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2013-10-06
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Came here for dinner with a group of 12 people. The place was half full on a Saturday evening. Well, let us not pass judgement based on what others think first. I have not been back to this place for months even though it is quite close by my office, because to me the food was faddy and not succulent. My worst memory of their dishes is their slow cooked woolly pig shoulder, which turned out dry and stringy, reminding me of cushion stuffing.Succulence, to me, is an essential attribute of many dis
Succulence, to me, is an essential attribute of many dishes. Juicy, moist, satisfying. Alright, not for all dishes. But important for mains and meats, and even fish.
Before our dishes from the $710 tasting menu arrived, we saw some sausages hanging in a larder room with glass door. So we ordered some for tasting. Once the skin is broken up, the inside fell out like breadcrumbs. Dry. If a sausage had died and its mummy is dug up centuries later it may be like this.
We were served complementary cherries which supposedly hid foie gras inside. The idea reminds me of the foie gras lollipop at Amber. But once the outside cherry coating was bitten through, what was inside was more like pork rillette. And very dried and stringy rillette at that. I left mine unfinished. The coating also did not have much of a taste. Had it not looked red and came looking like a cherry I would not have known what to make of it.
Luckily, the tasing menu did not have much of the slow cook variety, by which they produce dried up stuff, totally defying the purpose of slow cook in the first place. And the bread was alright. Nice and warm.
The first course was a melange of red and yellow tomatoes served with a green foam. Sweet tasting stuff. Very good start.
The pumpkin soup had in it a creamy blob and a piece of bread. The creamy blob, which tasted like Chinese fermented beancurd (Fu Yu), was supposed to be foie gras. Well, could have fooled me. The spicy (ginger?) bread was tough, strong tasting, and out of place. I finished the soup but not the foie gras nor that strange bread.
We had a sliced breast of duck, which was done quite rare. This was good. But then, it is the sort of dish that does not showcase much cooking skills. Fry, rest, slice, serve.
Then I suddenly realized that I ordered a Wagyu beef, brisket and sweetbread main dish to follow, but it would have tasted similar to the duck breast. None of the wait staff pointed this out. When the duck dish arrived I asked the waiter to change my main course to the other choice - a mackerel dish. This was done despite it being quite late into the menu. Good. Another friend did the same.
The fish dish arrived. It was, well, a hunk of fish. No particular characterr. Sits on some lame green soup which was called an apple gazpacho or something. Beyond the name there was nothing that resembled a gazpacho. Small batons of green apple. No crispy skin to break the monotony. Totally unremarkable. You would have thought a restaurant that makes its specialty on innovative cooking could have done better than offer this totally bland dish as one of the stars on its tasting menu.
My other friends' beef looked fine but they said it was just average.
The dessert was compressed strawberries and some syrup. Nothing remarkable.
Well, for a tasting menu, this was not pricey. The setting and ambience was good. But ultimately there was nothing impressive about the food.
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