those who remember what took place during the dinner, pls feel free to augment the post!
I'm going to try to recall our wonderful dinner from sage, with the aid of my pictures (luckily I took pictures!), the menu online and my wonderful memory to create fillers in between the reality as some of us are fond of doing.
For the record, SWR for May took place at Sage Restaurant. Recently moved from Robertson Walk to along the main Mohd Sultan Road, this restaurant is run by a husband and wife team (Jusman & Kimberly) and has won many accolades locally. Recently during World Gourmet Summit 08, Jusman was also named Rising Chef of the Year! So it was with great anticipation that we had our SWR. I personally had been wanting to go there for the longest time but never got the chance to. There were 9 of us - SB, ML, YY, EL, JL, WK, XL, WZ & EN although JL actually went home before dinner started as she wasn't feeling well. We definitely missed your presence!
Back to the food... Ok I suspect that Sage has changed their menu since we ate there, which would explain why the dishes don't really match the menu. But let me try...
We had a couple of appetizers - the Pumpkin & Foie Gras soup, which I really enjoyed (it was my fave app!), the Mushroom cappucinno with truffled infused eggs, and a Risotto of Escargots and Prawns and poached egg with parsley foam. The truffled infused scrambled eggs housed in the eggshell was really super yummy. And of course we also had Foie Gras, topped with poached figs.
For the main courses, we had (first row) the Cod Fish, topped with prawn and cognac butter, Duck Confit, (second row), some sort of beef (but doesn't look like the Beef Cheek item on the menu) and seafood tomato pasta (the special of the daty). I think I had the cod which was very tender and fresh. I think everyone enjoyed their food, not sure if I took pics of all the mains. On that note, neither do I have pictures of dessert, did we order dessert? How come there is no evidence?
Anyhow, despite being unable to recall the food nor the exact conversations we had (I'm setting a new low here, M should be pleased as there would be vey low expectations of the Xi Yan entry. According to M, that should be the whole point of recording it down, in order to document our frivolity, retardedness and intelligence (depending on occasion) for posterity.
The company was good as usual and it would be accurate to reflect that the consensus was that the food and service were great. It wasn't cheap tho, but definitely worth it.
Those who remember what took place during the dinner, pls feel free to augment the post!
Friday, May 9, 2008
St Pierre
A fortiori, the dining experience was a gazillion times better than Pied de Santa (french for foot of santa?? given the name, we should have known better than to have gone there. and how urban could possibly give the place a good rating i totally fail to comprehend. ) or whatever the place was called.
There were 8 of us present at dinner, a nice prosperous number for a nice prosperous birthday falling on the 8 of May. The food was fantastic and there were these waiters dressed in black who looked really posh and cool. I cannot remember half the names of the dishes we ordered. But we had 4 starters - angelhair pasta with lobster, asparagus with green chawan mushi and foam (cos it's a molecular gastronomy place- basically there was alot of foam in alot of our food), wagyu beef carpascio and foie gras with strawberry sauce. Of cos I may have gotten half the names wrong or at least the spelling wrong. Bet I got u fooled by the first 2 words of this post. My english is good but definitely not consistently good. The steak was amazingly good. The fish (which 3 of us ordered, namely ML, M and JL) was really really bad. The rest of u please make a mental note to NEVER order the same dish as M or JL. And going forward M will try to pull a stunt on the menu meaning this: M will think of what to order and wish with all heart and soul to eat that dish and then order something else! We will try this trick next time and will update accordingly if it works.
Ok basically I wanna explain why the dining experience this time was heavenly compared to the previous place and here goes:
1) We couldn't even tell there was air-con in this place. As in we didn't see the machine and we didn't hear the machine. And most importantly we didn't feel the machine unlike Pied where there was a leak. The air was just cool and fresh (save for the occasional whiff of really smelly cheese).
2) There was no olive oil to spill on XL. This was because their breads were so good that there was no need to have it with any thing else. But actually also, they didn't offer us olive oil.
3) Wine. Oh yeah I neglected to mention above that we had a bottle of red wine to celebrate the occasion. Unlike Pied, there was a moving cart - much like those dim sum carts we see at Red House. This waiter even came by to recommend which wine would go with which food unlike the previous place, which all they did was use a thumb and point a the stationary display on the wall.
4) The food was actually tasty save for the fish we ML M and JL had. M was most most most displeased especially since it costs $70.
All in all, it was a very pleasant evening. Because of the conversation which today has sparked off a whole string of emails about our Chinese names. To me, as long as the food and the service is reasonably acceptable, the company is really all that matters. :)
(Oh yeah but it would be good if the company didn't roll eyes at almost every thing that JL says or say she is retarded.)
