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2010-08-01
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The phone started to ring on a normal hectic weekend afternoon...The familiar ringing was longer than usual. I had the image of a hostess in her little black dress leaning against her desk, receiver on one hand close to her ear while her pencil on the other hand quickly jots down reservations on an enormously large book thicker than a religious text. Not a chance, the person who picked up the phone had a coarse, almost impatient voice. I called to inquire about a reservation for a table for four
"Let's see, our earliest guarantee-in reservation is in May 2011." I was stunned into silence, but quickly motioned myself to thank the man and hung up.
It's not exactly the former El Bulli, is it? Why does a diner have to wait 10 months to eat at a Sunday Brunch place with neither a panoramic view of the city nor an inner-city garden view? Was it the food? Or the service so nice it's worth the wait? This, is what the foodie is about to find out. Thanks to a group of equally hungry foodie buddies who made the reservations 7 months in advance, planning it all under wraps. Being 1 of 11 people heading towards the restaurant, I was equally thrilled and calm, hoping the best out of the 3-hour Sunday Brunch would be.
Here's the deal. For an adult the Sunday Brunch costs $268 plus gratuity, and that includes a glass of Sparkling wine/ juice, appetizers, a main course, desserts, and a coffee/tea to finish. The appetizers and desserts are served buffet style. Inside the small L-shaped Dining room, one would be greeted by an open bar, with the most magnificent bouquet of lilies on one side next to a long table of appetizers. On the other side of the room is another table where desserts are served. Tables are well spaced all over the room. With 11 tables (3 large enough to sit 12) We were suprised that there are vacant tables (were people tired of the wait?)
Speaking of "Fusion", a word used so often in the 90s but later considered rather derogatory because of its' redundant use. The appetizers are fusing Eastern and Western ingredients and flavours, and so are the main courses as well. The appetizers, served buffet style, features some good finds. The cold cuts are alright. The smoked salmon, cut into long strips are a little bit on the salty side when served plain. A wedge of lemon or consuming with that tiny sprig of garnishing dill would do wonders. Parmesan cheese are not in hunks, but in tiny rectangles, so easily consumed and never too much. The Prosciutto are best served with fresh figs, rather than in the other platter where they are served in thin ribbons alongside a mount of rocket leaves enough to fill a forest. The ham itself is satisfactory quality, and as one friend picked out melon from the fruit platter to eat with the prosciutto...I couldn't stop but wonder -- how smart is he? Seared tuna are served with an Eastern-inspired soy-sauce sesame oil dressing that's slightly over seasoned, although a little sesame sauce wouldn't hurt to go simple. The red-rectangles with its exterior slightly cooked revealing the perfect two-tone outlook. It's very catchy to the eye, and it's also very "Millenium Nicoise Salad" as well...(speaking of Fusion)
On the other side are three green salad with dressings to choose from. There are some crisp romaine lettuces for the Caesar, fresh blend of salad mesclun for green salad, and what may be another forest of rocket leaves with flakes of sundried tomatoes for an Italian twist. The composed salads are changing as we eat. Mixed Mushroom salad is the only one I did not try. BRUSSEL SPROUT SALAD are cooked to lose the bitterness, while hearts of iceberg lettuce is crisp and green, as the light and tangy dressing makes the salad one of the better salad should we count the use of brussel sprouts, considered one of the most disgusted vegetable other than cardoons and cauliflower to many. BEETS are slightly bland, but the MANGO salad is sunny sweet, with bits of chopped shallots mixed within. It almost tasted like a heat-less mango salsa, except fresher. For vegetable dishes the BRAISED EGGPLANTS retained its purpleness on the skin and was very moist and soft. The PUMPKIN dish comes smashed with a combination of savoury and natural sweetness as it always has been. The MUSSELS and CLAMS are cooked alright, although the latter bears better flavour and in terms of meatiness, the clams won as well. PRAWNS vary by quality. One of us had a perfectly crunchy prawn, but others may had some bad ones. The fusion continues with OX TONGUE and TRIPE. The ox tongue is slightly stringy but the sauce is very complex. The tripe, cooked in a similar sauce, was surprisingly tender and required minimal cutting (or chewing, for that matter).
