FINALLY!!
I finally ate 'the' burger from Wild Rocket.
Met up with a gf for lunch on Deepavali to get some stuff from her and i die die also must drag the gf for lunch at Wild Rocket with me because she is almost the only one i know who love and will eat such a huge burger..
And she's skinny!! *pout*
We both ordered the set lunch instead of ala carte because obviously, it's more worth it ;)
Our starter..
Pan seared tuna with wild rocket
Both my companion and i agree that having only wild rocket is abit too much to take. Too bitter!! It'll be good if they had added other leaves as well, eg ; baby spinach etc!
I finished my tuna but not the leaves.
Nothing to shout about for this starter but me like the sambal on top on the tuna though :)
Then, 'the' burger!
It looked too awesome to just post only 1 photo! So 3 it is.. just for the burger :P
No fries... instead, we got this papadam? Cute. See the juice? A bit bloody.
Abit closer...
And up close and drool!
And of course, dessert.
Vanilla ice cream with black sesame.
The burger was pretty good. Juicy!
Before i could take my first bite, the juice came oozing out out of nowhere just because i grabbed the burger a little. Heh.
The juice that came out was slightly bloody but surprisingly, when i finally gotten my first bite, the pattie was just pink and no blood at all! I had mine done at medium and my gf had hers medium rare, which wasn't bloody as well.
THAT means, the next time i go again, i'll definitely get mine done at medium rare because i like it more juicy and tender!
And i like the yellowish sauce too! *lick lips*
However, i personally something is amiss when i was savouring the burger. I wonder if it's because of the lack of flavour in it? Or merely because i wasn't eating the burger in whole, as in.. not able to sink my teeth into it in its towering form due to the environment. Too embarrass to do so!
I bet if i were to do that, i'll definitely get lotsa unwanted attention / stares for opening my mouth THAT big. Grin.
Initially for my dessert, i wanted to try their famous kueh bahlu tiramisu by just paying an extra few dollars more. Then we saw the waitress carried the ice cream with black sesame to the next table and we were sold!
The black sesame with vanilla ice cream looks too good to pass. We immediately changed our initial order :P
And true to its look, the dessert didn't fail us one bit.
I tell ya, the thick thick black sesame paste was to die for and when combined with the vanilla ice cream, whoa.... totally wicked!!
I polished off every single bit for my 3 course meal except the wild rocket [for the starter] whilst the gf, didn't... now we know why the thin ones always stay thin and the thin-wanting-to-be-ones will just stay wanting-to-be!
Heh.
Besides food, i like the location of the restaurant as well. Though secluded, i like it. I like the fact that it is so close to nature and it's on a hill. Right opposite the Hangout Hotel is the National Nature Park. Because of that, it's quiet and very peaceful. It somehow reminds me of where hb and i used to go for our nightly walk back in Melbourne more than half a decade ago.. A walk that we never fail to go at around 1-2am even when it was freezing!
I like.
p.s : T, sorry for the late entry. Couldn't find the camera till today!
Though the husband never did anything for me, but i still carried out my 'tiny' plan on surprising the husband with the place that i was gonna bring him that night for our Anniversary celebration.
A few emails exchanged with Kimberly and voila! Out came a 4 course menu for the husband...
Something for us to bring home...
Sage managed to live up to my expectation after all. Not only was the food excellent, the service was impeccable too. Kimberly, the restaurant manager who also happened to be the wife of Jusman So, the chef who owns Sage was very pleasant and friendly both online and in person.
Perhaps because Kimberly knows that the dinner was my treat (using hb's money though :P) for our anniversary, she threw in a complimentary starter for both of us. It was probably some puree - can't make out what and what but there was definitely tomato in it - topped with lovely caviar and a pretty small tree. It was just too bad that i didn't think of taking a photo of it at that time.
Then, there was some bread and butter, which was okay, nothing fabulous. I very much preferred Ember's and Garibaldi's which in my opinion were excellent!
For
A risotto of Burgundy escargot and tiger prawns flambéed with pastis, Parmesan crusted poached egg and Italian parsley foam
and i had :
Pickled North Brittany Fines De Claires oysters topped with avruga caviar and cave aged Kaltbach Le Gruyère on a bed of leek & potato vichyssoise
No pics for both too unfortunately. A real pity because the presentation was beautiful!
I love both appetizers. They were so so good. I normally get sick of risotto pretty fast but not hb's! It was so full of flavour. Very delicious.
For mine, it was abit out of what i had expected. Mainly because it was served cold. The oysters were fresh, not smoked or grilled, minus shell, served on a bed of creamy soup made from leek and potato. One would be quite sceptical initially but trust me, one bite and that's it. You will be sold. I totally finished off everything, not a single drop of vichyssoise was visible on my plate. Heh.
For the soup, we only had 1, which was "Cappuccino of wild mushrooms". When they mentioned cappuccino in the description, i never thought much of it until i saw the soup.
Now we know why it is Cappuccino aye? It does look like Cappuccino, and we drank it as though it was one too! :P
Hb's main :
Charcoal grilled U.S. beef tenderloin resting on potato aligo scented with white truffle oil, glazed asparagus and white pearl onions with smoked bacon and natural jus
Usually, people say a picture says a thousand words but but.. not for this case though. All the photos on this entry were taken with hb's N95. I didn't bring my camera that day. But come to think of it, even if i did bring my camera, i doubt the photos that are taken with it will be any better anyway...
The beef was purrrfeect. There isn't any other word to describe it.