There were 8 of us present at dinner, a nice prosperous number for a nice prosperous birthday falling on the 8 of May. The food was fantastic and there were these waiters dressed in black who looked really posh and cool. I cannot remember half the names of the dishes we ordered. But we had 4 starters - angelhair pasta with lobster, asparagus with green chawan mushi and foam (cos it's a molecular gastronomy place- basically there was alot of foam in alot of our food), wagyu beef carpascio and foie gras with strawberry sauce. Of cos I may have gotten half the names wrong or at least the spelling wrong. Bet I got u fooled by the first 2 words of this post. My english is good but definitely not consistently good. The steak was amazingly good. The fish (which 3 of us ordered, namely ML, M and JL) was really really bad. The rest of u please make a mental note to NEVER order the same dish as M or JL. And going forward M will try to pull a stunt on the menu meaning this: M will think of what to order and wish with all heart and soul to eat that dish and then order something else! We will try this trick next time and will update accordingly if it works.
Ok basically I wanna explain why the dining experience this time was heavenly compared to the previous place and here goes:
1) We couldn't even tell there was air-con in this place. As in we didn't see the machine and we didn't hear the machine. And most importantly we didn't feel the machine unlike Pied where there was a leak. The air was just cool and fresh (save for the occasional whiff of really smelly cheese).
2) There was no olive oil to spill on XL. This was because their breads were so good that there was no need to have it with any thing else. But actually also, they didn't offer us olive oil.
3) Wine. Oh yeah I neglected to mention above that we had a bottle of red wine to celebrate the occasion. Unlike Pied, there was a moving cart - much like those dim sum carts we see at Red House. This waiter even came by to recommend which wine would go with which food unlike the previous place, which all they did was use a thumb and point a the stationary display on the wall.
4) The food was actually tasty save for the fish we ML M and JL had. M was most most most displeased especially since it costs $70.
All in all, it was a very pleasant evening. Because of the conversation which today has sparked off a whole string of emails about our Chinese names. To me, as long as the food and the service is reasonably acceptable, the company is really all that matters. :)
(Oh yeah but it would be good if the company didn't roll eyes at almost every thing that JL says or say she is retarded.)
Monday, April 21, 2008
Saturdays With Reservations - The First, Of Many More, Hopefully
Conversations
11am on a Madrid train, off to see the Prado, the Reina Sofia, or, most likely, to go shopping. YY recalls that we had once tried to set up monthly dinners to try out new restaurants, with the total success rate of 0 dinners accomplished. "We should start this again! Let's do it every 3rd Saturday of the month for complete randonmess! And let's call it Saturdays with Reservations! Get it? 'Cos we always come "with reservations"? And we can do food reviews!" M thinks that we should document our conversations, 'cos according to M watching us is like watching a sitcom, more specifically, the type of sitcom where people blabber on endlessly with great intensity and at great length on the most trivial of issues. I had hoped that if we were to be a sitcom, we would be more "glamorous 20-somethings in big city talking about love, life and friendship" (aka Friends), rather than "dysfunctional 30-somethings in big city blabbering about nothing" (aka Seinfeld). But since both were major hits of their times, I guess you take what you can get.
Fast forward one month later. The first Saturdays with Reservations, has, defying all odds and against all known precedents for how our group of friends operates, actually taken off. JL asks, "Why are we meeting on the 3rd Saturday? How are we supposed to remember this when it's so random?" YY, "The whole point is to be completely and totally random! First or last Saturdays would be too contrived, and 2nd just feels like an afterthought. Similarly, let's try to do a leisurely 3 hour lunch one of these days, but it has to be Tuesday or Wednesday so as to be completely random! That will throw everyone, including the bosses off!" JL asks, "Why not combine the birthday celebrations with this?" YY, "Folks can opt not to come for this, but may feel that they have to go for the birthday ones. And the birthday girl might have a specific place in mind that does not fit in with this theme." And so on. Seinfeld writ large indeed, I hear you M.
