Tastings Room

I am still sorely lamenting the fact that I rushed from the office to Morton’s Bar at 6.15pm and I failed to get any of the free steak sandwiches. Greedy fellow patrons who grab two or three sandwiches at one go – shame on you.



We were starved after our martinis and needed dinner desperately. Since I had a hungry deal 30% discount voucher, I suggested checking out Tastings Room, located not too far at Marina Square. The place was packed on a Friday but I had called 30 minutes ahead to book and they very nicely showed our group of 6 to a small private dining area. Heh. I feel like a VIP.



The food orders came fast – excellent. A few of us had the duck confit ($23) and it was pretty tasty, albeit dry in some parts. I liked the mash potatoes. Others who had the seared salmon ($23) said it was fresh and well-cooked too. Only the pumpkin risotto ($18) was not well-received.



We couldn’t not try the wines, given that the place was called Tasting Room. Bert suggested trying a Burgundy (atas palate) so we got a lower-price-range bottle of Bouchard Père & Fils Beaune du Château Pinot Noir at $89. Hmmm, nice honeysuckle and chalk nose, soft and easy to drink, but it’s lacking liveliness.



We weren’t too impressed with the first pinot, so for our second bottle we settled for a good value $64 “cannot-fail-us” bottle Kiwi pinot – the Ata Rangi Crimson Pinot Noir 2009. It’s nothing too elegant, just plain vibrant black cherries and plum, but we liked it.



I can’t say the food was fantastic but it was adequate enough for me to log on to hungrydeals again the next day to buy another discount voucher. Will return to try the appetizers and maybe a bottle or two of the other wines.

Table at 7

I used to love Sage. What's not to love - food was fantastic and corkage was free. I celebrated my birthday there last year and when news came that they were closing, I rushed to make reservations for dinner on closing day, to bid Jusman all the best in Bali.

Another husband-wife team (Karl and Eugenia) has since taken over where Sage used to be and opened Table at 7. Eugenia is Indonesian, so it's a mix of Indonesian food and European fare dished up by Austria-born Karl. I heard the food was good. When AL asked for suggestions on where to go for her birthday dinner, I immediately lobbied for Table at 7.

I would have loved to do the degustation menu but the rest of the group weren't keen. A bit disappointing, but oh well, the ala carte experience rocked too. For starters, most of us had the highly recommended "Twice-baked Caramelized Onion and Gruyere Cheese Soufflé, White Wine Fondue Sauce" - sounds delicious, doesn't it? And it was. A bit jelat for a starter, but we polished off every last bit. I thought the Iced Gaszpacho with Tuna Tartare looked good too.

For mains, the Black Angus Beef Onglet Steak, and the Wagyu Oxtail Rendang were big hits. I kinda regretted ordering the Chilean Sea Bass when I saw what my friends were served. They nicely let me try some of it, indeed, very flavorful. Fortunately, my choice turned out well too - the sea bass was very well-executed - fresh, sweet tasting and the garlic mash and sauce were awesome.

We bought a bottle of wine from them, got free corkage for 1 of our own bottles and paid $30 each for the remaining bottles. The wine list has a good mix from all over, and prices were fairly decent. Service was rather good - Eugenia was friendly and the staff were prompt and responsive to our needs. Food came at a good speed.

Excellent new restaurant, quite worthy to take over the special place Sage holds in my heart. I will be back with a big bold bottle of red to try the beef or lamb.

Happy birthday darling AL! The theme of the night was Mafia and Mistresses - group shot of all the mistresses (or are we mafia?)!

Nueva Cuba

It was the first launch of “Wine Tastings Evenings” by Trevor and I decided to show support by rounding up a group of wino friends for the event. Tastings of 6 different wines from France along with 6 Cuban tapas. $65/pax. A pretty neat deal, considering what we had.

I was there early and as usual I was starving. We got some tostadas to tide us over first – creamy cheesy shrimp and mozzarella cheese mushroom – good stuff, especially paired with the welcome glass of Chateau d'Esclans Whispering Angel Rose.

Finally my group of 8 arrived and the tasting started proper. First up, a nice tapas platter to pair with 3 white wines. To be honest, I’ve only been to Nueva Cuba for drinks, so I was pleasantly surprised by how good the food was. I really enjoyed the quesadilla, salmon wrapped asparagus and skewered mushrooms. Not to mention the glass of Sacha Lichine, yums.

The second tapas platter was just as impressive as the first. Here we had beef, salsa and cheese layered tortilla (I think that was what we had but it was excellent, in any case), some chorizo tostada, and bacon wrapped asparagus. 3 reds were paired with this, my favourite being the Bordeaux from Thunevin Presidial.

Verdict: I’ve known for a long time that Nueva Cuba, like its Clarke Quay counterpart Cuba Libre, serves up the best mojitos in town. It’s good to know that they have now also expanded their wine list for the benefit of us wino-sapiens. Most importantly, they serve really delicious food! I see myself making return visits to further explore the food menu here.

Blu Restaurant

For my birthday, dear K offered to take me somewhere fancy for dinner. It was a happy dilemma, deciding between the various places marked on my foodie wishlist. It finally came down to Saint Pierre and Blu Restaurant - I'm so glad I picked Blu in the end - it could well be my best meal of 2011!