We moved on to the daily soup -- Clear Chicken Consomme with Vegetables. While one may expect a somewhat a clear chicken soup with chunks of hearty vegetables afloat. This gave me a whole new level. The soup, despite its description, was slightly cloudy but the 'vegetables' looked a lot like frozen bits that have seen the inside of a bag inside a freezer longer than they've been in a field somewhere. The corn was not very sweet and the carrot made you believe that it has a will to let you think that it belongs back in the freezer more than being consumed. The chicken broth, with a darker flavour than normal chicken soup, is probably made by simmering chicken carcasses for a prolonged period of time. The broth itself was alright, but it certainly wouldn't be the same quality one could expect getting from someone when you're sick in bed. It's gotta be better than that.
The mains arrived after some more conversations. Most of us selected the GRILLED PRIME RIB-EYE STEAK WITH RED WINE ONION SAUCE and the GRILLED US KUROBUTA PORK CHOP WITH CUCUMBER SALAD AND GLASS NOODLES AND VIETNAMESE DRESSING. One of us selected the LAMB CHOPS (not tasted) and the other, the RISOTTO WITH SEARED FOIE GRAS IN FOIE GRAS SAUCE.
Grilled Steak (Beef) -- The grill marks were clear and criss crossing, which was great, but the meat itself was not ever close to being MEDIUM that everyone ordered. It was at least 60% when it arrived, and by the time everyone started eating it's no longer 60% anymore. The meat though, however trashy that may sound, was juicy in parts, the marbling may have helped, but didn't save the meat. The bed of pea tendrils below was sogged up by the sauce, which didn't taste half bad, except one would probably prefer caramelized onions to go with as well.
The Kurobuta Pork Chop -- The pork chop itself has a better texture (firm but not as hard as granite) than the one I had at Liberty Exchange, which was literally, "un-cuttable" The interior has the slightest hint of pinkness but the pork itself is juicy overall. The presentation went achitectural but the cucumber and glass noodle salad didn't exactly come as described. The glass noodles were supposed to be made with MUNG BEANS, but here they were more like...spaghetti. It didn't bear that crunchy texture of glass noodles, but the Vietnamese dressing was a combination of fish sauce and lime juice and a little bit of sugar to lift up the palate for another bite of porkchop.
Risotto -- disappointing the worst on the table. It didn't look the part -- the rice itself was a little too dry when presented and it was too gooey inside. (maybe that's fusion cooking) The "Foie gras sauce" didn't taste like the liver itself, and even with the Foie Gras itself, the slice of liver was quite thick, but not crispily charred on either side, let alone counting on the inside being meltingly creamy, because it's not. It tasted more like Foie Gras made to taste and resemble chicken liver, or the chicken liver to be served like the Foie Gras. Either way, it's not nearly as good as it presented itself.
The mains went, and by the all the staff has laid out the fabulousness of desserts for the diners to indulge in... All I can say though, the CREME BRULEE is good enough for eveyone to drop their cutlery midway through appetizers to dig in a mini cupful before go back to their food. The dessert, with its rich slightly sweeter custard with the thinnest of bruleed caramel top that cracked even when it's room temperature. The 'pop' sound was heard, revealing a velvety yellow custard within with specks of vanilla seeds throughout. Another crowd-pleaser, the Chocolate Fondant, was disappointing. Its slightly flat mini-serving is still warm when plated but the mixture was simply too thick that when it's dug in, it firmed up into a melted chocolate truffle...and it tasted strongly, more like pungently, with orange!!
The onslaught of sweets are more than ferocious, and it's only fair to draw a close for now. As there are way more to talk about in the dessert selections.
(to be continued)
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