shiokadelicious!

Ember

I have been wanting to try this place for the longest time. Friends have spoken highly of the very good food served there. Magazines from New York to London to Sydney have lauded the unique design of the boutique hotel within which this restaurant is situated. However, for one reason or another, we have never made it to Ember – until recently. Finally, three Saturdays ago, fresh off the plane from New York, I was taken to dinner there.

Ember is the restaurant of Hotel 1929. This is a “designer” boutique hotel very similar to those now commonly found sprinkled throughout New York City. Housed in several restored conservation colonial shophouses in the heart of what used to be Singapore’s notorious red-light district, 1929 is a wonderful breath of fresh air amongst Singapore’s mass of uniform glass-marble-concrete luxuriant havens that are the 4- and 5-star hotels managed by global brands like the Ritz Carlton group and the Mandarin Oriental group. It is edgy, funky, fresh and a whole lot of fun. And yes, it is “hip”.

1929 is the brain-child of a young, obviously very courageous, entrepreneur, who despite the risks and odds, plonked down a few million dollars to buy a run-down piece of real-estate in a section of town, which although cleaned up and sanitized by the Government, was still not deemed particularly “tourist friendly”; spent another few million dollars to restore and renovate the buildings; and created what has become a trend-setting first in Singapore, and a hands-down winner. Just over a year after its opening, the hotel is now much sought after by foreign visitors (and locals too) as a unique and rather fashionable experience. It has brought renewed vigor to a part of the City that was in much need of an injection of life. Almost overnight, it has single-handedly and significantly upped the “hip & happenin’” quotient of the area.

However, enough about the hotel. If you would like more information about 1929, or wish to view a few pictures of the hotel, click here and here. And if you love the idea of a private al fresco bath and shower on a patio with a view of the Singapore skyline, then the penthouse suite in this hotel is the one for you when you visit Singapore!

Ember restaurant continues the mod chic look and feel of the hotel. Its predominantly cream and dark brown décor exudes a contemporary air. The lines are clean and spare. Large mirrors cover nearly all available wall space, drawing the eye out and maximizing the space of this small and cosy outfit. Even at full capacity, there is a feeling of spaciousness and openness with comfortable spacing between tables. The floor to ceiling glass frontage further extends the restaurant space onto the street outside, and makes it a great venue for people-watching.

It is interesting how the owners have managed to create a smart-casual ambience with very simple, almost budget materials. Tables are basic in design and make. Tablecloths are eschewed for monochrome textured placemats. Chairs are simple yet sleek and comfortable. Mirrors, curtains and glass create the spatial interests. It works. The whole package works. One almost doesn’t notice that the furniture and furnishings are not made of “designer” category materials. They look “designer”. And perhaps as testament to that, this 46-seater (yes, I counted – it’s a bad habit of mine) restaurant seems to draw a rather chi-chi crowd – mostly young, well-dressed, chic and fashionable couples or groups of friends.

From the moment we stepped through the glass doors, we experienced nothing but superb service. Smiles and warm welcomes were immediately forthcoming. And throughout the evening, the small but obviously well-oiled team of Sabrina, restaurant co-owner and wife-of-chef, and her three staff were everywhere they were needed, at the moment they were needed. Almost impeccably they walked the fine line between friendliness (but never familiarity) and professional efficiency and courtesy. They were unfailingly attentive and unobtrusive at the same time. Familiar faces were greeted by name as they arrived. Glasses were kept refilled and plates cleared in a timely manner. Even before a diner could stoop to pick up a dropped napkin, a staff was there to pick it up for her.

I have to say I was impressed that, upon being seated, we were asked if we would like iced or warm water. Now, this may sound like nothing much. But to me, it showed the level of customer sensitivity of the Ember team. You see, Asians have a peculiarity (or at least peculiar to the Western mind). It is common for people to request for warm (or even steaming hot) water rather than iced water in restaurants. Yes, even in our hot, humid tropical weather, we drink warm water. Almost all restaurants, especially “Western” restaurants will by default pour iced water as soon as the customer is seated. And it is then for the customer to indicate an alternate preference for warm water. So, this was a first for me. That they bothered to ask the customer, or that a choice was proffered without the asking. I was suitably impressed. Uppermost in their minds was not the need to be “high-class” or “westernized”, but to serve their clientele to the best of their ability. It augured well for an enjoyable evening ahead.

