Whitebait and Kale

C says:

Had a fairly good dinner here on Saturday night to celebrate a friend’s engagement. Service wasn’t the best, cos it took ages for us to get a waiter’s attention to order some drinks before dinner, but the food was better than expected.

We all shared the deep fried whitebait, which was certainly very addictive and a lot lighter than fried calamari. I had the deep fried mozzarella salad with tomatoes and basil as a starter, and A had the grilled Portobello mushroom with seared scallops. The mozzarella was slightly disappointing, cos I was expecting the cheese to be creamier and richer, more like buffalo mozzarella. The mushroom and scallops were good, though.

I had the risotto with shrimp, asparagus and cherry tomatoes, drizzled with lemon oil. I like ordering risotto in restaurants cos it’s something I can never bother to make myself. This was quite refreshing, but towards the end it pretty much did me in; I guess all the starch just expanded in my stomach. A (as well as practically everyone else at the table) had one of the specials, the grilled rib-eye with chestnut-truffle mash and veal jus. The beef was pretty good, but the winner of the evening was the truffle mash. This ROCKED – the hint of truffle in the mashed potatoes, which were still lumpy enough to have some texture and bite, was really good.

For all my fullness, I still had to have a dessert so A and I shared an Earl Grey infused crème brulee. I thought this was pretty good, cos the earl grey fragrance took away the gelak-ness of the crème brulee. Unfortunately the general consensus on the rest of the desserts, like the profiteroles and the apple crumble, wasn’t quite as positive.

A says:

Steak was good but not as fantastic as the mash. My favourite was the crème brulee though. And considering I’m not a big crème brulee fan, that’s saying a lot. Was surprised that the place was as crowded as it was considering there’s nothing else there (and that the building is haunted…oooo). Overall, it’s quite nice, but the price means I wouldn’t go unless it’s for some occasion.