Osia again

C says:

After that very impressive lunch at Osia, we’ve been planning a trip back at dinner, and got our chance when we again persuaded W and M to accompany us on Saturday night.

I’m afraid our experience this time wasn’t quite as awesome as our first visit at lunch. Maybe because we no longer had the element of surprise, or perhaps the price that you pay really does affect your expectations of your dining experience, but the general consensus was that the food may have been good, but it certainly wasn’t worth the price compared to lunch.


A and I started with the Seafood Ice Experience – a selection of 6 flavoured granitas, ranging from blood orange to lychee margarita, and each paired with a different seafood, like oyster, salmon tartare and scallop. This was interesting purely because it was so novel, but taste-wise I’m not sure that I liked any of them enough to order this again.


I’ve been eyeing the green asparagus risotto since I first saw it on the menu. The description just called to me – risotto with asparagus, 62 degree egg, black truffle and parmesan crisp. This wasn’t too bad; the egg was really good and acted like an instant sauce, but I found the risotto a bit too stiff and not oozy enough.


A’s main course was delicious – a sampler of marron (some kind of crayfish), diver scallop and smoked cured cod, served with whipped potato, peas and a crab essence. The crab essence was super flavourful and all the seafood was really well cooked, but $60 for a tiny plateful that can be wolfed down in about 8 bites?!


W’s main course is worth a mention. It was Black Angus beef tenderloin with a blueberry risotto and bone marrow sauce. The beef was perfectly medium rare, and while the risotto seemed a bit disconcertingly sweet, I think it went quite well with the dish as a whole.



M had his valrhona chocolate soup, and the 3 of us shared the macadamia tart and a cheese platter of blue cheese with muscatel grapes and truffled honeycomb. The cheese with the honey was excellent; the macadamia tart was a tad overpowering and curry crumble that came with it was interesting but perhaps just a bit too interesting for me.

Service was still good, but as it was more crowded, we didn’t get as personalised service as we did previously. When we ordered the flatbread, we were slightly disappointed to get the tomato basil dip again, since they only serve one type a week, so what are the odds that we’d get the same one again? Towards the end of dinner, I noticed that the table next to us had the smoked eggplant dip. I was a bit upset – we had 2 orders of flatbread tonight so the least they could do was to give us 2 different dips right? I raised this with the waiter, who apologetically said they had to break out the new dip because they’d run out of the previous one, and nicely offered to let me try a tube of the eggplant one. (For the record, the tomato basil one is much better)

Also, when the grill in the kitchen is in full force, it can get pretty smelly in the restaurant so I’d recommend that you ask for a table further from the kitchen.

A says:

Awesome meal. But is it worth the price? I think not. Seriously, my main was finished in 6 bites. While I would wholeheartedly recommend the set lunch here, the dinner portions are tiny.

OsiaResorts World Sentosa
L2, FestiveWalk
Tel: 6577-6560
Lunch:
Sun-Wed: 12:00pm – 02:30pm, Thurs-Sat: 12:00pm - 03:00pm
Dinner:
Sun-Wed: 6:00pm – 10:00pm, Thurs-Sat: 6:00pm – 10:30pm

Osia

C says:

An early contender for Best of 2011! It was purely by chance that we came here, since I’d never heard of Australian chef Scott Webster so this new “celebrity restaurant” at Resorts World has never been on my radar. But we were here for the Valentino Retrospective exhibition and thought we’d make the most of our outing by trying something interesting for lunch.

They have a very good set lunch, which I think (but can’t be sure until we try it for ourselves) is also available on weekends - $28 for 2 courses, and $38 for 3 courses. You can choose between 4 choices for the starter and main, but dessert is fixed.


We read good reviews about their flatbread, so decided to order one 2-course, one 3-course, and share an order of flatbread. We were drawn to two of the flatbread flavours – rosemary and black olive, and roasted garlic and butter – and when we told the waiter about our dilemma, he said we could order it half and half. Perfect!

The flatbread comes with a dip, conveniently packaged in a tube, and it apparently changes all the time. We’d read about the hummus, but today we got tomato and basil, which was fabulous – perfectly balanced, not too sweet nor too tart. The bread was very good, and coupled with the excellent dip, the meal was off to a very good start. If I had to choose, I’d say the rosemary and olive flatbread was just that much better.



Our starter choices were no brainers. A had the salmon tartare with a wasabi ice cream, and I had the polenta-crusted foie gras with a honey sponge cake. Both were excellent, and it was a smart decision crusting the foie gras with the polenta. Getting a nice crust on a seared foie gras can be quite difficult, so lightly breading it so that it had an instant crust was a good idea.


I had the hanging tender steak, and A ordered the Barramundi. Given my sole previous experience with this cut was at Meatworks, I hoped this would be a better gauge of what the cut is like. This was interesting. It was definitely better than the Meatworks one, but it definitely wasn’t fillet tender. It was still kinda chewy, but not in an overcooked or sinewy way. Still, it was cooked well and very flavourful.


A’s fish was very good, and I dare say better than mine. The fish was perfectly cooked and the skin was nice and crispy (why can’t I cook my fish skin like this!). The accompanying mash was also very good.


We shared the dessert, which was their signature dessert anyway – the hot Valrhona chocolate soup with black pepper ice cream. This sounded a bit strange, but actually the pepper was very subtle. The chocolate soup was actually more like a lava cake baked into the ramekin, and while it was a tad too chocolate-y for me, it went well with the ice cream.

We had one waiter who was amazing. Very polite and friendly, suggested the half and half flatbread, and even indulged us when we asked if they sold their dips (alas, they don’t). We’re definitely planning a return visit for dinner.

A says:

Awesome service from our waiter. And the lunch set is an amazing deal. A definite contender for best of 2011.

Too bad it’s at Resorts World which limits how often we’d go. And too bad they probably see their share of irritating tourists. I pity the wait staff there.

Osia
Resorts World Sentosa
L2, FestiveWalk
Tel: 6577-6560
Lunch:
Sun-Wed: 12:00pm – 02:30pm, Thurs-Sat: 12:00pm - 03:00pm
Dinner:
Sun-Wed: 6:00pm – 10:00pm, Thurs-Sat: 6:00pm – 10:30pm