I am sorry to say that my wife and I had a very bad experience in terms of the food quality here.
We have chosen the appetizers according to staff recommendations.
The first dish was the "the red prawn and langoustine carpaccio".
It was served as 2 small sized de-shelled red prawns and a medium-sized langoustine lined up parallel to each other
with no extra knife work nor processing. There were 2 lines of 4 small red dots in between them with absolutely no additive flavour. The dish was plain and honest yet absolutely dull and boring and we couldn't help but feeling ripped off.
(By comparison, we had a red prawn carpaccio dish at another restaurant not long ago, served in the size of regular sized tartare with prawn meat (I would say at least 6-8 small sized prawns), supplemented with red prawn oil (extracted from the heads), supplemented with dotted aioli and fresh herbs- That I would say is proper cooking and the dish was still memorable to us)
The 2nd dish was "The quail 2-way".
It was served with one baked part and the other fried. The baked part was with a doughy-thing wrapped with minced meat mixed with foie gras (so we were told), with condiments of 2 rolled beetroots. It was with a thick dough, which happens to have zero taste of quail meat nor foie gras inside. Now that is surprisingly difficult to attain since the taste of foie gras is often distinctive and succulent, maybe it was never even put in. The rolled baked beetroots have a firm to hard consistency that is not pleasant and both the sweetness and earthiness that we expected from them were depleted rather than enhanced with the cooking. Zero sauce nor dressing to counter the oiliness of the quails.
For pasta we had the linguine with razor clams. The fragrance of the pasta did stand (slightly wakened me up a bit from the anticipated nightmare from the starters). The consistency of the pasta was managed well and al dente to bite with good coating of sauce. But the razor clams were overcooked and chewy and a total let down. We are also disappointed that the pasta was not of handmade at this price point. (or didn't taste like one)
For main course we had the pigeon, which was also of staff' recommendation. It was served with 2 legs and one breast, with a condiment of one baked baby carrot, with tiny bit of sauce and pate on toast on the side.
All pigeon components seemed to be finished in a high-heat pan, which gives caramelization of the skin but also a chewy meat part underneath, surrounding a yet pinkish core. Any overcooked poultry will immediately give you an unpleasant chewiness , dryness that is totally reminiscent of a chinese roast duck. The cookery was rough and unpolished, and again, a total mismatch with the price point. Again, zero balance in the the dish, where the sauce was just lack of flavour and charm. Oh, and the pate on toast on the side was a joke, where the two were super-dry on its own and do not combine at all.
At this point we were just shocked and could not summon any interest in ordering desserts but only the will to gather the little energy left within to pay the big bill and leave.
Credits to the staff there who were all well-groomed, well-dressed and attentive to the guests. The sharing plates were served warm for the main which is sign of a proper restaurant. The ambience, the colour tone, lighting, seatings, and spacing between tables were all nicely curated and up to standard. The selection and price of wines were also very inviting.
Indeed, the only soothing thing that went into our mouth was the Babera red.
P.S. I now wished there were photos taken to supplement the post but we were very put off by our first dishes that no photos were taken
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