We started with fresh-from-the-oven, hot, crusty sundried tomato and herb bread. Home-made I presumed. It was good.

Again, instead of going down the well-trodden and all too familiar path of so many of the other restaurants of serving bread with rosemary-scented olive oil, here, the bread was accompanied by good old fashion butter. Don’t get me wrong, I like freshly baked bread dipped in olive oil, but it has become so de rigeur in restaurants, regardless of the style of food the restaurant serves, that it has become stale (excuse the pun) and just plain boring. Besides, surely there is not much that is more palate pleasing than a hunk of warm bread spread with a chunk of butter, real butter. I like their style, I have to say.

Our only gripe… it was one small bread loaf to every two persons. Each bread roll was cut into six small almost-bite-sized cubes. Three cubes per person, especially given how good the bread was, were hardly sufficient to even whet our appetite. One crusty loaf to each diner would not have been amiss. Nevertheless, the food started arriving soon enough, and we were content to feast our palates on the Chef’s deft creations.

The menu was streamlined yet comprehensive for a restaurant of this size. A fairly substantial selection of appetizers ran the gamut from foie gras and warm lamb salad to oysters, soft-shell crabs and crab cakes. Entrees seemed slightly more favored towards seafood – perhaps the Chef’s forte. There were several selections of cod and Chilean seabass alone. A scallop listing, a few pasta dishes, a lamb, a veal, a chicken and a few other dishes rounded out the offerings.

We decided to share the appetizers. We chose half a dozen oysters and the salmon cakes.

The large oysters (S$16 for half dozen; US$10) came lightly breaded, deep-fried, and accompanied by an array of six different dipping sauces. From right to left: wasabi aioli, Japanese mayonnaise, Thai-inspired lemongrass-chilli dip, “Oriental” peanut-chilli-Chinese peppercorn dip, onion-sesame dip, and orange vinaigrette-style dip.

We really liked the Thai-style dip. It was sweet and sour with a good amount of chilli kick. The lemongrass provided a wonderful, fragrant fillip to the sauce. A taste-bud tingling concoction! It was somewhat similar to the traditional dipping sauce served at Thai restaurants, only more viscous and somewhat chunky with slivers of lemongrass.

Two of the other sauces that we enjoyed were the onion-sesame and the orange vinaigrette. The latter was refreshingly zesty, while being nicely balanced out with a dash of possibly soy sauce and mirin. A lightly sweet, salty and tangy combination. Nice! The onion-sesame was a little hard to pinpoint and define – it was punchy yet subtle, slightly edgy yet suave, chunky yet elegant. Interesting. And tasty too.

The “oriental” dipping sauce, on the other hand, was not terribly inspirational – it tasted like a diluted, liquidy peanut butter-type base with a light touch of chilli and peppercorn. We skipped the Japanese mayonnaise altogether. It seemed such a shame to “waste” gorgeous oysters on a well-known condiment, when there were so many other interesting options available.

As she was clearing the plate, our server asked us which dip we enjoyed the most. She said the most popular were the wasabi aioli, the Thai-style dip and one other which I cannot now recall. We said we found the wasabi in the aioli too understated, and we could barely detect the horseradish’s flavor notes. She was surprised. She said many found the wasabi to be rather “strong”.

The oysters themselves were nicely plump and juicy. The crust was gorgeously golden brown and crispy. And best of all, with hardly any discernible greasy mouth-feel. Inside, the oysters were succulent, moist and tender.

This was a very enjoyable start to the meal. We liked the presentation. We liked the array of dipping choices. We liked the freshness of the ingredients.

This was described in the menu as “salmon cakes with homemade tofu with sweet mirin sauce” (S$10; US$6). The cakes looked interesting, but perhaps being served as they were with the oysters, they were overshadowed by the latter. The panko-crust (I think) had gone soft, almost soggy from sitting in the mirin sauce, which was rather disappointing.

