Friday Lunch At L'Olivier

This place was barely 2 days old when we decided to give it a try for our weekly Friday lunch. Expectations were a little high, based on initial biased reviews, but then again, I hadn't eaten breakfast, so any food is good food for me that day.

We arrived to a very empty restaurant in the heart of the financial district. I guess word of mouth hadn't gotten round the block yet. Which was a good thing - we were ensured a nice quiet meal. The waiter brought us to the corner of the restaurant with booth seats, a great vantage point to check out the rest of the room and the people strolling past outside.

The set lunch for S$26.00++ looked tempting, and a good deal, so we decided to give it a try, along with the house wine on promotion for the month. My squid fritters appetizer was accompanied by grilled eggplant slivers, salsa and pesto sauce, and tasted ordinary, but well prepared. The main course of pan fried seabass was also well done, with a good creamy hollandaise sauce and pomme noisette. Again, nothing out of the ordinary, but delicious nonetheless. The dessert was a plum tart that was excellent, and we also ordered a serving of profiteroles to share.The chocolate sauce was a bit sweet, could have been more bitter with some quality Valrhona chocolate add to the mix. For the price, this was a very good meal, and we had a good time. The dinner ala carte menu looked more tempting, and we'd definitely be back to give it a try soon.

L'Olivier is located at 137 Telok Ayer Street, downtown Singapore. Tel: +65-6227-6022

Edward Voon - Still Magnificent

The first blog I posted here featured Aurum, a now-defunct restaurant at Clarke Quay, helmed by Chef Edward Voon. Penang-born Voon is, in my opinion, one of the most daring chefs on our shores. I am happy to hear that he will soon become Singaporean as this may reduce the likelihood of him leaving for more receptive climes overseas AND I can selfishly continue to enjoy his beautiful and tasty creations.

Ed is now Head Chef at the Tower Club at the top of Republic Plaza and currently their best kept secret around. He tells me that he can arrange a 6-course set lunch for $40 if we call ahead. I can't believe he has not opened his own restaurant yet but I am sure he will find a willing tycoon somewhere to finance a culinary home of his own in time. I had the privilege of having a farewell dinner for a friend planned at the restaurant and luckier still that Chef Voon decided to test his new "tapas" concept menu on (lucky) us. Just be warned that unlike Tippling Club or even Fifty-three, you will not leave hungry. On this evening we had a 23-course dinner of various shapes and sizes :

1. Foire gras in port wine reduction
2. Tomato biscuit
3. Walnut sponge
4. Green olives
5. Evaporated strawberries
6. Carrot wafer
7. Parmesan cut sandwhiches
8. Crispy bread sheets with olive oil emulsion and olive oil butter
9. Daquiri
10. Beef tendon with bone marrow dip
11. Ravioli with olive oil & shrimp
12. Sangria
13. Lychee passion fruit Caviar
14. Parma ham topped with bread crumbs
15. Caprese salad, tomato soup filled with mozarella garnished with breadcrumbs, balsamic vinegar and pesto.
16. Spanish omelette with caramelised onions and potato
17. Mushroom essence spaghetti with truffle and chive
18. Poached egg (Parmesan cheese) on birds nest (liquified morel mushrooms).
19. White truffle soup with chocolate soil and mozarella
20. Salmon with mustard
21. Suckling pig
22. Yogurt mochi with berries
23. Chocolate ganache, cake, drop, parfait and purée

Pietrasanta at Portsdown

Was looking for something new to take my folks out to lunch on a Friday, and I happened to remember this new Italian restaurant right in the heart of Portsdown Road in Singapore. Not exactly the lunch crowd gathering spot, so I figured this would be a quiet place for a family meal. We reserved a table inside the cozy restaurant adorned with simple homely decorative items, which reminded me a lot of the old Cantina restaurant down the road from where we stay.

The menu was quite extensive, covering everything from appetizers and soups to entrees with pasta, seafood and main courses of meat, pizza and specials of the day. The only thing that seemed to be missing from the menu was carpaccio. Maybe there was a reason, but I didn't ask. The waitress went on and on about the specials of the day, and I lost track of what I wanted to order from the menu. We ended with most of the special dishes - burata, grilled portobello, chestnut flour crepes and the squid ink pasta with crab meat in tomato sauce.

The appetizers of burata, served with parma ham and arugula, and the grilled portebello with minced meat topping were both equally good. But it was the mains that we liked best. The chestnut crepe was filled with layers of ham, mushrooms and cheese and baked till crispy. It had a most unusual flavor and tasted amazing, My squid ink pasta dish was even better, the tomato sauce was a good tangy complement to the sweetness of the fresh crab meat. Needless to say, we cleaned up our plates and left no room for dessert. So that will have to wait another day. I'm very impressed with the quality of food at Pietrasanta, it's definitely a much better choice that Soprano's across the driveway.

Pietrasanta is located at 5B Portsdown Road, next to Klee and Soprano's.

Rocks Urban Bar & Grill, The Sail, Singapore

My search for high-quality set lunches around our fair little city-state continued with my visit to Rocks Urban Bar & Grill. Started by Emmanuel Stroobant and Roxan Villareal, Rocks has a nice and different location with what will be a good view of the new Sands resort. Currently, we were treated to mounds of brown earth where grass will be in the future.

The set lunch seemed to be a good deal at $38++ and the warm bread that they served us while we surveyed the menu made us feel very optimistic about the quality of food we were about to partake in. Of course, we had champagne to accompany our meal.

For starters, one MUST try the Kingfish Ceviche with fleur de sal, chili, lime and shallot. Tasting this took me back to the best ceviche I ever enjoyed on Isla Espiritu Santo, Mexico, where the ceviche was chilled and fresh while the beach I was on was warm and beautiful. Of course, this was served on a plate while the other one I had was served on a tostada shell out of a cooler box. Their other signature dish is the Sizzling Beef Maki served on a hot rock which the waiter assured us did not come from the wall decoration. I usually hesitate ordering oysters from new restaurants as there is very little margin for error and perhaps insufficient turnover for freshness. However, these coffin bay oysters were lovely. Even the one amongst us who usually avoids oysters, declared them the tastiest that she's ever had.

The mains did not disappoint. I had the Rocks Cheeseburger which was extremely filling and I found myself with leftovers. It did not help that it was accompanied by french fries which actually tasted very good despite my food portion exceeding my stomach space. The Seafood Skewers were grilled to perfection. Fragrant from the grill, even the squid was not rendered chewy. Wonderful. Of course, one must try the Wagyu Tenderloin, it was very well flavoured but not overwhelmingly so. The Cod Papillote Provencale with tapanade was also very nice. The flavours were subtle and blended very well with the fish.

The set lunch is an extremely good deal for the amount and quality of food that you get. The service was impeccable and they hosted our birthday celebration with efficiency and graciousness. They even offered to sing a birthday song, which we opted to do ourselves in the end. I would definitely put this place on my "Friday lunch with Friends" list.

Rocks Urban Bar & Grill
2 Marina Boulevard
The Sail . # 02 – 01/02
SINGAPORE 018987
Phone: 64384404