relish-mania

it was the third time going to relish today and instead of going for the normal wildrocket burger (which is sublime by the way), we opted for the spicy crabmeat linguine with tomato cream and the much raved about charsiew burger.

now, this would be the third time giving the linguine a chance. The first time we had it was ok but nothing to rave about. In fact, we didn't have it. Y had it and she doesn't even take spicy food. We just tried a mouthful. It was aight, but not whoa-gimme-some-of that. After reading so much about how absolutely scrumptious it was, we decided to give it a second shot at Wild Rocket. Sadly, we weren't too impressed by it then and P was adamant that the chilli tomato crabmeat linguine with pinenuts at Marmalade Pantry would beat the version at Wild Rocket hands down.

So it was with apprehension that we ordered that instead of the wild rocket burger. And it was whoa tonight. Like really, whoa. Wild Rocket has always been known to serve good pasta, their pasta is always perfectly al dente and this was no exception. But even more than that, today's pasta really created a symbiosis with the tomato cream, a perfect amalgation. It was also a lot spicier than the last time which was really good. True, they weren't crazy generous about the crabmeat, but there was always a sufficient amount in every mouthful. The best part about it was that the crabmeat had actually 'fused' with the pasta so that they are one and the same. You know how you always end up with a lot of crabmeat after downing the pasta because the crabmeat doesn't 'stick' to the pasta so you don't end up eating much crabmeat during your meal and find a whole lump of it after you have finished all your pasta? Well, no worries about that today. Every mouthful was blessed with a chockful of crabmeat and equally coated in that delicious cream, so that you really do eat crabmeat linguine instead of crabmeat and linguine. Kudo to Relish for that!

Now, for the star of the meal. The charsiew burger. FWAH. It was so good. It was sweet and savoury the way charsiew should be. Although it didn't really taste like charsiew. It was more of a cross between charsiew and the sauce for kongbak bao. And I have to admit that when it was served, it looked like a lump of black substance above toasted bread. Very not appetising indeed. But boy was it good. From the first bite, I was stunned for a while because the taste was so unexpected. The meat was tender (apparently quite fatty but we took the fat off) and so so well-marinated. I'm not a fan for pork and apparently, it is poison for all blood types (I've been reading up on the blood type diet) but this is one poison I would die for. The bread, well, nothing to shout about, but hey, they're not a bakery so I'm less fastidious about that.

Interestingly enough, this burger was not slated to be a hit at all. They had only included the burger because they wanted more variety. Since we have beef, chicken lamb, seafood, hey let's throw in some pork kinda thing. And it was charsiew so Wilin and Sam (boss and manager respectively) did not expect the burger to be such the success it is. And according to Sam, it is his favourite burger. Fantastic.

Dinner was extremely enjoyable. I just love Relish for its gorgeous ambience, the high ceilings and understated chicness. It's like casual for the high-living man. And Sam, who we thought would to be reserved initially, turned out to be quite a lively character, sitting and joking with us a good portion of the meal. From pretty but dao girls at Island Creamery to Wilin as Cleo's top 50 EB to even Daiso and 1.99 shop, maybe next time he will direct sit down and eat with us.Maybe we will really be part of the Wilin Empire in future!

We set up an appointment for Friday lunch, my favourite burger place with (one of) my favourite people. :)