Inside, it was more like “tofu cakes with salmon” rather than “salmon cakes with tofu”. There was but a very sparse sprinkling of small salmon morsels amongst the tofu.

The tofu itself was nicely soft. And although it had a slightly lumpy appearance, it was silky smooth on the palate.

We felt the dish would have been a lot more interesting texture- and taste-wise if the ratio of fish to tofu had been reversed. The salmon would have provided more bite and a richness of flavor, which unfortunately the tofu couldn’t quite provide. However, the sweet mirin-based sauce, which perhaps also had a dash of vinegar, soy sauce and maybe a little sugar, helped the cakes go down well. Nice. Just not a very exciting dish.

Other appetizers on the menu which had caught my eye were obviously the foie gras and also a warm lamb salad with leeks. Those are perhaps for my next visit.

After much dithering, I finally settled for the “braised veal cheeks with spices, garlic pomme puree and seasonal vegetables” (S$25; US$15) for my entrée. This was, in a word, spectacular. It wasn’t much of a looker, but oh, how wonderful it tasted. The veal was meltingly tender. Every bite quite literally almost melted in the mouth. Yet, it was nicely meaty. What I really enjoyed were the generous bits of the soft, tender, dissolve-in-the-mouth gelatinous bits, which are always the best part about eating veal cheeks.

The flavors of the cheeks were richly concentrated from the long, slow cooking process. The spices were finely tuned and rounded – no jarring notes, no over-dominance of one taste sensation over another. A nicely balanced and inspired concerto of flavors and aromas.

The garlic mashed potatoes were beautifully creamy and smooth, with only a subtle (to me anyways) hint of garlic undertones. It paired wonderfully with the veal. The seasonal vegetables were a mix of baby carrots, zucchini and a sprinkling of endame (soy) beans.

This dish was a hands-down winner. I was most reluctant to share more than the initial small tasting piece I had proffered to my dining companion. I think he would have happily devoured the entire serving!

I had a small taste of the “pan-seared Chilean seabass with mushroom and smoked bacon ragout, with truffle yuzu-butter sauce” (S$25; US$15). The ragout was outstanding. Each mouthful was exquisitely infused with the rich, smoky, earthy flavors of the bacon. The flavors were rich, bold and intense. Sensational!

The seabass, unfortunately, was rather nondescript in comparison. The unctuous nature of seabass (and cod) makes it a fish that is hard to cook wrong. Here, the flesh was nicely moist, succulent, flakey and juicy, and the skin was beautifully crisp, as would be expected. But other than that, it was too understated and mild. There were no interesting flavors to lift the naturally bland fish. Yet, at the same time there was a very emphatic, almost cloying buttery feel from the yuzu-butter sauce. When paired with the naturally fatty mouth-feel of the seabass, it proved a little too rich and heavy going for the palate.

Yuzu is a Japanese citrus fruit, the rind of which is often used to flavor sauces and dishes with its distinct aroma and fragrance, which is quite different from that of lemons and limes or other Western citrus fruits. Perhaps my taste-buds were jet-lagged and travel-weary, but I couldn’t detect the yuzu, or indeed the truffle elements in the sauce.

When we asked our server for dessert recommendations, she suggested three – the warm chocolate tart with Bailey’s ice cream, the warm banana tart with home-made lavender ice cream and a spiced coffee cake. I asked about the warm Valhrona chocolate cake. Her diplomatic answer: “I still prefer the chocolate tart”. And so we plumped for the warm chocolate tart and the banana tart.

We tackled the banana tart (S$8; US$5) first, as the ice cream was melting furiously on top of the tart. It was made tartin-style, with a thin, crispy-looking puff-pastry crust, layered with thinly sliced fruit, and finished off with a sweet glaze. We weren’t overly enthusiastic about the taste experience, unfortunately. The pastry wasn’t very crispy nor tender. It took a certain amount of effort to break off each mouthful of crust from the pie. It also tasted like the bananas used were of the “pang jiao” variety, rather than the firmer “pisang raja” variety. (Both are local South East Asian banana species, for which I don’t think there are equivalent English names.) “Pang jiao” doesn’t stand up to cooking very well – it turns mushy with hardly any bite.