I really dig the potato. The truffle oil was the winner of the day. It was my first time tasting it - the truffle oil - and i'm totally blown away [yes, i'm very outdated!]. I cannot imagine eating the real stuff! Heh.
I can just envision the husband ordering the same beef dish again and again when we do go back to Sage in the future and honestly, so will i!
My main :
Australian grain fed lamb short loin with a cassoulet of summer beans scented with garlic, rosemary and lardons, crispy Parmigiano Reggiano and Roma tomato coulis
Guess what's the honeycomb lookalike biscuit?
It's crispy Parmigiano Reggiano. Simply brilliant!
I like the loin quite a bit. It was smoked and grilled i was told. The combination of the lamb and beans were abit fancy which is something that i have yet comprehend. When it comes to food, i am still a conservative idiot. This, has a lot to do with the husband for being a purist and not experimental enough. Hehe.
Perhaps if we do eat out more often at such places, my appreciation will soon come very naturally *hint*hint*. Lol.
So yeah, i am still not that used to eating Azuki bean with lamb in a savoury dish. I'm more used to it in dessert. But all in all, it was worth trying it out. Something different and it was rather nicely put together :)
By now, i was filled up to the throat hence, it was dessert sharing with the husband.
Mascarpone, ricotta, cream cheese and Meyer lemon Bavarian with peanut butter ice-cream and baked honeyed-lemon filo
Even though we didn't comment much, both of us know that the dessert was nothing spectacular. The only thing we liked was the peanut butter ice cream which rocks! I am so gonna experiment this myself, making peanut butter ice cream using my brand new ice cream maker machine. Yay!
The Mascarpone, ricotta, cream cheese and Meyer lemon Bavarian with biscuit base.
The food was so good that i requested to be put on their list for the coming Christmas eve dinner!
Now i truly understand why it was Sage Sage Sage here there and everywhere. They are worth mentioning. I simply cannot wait for Christmas to come.. *greedy eyes* ;)
Maybe it's just me.
I have no idea what people go ga-ga over Buddha Jumps Over The Wall. Is it because of its very fanciful ingredients? Or is it the broth?
Honestly, give me home-cooked ABC soup anytime!
The other day at Hua Ting, the in laws (actually, it was just mil ah) were quite keen on ordering it. I was asked to make reservation and order the mini bowl for all of us 1 day in advance and i did just that [a gf said the same too, on the advance thingie].
My verdict?
Again, i can do without it.
$60 a bowl doesn't quite do any justice to it. Or perhaps, the dungu* me simply do not know how to appreciate it? :P
Anyway, from now on, i'm all out to saying no to all these fancy soups etc... Er, actually i did say no to it quite sometime ago but i somehow caved in this time. Yeah, horrible me! However, no more next time. Promise. Let's save the sharks from now on! And abalone too!
p.s : i can just imagine the husband rolling his eyes! Ha! Hb loves loves shark's fins anything.. that donkey!
Note : for more info on Shark Finning, click here. Warning : cruel photos.
Do you know? : Singapore is the world's third largest sharks’ fin trading center, after Hong Kong and Taiwan, according to UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.
pps : i know this is a very personal thing. I'm just stating my preference and of course, i do not expect you to have the same view as me. No offence to those who love soups like such. Of course, if you do.. i won't like you less because of it. Like mentioned, it's a very individual thing. If i am indeed that kind of person who will like you less because of your preference, like that i wont marry the husband liao :P
Disclaimer : the in laws do not usually dine out. Out of 365 days, they dine out less than 5 times. Most of the time, father in law prefer to cook his own huge (real huge) plate of stir fry vegetables and eat it like that. That, to fil is the ultimate good and satisfying meal.
My mom came to visit almost 2 weeks ago. As usual, we had a blast!
Brought mom to several places this time. Botanical Garden for fish feeding, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve for hill climbing (but we never made it to the top! Lol), Ria for ayam penyet and last but not least, the mother and daughter -> me, celebrated Mother's Day at Al Dente, Esplanade before mom went back the next day.
I wanted to bring mom to Sage initially. Unfortunately, they were closed. So was PS Cafe. Mom wanted somewhere special with nice ambience and since the 2 above weren't open, hence, Al Dente is was.
Read that Al Dente at Esplanade has got fabulous view. Very ideal for couples. But mom was an exception :P
My beloved mommy with Singapore Sling and Margarita in lemon
Awesome view from where we were sitting
Another side of the rooftop restaurant
Mom with Singapore at night
Focaccia and root salad
Our main course. Braised lamb shank and garlic cream pasta with slipper lobster
We enjoyed ourselves quite a bit. Having a fantastic weather then helped a little.
Nice soft and soothing music in the background, excellent service, very good view and food wise, some were yummy and some were not :P
Oh, best of all, the dinner didn't burn a gigantic hole in my pocket *wink*
But overall, because of the other factors above, dining at Al Dente is quite something albeit the food was so-so only :)p.s : a must try would be the garlic cream pasta with slipper lobster. Absolutely delicious!
Beep who refused to be cooperate. It was real tough! U can never imagine man... The amount of silly entertainment i did was enough to last me for 1 month! Lol.
The 3 piglets and the mommy pig.. See didi's new hair cut? So boy!
The abit garang + ah beng beep with his new hair cut. No more girlie beep yay!
The boys who got recharged after downing the chocolate cake + a cuppa ice chocolate but then, they never really ran out of battery before y'know.. 