11am on a Madrid train, off to see the Prado, the Reina Sofia, or, most likely, to go shopping. YY recalls that we had once tried to set up monthly dinners to try out new restaurants, with the total success rate of 0 dinners accomplished. "We should start this again! Let's do it every 3rd Saturday of the month for complete randonmess! And let's call it Saturdays with Reservations! Get it? 'Cos we always come "with reservations"? And we can do food reviews!" M thinks that we should document our conversations, 'cos according to M watching us is like watching a sitcom, more specifically, the type of sitcom where people blabber on endlessly with great intensity and at great length on the most trivial of issues. I had hoped that if we were to be a sitcom, we would be more "glamorous 20-somethings in big city talking about love, life and friendship" (aka Friends), rather than "dysfunctional 30-somethings in big city blabbering about nothing" (aka Seinfeld). But since both were major hits of their times, I guess you take what you can get.
Fast forward one month later. The first Saturdays with Reservations, has, defying all odds and against all known precedents for how our group of friends operates, actually taken off. JL asks, "Why are we meeting on the 3rd Saturday? How are we supposed to remember this when it's so random?" YY, "The whole point is to be completely and totally random! First or last Saturdays would be too contrived, and 2nd just feels like an afterthought. Similarly, let's try to do a leisurely 3 hour lunch one of these days, but it has to be Tuesday or Wednesday so as to be completely random! That will throw everyone, including the bosses off!" JL asks, "Why not combine the birthday celebrations with this?" YY, "Folks can opt not to come for this, but may feel that they have to go for the birthday ones. And the birthday girl might have a specific place in mind that does not fit in with this theme." And so on. Seinfeld writ large indeed, I hear you M.
Real afterthought: This means that this blog will only be updated once a month. I'm a bit of a tech have-not, and not very au fait with this reality, but somewhere in the back of my mind am faintly aware that this blog idea may not, therefore, work.
Food (JL, WK, YY, ML, EL, EN, EL's bf, XL)
Pietrasanta (Italian)
5b Portsdown Road
01-03 Wessex Village
Ghastly, absolutely ghastly. I cannot believe that this is the site of the first SWR! (I accidentally typed "SOW" in my first attempt to abbreviate this. WK had also confused everyone by calling it SWD for a while, leading EL to think that we were doing Saturdays with Deservations? Freudian slips all round.) We had wanted to go to Sage, but they are unfortunately in the middle of a move from Robertson Quay to Mohammed Sultan, which would not be completed by the time the first SWR takes place!
The place is pretty enough, airy and rustic with al fresco dining, in the middle of a fairly charming, out of the way type of place. It's pretty casual, and unexpectedly packed for such a new and hard to access place. It's good for us too since we drive, as there is plenty of parking all round. JL thinks she might come back here to read, although she will not be able to eat anything (see below).
The service is probably the worst offender. They are not rude or unfriendly, but just horrifically incompetent. We were very confused by the waitress who kept trying to give us 3 starters and 4 mains as a "first course", and the other 4 mains as a "second course" (there were 8 of us by the way). She also kept repeating the entire order, after each and every time someone ordered (maybe she thought we might change our minds after seeing what everyone else wanted, and this was a way of giving us a second, third, fourth, fifth chance to do so?) . So YY took the notepad from the waitress and decided to fill it in herself, helpfully indicating which was a starter and which was a main. (This is only mildly strange in our world. YY last did this in a tapas bar in Madrid, when the waiter appeared to be losing his grasp on reality coping with 5 extremely boisterous and impatient people who could not speak Spanish or accept Spanish customs of dining in a tapas bar.) JL wanted to see a wine list and was told cursorily by a waitress to look behind at the wall displaying all the wine bottles before the waitress scurried off with no further explanations. We were later told by a more senior waitstaff that this lack of a wine list, or indeed, helpfulness, had something to do with the chef's brother being in Italy. We lost interest. And XL had balsamic vinegar spilled all over her jeans and cardigan.
The food itself was average to mediocre, in no way compensating for the travesty that was the service. Blandness seemed to be the order of the day, inflicting the panfried snails, the home made ravioli with spinach and ricotta cheese, and the custard cream. YY's codfish was not fresh. Everything else was alright, and forgettable, including the risotto with mushrooms, tuscan style ravioli with meat and sausage, lasagne and panna cotta. I vaguely recall that the mussels and chocolate cake were halfway decent though.
Somewhat a waste that the first SWR was not a mindblowing culinary experience with laser beams shooting out (this is for you, M!). Maybe we could rewrite history and pretend that the one-Michelin star Hoffman or the extremely, extremely good Ovic, both in Barcelona, was the first SWR? Oh well, at least we got it started, which is truly amazing guys.
Second afterthought: After this scathing review, I can't imagine anyone in their right minds wanting to try this place. I feel somewhat anxious that this may somehow damage someone's business enterprise? But then again, in all likelihood, it will just be the 12 of us reading this, so no harm done right?
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