The saving grace was the homemade lavender ice cream. Beautifully redolent with lavender fragrance and aroma, it was different and interesting, if a tad too sweet.

The warm chocolate tart with Bailey’s ice cream (S$9; US$5.50) was much more successful.

The short pastry crust was nicely thin and very crispy with a tender crumb. And when we broke through the thin crunchy surface of the chocolate, we were greeted by a most beautiful sight… a warm lava flow of thick rich chocolate filling. Ah! Chocolate heaven! The dark chocolate was rich, smooth and fairly refined, with just the right notes of bitterness balancing out the sweet. If I was to nit-pick, it would have been even better if the filling had been less liquid, and more molten in nature. That would have made it a chocoholic’s dream.

Although the “warm-molten-center chocolate dessert” idea is starting to be worked a little to hard by most “western” eating establishments, and is becoming a tad too common-place, it is still a crowd pleaser. Few can resist, unless you are one of the few people who doesn’t like chocolate, the sight, smells and tastes of rich, gooey chocolate.

Ember’s mini-tart version was a little different from the standard cake version, which made for a nice change. And it was well-executed. Excellent crust and a good chocolate filling. I would say one of the better versions in town in this price category. It was, for me, a wonderful chocolate fix.

The Bailey’s ice cream was good – a normal, but good-quality commercial version. Perhaps Haagen Daaz or similar.

As we sat back, and allowed all the different flavors and taste-sensations of our meal to sink in, we agreed it had been a wonderful dinner. The food was of a very high quality. The talent of the chef-and-co-owner, Sebastian Ng, was clearly evident. (In fact, just this past week, Sebastian won the Best Rising Chef award at the World Gourmet Summit Awards of Excellence, held annually in the Lion City). Overall, the dishes were executed competently with a sure hand, with only a few rough edges, which is par for the course even for the most exalted of chefs. Given the small, lean team managing the front of the house, we would imagine that the team helming the kitchen was also equally lean and streamlined. And yet, the dishes were well-prepared, and equally importantly, well-timed. We weren’t rushed through our various courses, and yet neither were we left wondering if our orders had been forgotten. Not an easy balance to strike on a busy full-house Saturday evening.

The prices were very reasonable, for this quality of food. A three course meal, without wine, could be comfortably had for around S$60-65 (US$36-39), inclusive of taxes, per person. That’s not bad in this City, where the median for comparable quality meals is easily around S$80-100.

During the day, the restaurant also serves Executive Set Lunches in addition to the regular a la carte menu. A three course set lunch, in which one gets to choose a starter and main from probably about 80% of the regular a la carte menu, is a very appetizing S$35, before taxes. A second set menu goes for S$24, before taxes. The dishes in this latter set are decided by the Chef, and the menu changes every Monday and Thursday. You can call ahead to find out what’s on the menu for the day.

I have to admit that I usually make repeat visits to only a small handful of restaurants. The reason being purely that one is always spoilt for choice when it comes to eating out in Singapore. With literally thousands of options to choose from, and new ones opening up almost every other week, there are always so many interesting outlets to explore and experience - and many of them are pretty good. So, the restaurant or eating place would need to strike a deep resonant chord in me with their combination of food, service and pricing for me to make it a “regular”. And for Ember, I think I would return, if for nothing else but the veal cheeks.

It is also a great place for business luncheons. The only small negative would be the less than perfect acoustics of the place when it is running at full capacity. But then again, this is hardly unique to this place and seems to be an inherent problem in a lot of the City’s restaurants.

Another detractor would be the limited street-side parking, both during the day and in the evenings. So ladies, either leave those Manolo Blahniks at home, or have yourself dropped off in front of the restaurant before your partner goes off in search of fairly elusive parking spaces.

Over all, this is a very nice place to come for high quality food, excellent service and reasonable prices… and of course to feel and be chic, fashionable and, dare I say it, hip. All without breaking the bank.