As mentioned in my earlier post, there's a 40% discount promotion going on. At full price, the Degustation Menu is $148++ and wine pairing is an additional $80 per pax. With the (40 is fabulous) discount, the bill for the 2 of us came up to (dare I say ONLY) $322. Sounds still expensive I know but trust me, for the food, ambience and service, it was totally worth every dollar. Both K and I were swept away.

There are 6 plates in all, 4 "appetizer" sized, 1 main followed by dessert. The Chef recommends based on what's freshest for the day. Me being me, I already researched Chef Cherkas' signature dishes I wanted to try. The menu they planned for us:

1st course (champagne served) - caviar buckwheat waffle for me, oyster for K

2nd course (white wine served) - lobster thermidor

3rd course - eggs came first

4th course - seabass for me, foie gras for K

5th course (red wine served) - tenderloin beef for me, ribeye for K

6th course (icewine served) - "breakfast dessert" for us both

Every plate was delicious. No, I am not exaggerating. The star for K was the lobster thermidor. He had his first bite and told me "I think this will be my favourite dish of the night". I am not a big fan of beef but I loved and savored every bite of my tenderlion.

The breakfast dessert too was a stunner - very novel idea of putting the "egg" on a plate with pictures of bacon, baked beans etc. The "yolk" was mango sorbet, the "white" was coconut and passionfruit mousse.

Sorry for gushing but can I backtrack to say that I also loved the warm onion loaves they served before the meal started? And the petit fours was candy floss cherry blossoms on a "tree" with dark chocolate chips as "soil". I regret not catching the names of all the wines we had but I was just too darn distracted by the food.

Thanks for the lovely dinner treat my dear!

Brussel Sprouts at East Coast

To mark my last day of being 32, I decided to check out the new outlet of Brussel Sprouts at the Playground, East Coast Park. We had earlier tried going there two months ago but it wasn't opened yet. They are one month old and I'm so glad I don't need to travel to Robertson Walk to satisfy my mussel cravings anymore!

It's a lovely location, overlooking the sea and the place has high wooden beam ceilings with a long bar at the corner. Perfect to chill out at on weekends. Service was a tad slow because it's a new outfit but the staff were generally attentive.

Tips

1. A must-order is the mussels in poulette broth (mushrooms, chicken stock, cream, butter, parsley) - it's so good I slurp up every drop while K looks on mildly embarassed. The free-flow fries are soooooo good, we polish off the whole lot and ask for more. I like the salad liegeoise (warm salad with green beans, bacon, onions, potatoes and poached egg) too.

2. Happy hours are daily till 8pm, I heart the leffe beers. They also do mussel promotions on weekdays and weekends.

3. Parking space is aplenty although if you are a beer guzzler I'd advise you not to drive :)

Shangri-La Hotel's Big 40

It just gets better and better. First, it was 38% discount off total bill, to celebrate their 38th anniversary. Then, it was 39% discount, to celebrate the 39th anniversary. This year is the 40 大寿 so from now till 31st July 2011, Shangri-La Hotel is offering 40% discount! It's true what they say, that life just gets better as you grow older hurhur.

The discount applies to The Line, Shang Palace, Nadaman, The Rose Veranda and BLU, for a maximum of 8 persons. Reservations can be made up to 40 days in advance and only online at http://dine.slsrewards.com.sg/.

Tips

1. I managed to snag a booking for 5 pax at the Line’s Thursday Seafood buffet last year and it was a fantastic deal. Originally $88++, each of us ended up paying only $63 nett – for copious amounts of fresh lobsters, oysters, prawns, crab (you get the idea) AND best of all, free flow of house wines, beer and juices! The free flow of booze only applies on Thursdays though so plan your reservation ahead of time.

2. My next target is to use the promotion to check out the degustation “Experience Menu” at BLU (original price $148++ per pax). I can’t wait! 6 courses left to the imagination of Chef Kevin Cherkas - previously from Lafite in KL, and stints at 3-Michelin stars Arzak and El Bulli. Woohoo – the gym can wait haha.

Wine Company @ Sentosa Boardwalk

It was one of the first places in Singapore to bring quality wines at affordable prices to consumers and I'm happy that Wine Company has done well for itself. Many a bottle and cheese platter I have lingered over in the good company of family and friends.

My usual hangout is at Dempsey or Woods, but when I heard that they opened a new outlet at Sentosa Boardwalk, I knew I had to go check it out.

Spot by the water, Mediterranean theme, this outlet definitely stands out from the rest. Luckily, the value-for-money concept still remains. We ordered a nice Fairview shiraz from South Africa (deep red, ripe plum aroma with pepper and some spice, good full finish) - $45, great price.

There's more on the menu in terms of food here. In addition to casual bites, they attempt more serious eats including coq au vin, lambshank and duck confit . We ordered the steamed mussels (just so-so), aglio olio (good - spicy and al dente), the cheese platter (can't go wrong) and tuna steak (favourite - nicely seared, semi-rare and juicy).

Tips

1. Make a reservation for either the indoor window seats or go alfresco if weather permits. You'll get a nice sunset view of the harbour. Also watch out for the buskers and stilt walkers.

2. Sign up for the your wine company card (ywcc). It's $21.40 for a year membership and it entitles you to 10% off all food and drinks, definitely worth the cost.

3. Park at Vivo City and walk to Sentosa Boardwalk. We didn't know and drove in to Sentosa before turning back out.

I hear there's another new outlet at Changi Village. Will be checking that out soon!