Ember

C says:

We celebrated our 10th (!!) anniversary at good ol' Ember. Judging by the clientele (ourselves included), Ember clearly doesn't bother trying to be the coolest place to be; it works on maintaining a consistent standard of excellent food, attracting regulars who want a good meal without the bells and whistles of the latest place to "be and be seen".

Because we went on a weekend, we didn't get to order the $100 4-course menu that lets you build your own menu from the a la carte selections - that's only available from Mondays to Thursdays. Luckily, their $88 menu happened to have "our" dish - the Chilean seabass so we both opted for the set.

To start, we had the crab cakes and the scallop carpaccio. The crab cakes definitely outshone the scallop, mainly because they were so aggressively flavoured in comparison.

For the next course, we had the deep fried tofu with foie gras mirin sauce, and the lobster bisque. Both are some of our favourite dishes there, as they represent exactly what we love about Ember - nothing fancy, no unnecessary ingredients, just very balanced flavours and great execution.

The Chilean seabass with bacon and mushroom needs no introduction, and as always, was comforting and satisfying. The beef tenderloin with red wine sauce was good too, but my loyalties are with the seabass.

Finally, A had the banana tart with vanilla ice cream, and I had the pear tart with Baileys ice cream. I think kitchen was in a bit of the weeds at this point, because all the tables seemed to be waiting for their desserts. Eventually they arrived - A's was better than mine this time. The pear tart was weighed down somewhat by the streusel topping.

I know we rave about Ember every year, but I love how a meal there, while not chi-chi or particularly current, is dependably always satisfying. A bit like us, eh?

A says:

Always awesome. Definitely a reliable favourite.