Ember
Hotel 1929
50 Keong Saik Road
Singapore 089154

Tel: 6347 1928
Fax: 6347 1925
Email: [email protected]

Open for lunch and dinner, Mondays to Fridays; dinner only on Saturdays.
Close on Sundays.

(Reservations are necessary on weekends and highly recommended on weekdays)

Copyright © 2004 Renee Kho. All Rights Reserved.
Please contact me for permission to copy, publish, distribute or display any of the images or text contained in this article.

Bacco

We had intended to dine at Da Paolo Il Giardino last night. But we had not made reservations, and after a couple of publicity mentions in the press lately, they were completely full and had no available table for us. So, we ended up having dinner at their next door neighbour, Bacco Italian Restaurant, which was, in contrast, very quiet with only about 5 tables occupied.

Very nice ambience – quiet and elegant. Food was very average.

Fegato – Duck Liver (S$22) (US$13). The outside was beautifully crispy, but the insides were a touch too underdone from what one would normally expect – a little too bloody for comfort. It came with a nice roasted fresh fig though.

Seafood Tagliatelle (S$20) (US$12). A very red dish! We’re talking bright red! They must have used extra red tomatoes. Only one small shrimp, half a scallop I think, a couple of small clam-like mollusks and the rest all squid.

Risotto Funghi a.k.a. “baby food” (S$20) (US$12). This looked really yellow and cheesy, but I was told it tasted very bland. It looked mushy on the outside but the center of all the rice were still hard and not cooked through. It was almost all rice with nary a mushroom.

Rack of Lamb (S$30) (US$18). Ok only.

Ossobuco (S$26) (US$15). Very, very fatty. After removing the obvious chunks of fat, only left with maybe ½ to 2/3 of the veal shank. Tasted very gamey.

Service left much to be desired. Most of the staff were fairly professional, however, one member was rather condescending and “uppity” with all the customers (not that there were many of these in the restaurant). I think we now know why.

Prices were high for the dining experience we got – the pricing still pretty much pre-Sars, pre-economic downturn prices. And I had thought that the days of restaurants “coercing” customers to pay S$8.00 for a bottle of mineral water, as the only water being offered, were long gone. Wrong! I had actually forgotten that such a practice existed!

There are many wonderful Italian restaurants in Singapore – a case in point would be the next door neighbor of this restaurant. Enuff said.

Bacco
501 Bukit Timah Road
#01-01 Cluny Court
Singapore 259760
Tel: 6465 5108

Food: 2½ / 5
Service: 1½ / 5
Ambience: 4 / 5
Price: $$$$$

S$15 & below : $
S$16-30 : $$
S$31-50 : $$$
S$51-75 : $$$$
> S$75 : $$$$$

Copyright © 2003 Renee Kho. All rights reserved.
Please contact me for permission to copy, distribute or display any of the images and text contained in this article.

Que Pasa

And so we sat, and chatted, and chatted, and chatted… In the meantime, the rainy, overcast skies gave way to sunshine, then to twinkling stars, as the street lamps lit and the café emptied out…

We adjourned to Que Pasa for dinner. This pub/bar has been around for ages (more than 10 or 15 years maybe?), and I haven’t been there in a good many years. It has since re-positioned itself as a Tapas Bar, with a fairly extensive menu of light finger food. Their dishes are not the traditional Spanish-inspired tapas, instead, definitely more along the lines of American bar food with touches of traditional English pub food. Serving sizes were also American-sized, rather than traditional tapas quantities.

I wasn’t expecting much… it’s a bar… and I guess one doesn’t really go to a bar for good food. But I was surprised, and very pleasantly so. The food was good!

The mini-burgers were juicy and succulent. Tasted like home-made real beef patties, not the frozen stuff. And the wedges were really good! Crispy on the outside, very fluffy on the inside, with a nice touch of cayenne and spice.

I really liked the beef stew too. (Sorry, no pictures). Very tender beef with just enough bite, and a sprinkling of crunchy tendon. It was served with fresh, crusty foccaccia, perfect for dipping into the very flavorful, rich gravy.

Very nice deep fried wings too. Very crispy – even after the wings had gone cold.

Only the Special Selection: Assorted Tapas didn’t do very much for me. [Only remembered to take the picture after most of it was devoured! But who said food blogs are always just about pretty pictures anyway] ; ) It was a selection of three types of olives, some sautéed mushrooms, thick slices of chorizo (I think) and slices of baguette topped with slices of firm Italian cheese (not sure which). I’m not an olives person, neither am I really a sausage person. Only tried the cheese and the mushrooms. Have to admit though, from the looks of the picture, my friend did a really good job! ; D

I really enjoyed the dinner. And being a week-day evening, it was nice and quiet. No ear-splitting music, heaving crowds, nor eye-stinging smoke. The pub was fairly empty, with a laid-back, almost serene atmosphere. For once I could take in and enjoy the architecture and décor of the re-stored Peranakan heritage house that the pub was situated in. It all reminded me of the family-like atmosphere of English pubs on Sunday afternoons, when families gathered for hearty, rustic English lunches. And so we sat, ate and chatted some more, late into the night. I liked it, I liked it a lot. Definitely worth a return visit to try out some of the other dishes on the menu.

Que Pasa
7 Emerald Hill Road
Singapore 229291
Tel: 6235 6626

Food: 4 / 5
Service: 4½ / 5
Ambience: 4 / 5 (on non-weekend nights)
Price: $$

$ <15
$$ 16-30
$$$ 31-50
$$$$ 51-75
$$$$$ >75

Copyright © 2003 Renee Kho. All rights reserved.
Please contact me for permission to copy, distribute or display any of the images and text contained in this article.

Isola

We had dinner at Isola last Sunday. We had noticed the 7-month-old small, cosy bistro/café whilst driving by many times previously, and finally decided to give it a try.

The bistro is small and cosy, decorated European-style - with dark wood furniture, gilded mirrors… Actually, I don’t remember much about the décor… my only sensory memory of the physical surroundings is just an overall sense of noise, smells and crampness. The place was almost full when we got there just after 7.30pm (we took the last available table inside). The total of 10 tables or so were all set very close to each other, due to the space constraints, and so each table’s conversations were competing against each other and against the fairly loud (too loud?) background piped music, as well as the noise coming from the open-concept kitchen. All the smaller tables, which we were at, were placed extremely close to the open-kitchen – our table was actually only about 2-3 feet away from the start of the kitchen counters! So it meant that the smells of the cooking clung tenaciously to our hair and clothes even hours after we had left the restaurant.

The food, on the whole, was fairly well-executed, although there were a couple of misses. The menu was kept small, featuring what the chef does best. The food is contemporary European, with a strong leaning towards Italian influences. We had ordered a pasta, a fish and a sandwich, along with a side dish of sautéed wild mushrooms and a starter of garlic bruschetta.

The garlic brushchetta (S$5.50+++) (~ US$3.30) was done with Italian ciabiatta bread (a crusty slipper-shaped bread – which is what “ciabiatta” means actually, a slipper), instead of the usual slices of baguette or French loaf, which was a nice surprise. Very crispy and garlicky, which we liked, but also very, very greasy – a bit too generous with the butter we thought. After only 2 small pieces each, we had enough.

The pan-fried seabass (S$21.00) (~ US$12.40) was well-executed – smooth, succulent, juicy flesh, and a nicely crisped skin. Unfortunately, it was somewhat bland – the fish had just a seasoning of salt and pepper before being pan-roasted. Perhaps it would have been nicer if it had been served with either a sauce or a flavorful, light broth, which would add flavor to the fish, whilst still keeping the dish light and healthy. We like seabass / cod a lot – it’s a fish with great texture, and one that is hard to cook “wrong”, but it is not a flavorful fish in itself, instead, its fatty flesh absorbs and carries very well all the flavors it is cooked or served with.

The menu had listed the fish as being accompanied by potato gratin and tomato ragout, however it came on a bed of boiled, unflavored spinach, and topped with some chicory tossed in a very light peppery vinaigrette.

The chef’s very light touch with flavors was again seen in the crab linguine (S$15.50) (~ US$9.00). I sneaked a taste… it tasted light and fresh. The crab sauce was made up of a light broth base, no tomato paste, and some finely chopped fresh tomatoes and parsley, and a light sprinkling of toasted pinenuts. The waiter had said it was a spicy dish, but we couldn’t taste any chillies or heat/spiciness at all. Nice dish if you are looking for pasta without strong, powerful flavors.

The steak sandwich with caramelized onions (S$12.00) (~ US$7.00) had looked interesting on the menu, so I ordered that as well. Compared to the two mains, this was at the other extreme of the flavor scale! Again, nice crusty ciabiatta was used. The small portion of fairly thick beef slices (not the thin slices that the waiter had promised) were heavily coated with a very strong black pepper sauce. Yet, even the overly strong taste of peppercorns was overwhelmed by the even stronger taste of the spread they had very liberally applied on the bread – we guessed it was maybe a combination of English mustard, mayonnaise, vinegar and maybe even a touch of wasabi? We couldn’t quite make out what ingredients had gone into the spread, but there was definitely an ingredient that had a really weird and unappetizing taste. Somehow the combination, whatever it was, just didn’t work… we cringed when we tasted it. So, I ended up taking the sandwich apart, scraping as much of the spread off as possible, and piling the rather tough, overcooked beef onto just the top half of the ciabbiata. Created a right mess on the plate I did. Quite a disappointment. The only saving grace I suppose was the rather nice store-bought packaged chips that came with the sandwich.

The sautéed wild mushrooms (S$3.90) (~ US$2.30) we thoroughly enjoyed though… beautiful balance of flavors, and sautéed just right. Flavorful. Yum!

For dessert, a listing of “Affogato” (S$5.50) (~ US$3.30) on the menu caught our eye… not something that is found very often in restaurants in Singapore. In fact, I haven’t seen it on any other menu in town. It sounds simple enough… vanilla-bean ice cream served with freshly-brewed espresso poured over it. We were intrigued… if done right, it would offer a wonderful taste experience of contrasts… the coldness of the ice cream melting into the hot espresso, the sweetness of the ice cream counter-balancing the bitterness of the coffee. Sorry, no pictures… we were too busy trying to slurp up the ice cream before it very quickly melted into the espresso! Can’t say we enjoyed it… the very small serving of ice cream meant that it had all melted within seconds, and the espresso was “over-done”. The very strong bitterness suggested that the coffee grind had been “cooked” too long. Unfortunately, all we ended up tasting was the overwhelming bitterness of the coffee and nothing else.

The same bitterness was experienced in their café latte… a bitterness which lingered and lingered on the tongue and in the mouth, long after dinner was over.

The service was very friendly, prompt and efficient. Everyone was quick with information and suggestions. Perhaps not very observant though… we had created a huge, messy pile of uneaten bread and scraped off fillings from the sandwich, yet we were never asked if the food was ok, or whether we enjoyed the food, or more importantly perhaps, what we weren’t enjoying about the food (as evidenced from the pile of “waste” on our plate). Oh well, maybe I’m just being nit-picking.

Overall, the food was definitely above average, the service very friendly, and the prices very reasonable. I think the chef has the right concept… trying to create light, healthy dishes using high quality, fresh ingredients and cutting out the heavy creams, butter and sauces etc. This is what a lot of people are looking for when dining out nowadays. And “light and healthy” and “full of flavor” are not mutually exclusive objectives. It can be done. My personal preference would be that the main courses be slightly more “flavorful”. And it would be good if the light touch extended to some of the other menu items, like the over-buttered bruschetta and the heavily flavored sandwich.

Would we return? Probably not, unless we were in the area, and wanted a quick meal. And not on a crowded weekend evening.

Isola
559 Bukit Timah Road
#01-01 Kings Arcade
Tel: 6467 8680

Food: 3/5
Service: 4/5
Ambience: 2/5
Price: $$

S$15 & below : $
S$16-30 : $$
S$31-50 : $$$
S$51-75 : $$$$
> S$75 : $$$$$

Copyright © 2003 Renee Kho. All rights reserved.
Please contact me for permission to copy, distribute or display any of the images and text contained in this article.