hooked II

Did we not say previoulsy that we were hooked on Hooked?

For a number of reasons, Sheryl and I found ourselves back at Hooked for lunch last weekend. Well, truth be told, we didn't plan on coming back here quite so soon. Neither was this place our first choice for lunch.

Reason 1: We both had a busy morning and could only do lunch at 2. By this time, all the places we had intended to visit were just about rounding up their lunchtime orders.
Reason 2: We were near the area and didn't want to travel too far for lunch.
Reason 3: We had originally wanted to go to Sushi Tei at Thomson Plaza but were instantly repelled from the shopping centre by the LONG line of cars waiting to enter the carpark. (Why is there ALWAYS a queue to enter the carpark on weekends? Always. No matter what time in the day you go, there's a queue. And when it's raining outside? Oh man, don't even get me started on that) Being at the mercy of the few good restaurants located in the area, Hooked thus presented itself as a viable alternative.
Reason 4: We didn't want something too heavy as a late lunch would mean we would still probably be filled by dinner and, being the foodies that we are, we weren't about to let anything mess with our dinner. (Yes, we make it a point to have 3 meals a day, no matter wat. Having more is always welcomed. But 3 at the minimun. No two ways about it)
Reason 5 (and perhaps the most poignant one): We were hungry and needed to fill our stomachs. Pronto.

So Hooked it was to be again.

As with our previous visit, the restautant was quite empty when we got there. Worryingly so actually. Save for two other tables and us, there were no other patrons for the entire time we were there. Then again, it could also be because it was rather late to be having lunch. Quite a few groups of people walked past the restaurant though, but they merely gleamed through the menu, and left.Why people? Why? Does the menu not interest you?! Come on! it has over 100 items! Surely you can find something that catches your eye? Hell, I don't even like fish and I already know what I'm having my next visit there. Aye, next time, just go in. I promise you you won't be disappointed.

Again, we had a tough time deciding what to order. Everything on the menu looked so good, we wanted to try everything. That was when I had an epiphany (or rather when I just got greedy). Why not order a combo? That way, we would get to sample a little of everything. Closest thing to ordering everything on the menu we could get, I say. And so we did just that. Lover's platter for two. Steamed snapper with asaparagus, grilled half-shell scallops, baked squid, grilled prawns, fries. Call me greedy but I had expected the plate to come teeming with glorious seafood. But by golly, look at the white expense of the platter! (Think the seafood platter for two at Fish & Co and this serving seems like it was meant for 1. Ok, 1.5 people at most.)

No I'm serious about this. Someone (else) should tell them to increase the size of their portions.

The baked squid was adequately prepared. Slightly firm to the bite but not overbaked till the point where it became rubbery. It came with a mayo-like dressing which I thought added a pleasant dimension of flavor to an otherwise uninspiring dish. Maybe it's because I prefer my squid grilled, slightly charred around around the edges and boasting of smokey flavor. Sheryl didn't take to this dish as readily though as she's never been a "mayo-groupie".

Next was the steamed snapper. The steamed snapper was served steaming hot. It was a bit tough but snappers are tougher fish. I quite liked this dish, the broth(?) was delightfully tasty. Infused with the succulence of seafood and laced with a tinge of lemon, this broth was light and invigorating and reminiscent of homemade goodness. The taste was clean and brisk, keenly sapid yet not overbearing. This went particularly well with the rice pilaf that we ordered, although the rice pilaf is a far far far cry from the one at Canopy.

The prawns were, in my opinion, the best offering on the platter (I think Sheryl would contend this though. I have a feeling she prefered the fish). Albeit being a little on the small side, the prawns were firm to the bite and blanketed in a delicious creamy sauce. The sauce actually tasted like ba-hu to me, a mixture of savoury and sweet. The combination was strikingly successful and was a bit reminiscent of lobster mentai for me, except with the added taste of pork floss.

The baked scallops were a let-down. For starters, they were overbaked. As a result, the shellfish had atrophied and became really tough to the bite. Sheryl literally had to pry the scallop from its shell. The butter sauce used to flavor this dish teetered on the overbearing side which I felt took away from the natural sweetness of the shellfish. They offer this as a starter too but my vote would be to give this a miss and try the salmon wonder rolls instead.

Hooked! Leaving second time satisfied and awaiting our 3rd visit there. Hmm, sometime next week perhaps, Sheryl? Anyone wanna join us? !

Hooked!
203 Upper Thomson Road

Bobby's

We had wanted to check out the new restaurants at Cuppage Terrace and found ourselves in Bobby's. There is quite a story behind Bobby's as we later found out from the Manager, Desmond, who turned out to be quite a character. (If you do make a trip there, be sure to steal a conversation with him. You wil be thoroughly entertained)

Well, rumour has it that Bobby's was originally known as Bobby Rubino's, the restaurant at Chijmes. It was set up and owned by a Canadian couple who got into trouble with the law and sold the business off to an enterprising lady in the finance industry named Susan. She chose a new name for a restaurant, hired a new team, launched a new menu and Wala! Bobby's was born.

Yeap. I hear you. AS IF it were that easy right? Well, seems easy enough that Bobby's just set up its second branch at Cuppage Terrace.

The first thing that struck Sheryl and I when we entered the restaurant was how discordant everything seemed to be. From the zebra-print couches, to the plasma TV showing ESPN to the piped-in hip hop music, everything about the restaurant screamed incongruous. "Think of this restaurant as an American restaurant with an African beat" was what we were told by Desmond.

Uhm, ok Desmond, whatever floats your boat. I guess sometimes incongruity can be lost by novelty-seekers? Perhaps others would like the feel of this retaurant. But us? not so much. Give me either Africa or America. I don't understand the concept of an African-America. Or an American-Africa for that matter.

Moving on to serious business, the menu. Don't expect any surprises here. Yes, the menu is rather extensive. Yes, some of the food do sound appetising. But if its eye-catching, attention-grabbing, EAT-ME-NOW kind of food you're after, Bobby's is not the place for you. Bobby's offers standard American fare. We're talking Pizza, Pasta, Burgers and Grills here.

Bobby's is having a discount for lunch-goers. Order a main course between 12noon - 3pm and get a Caesar salad and dessert on the house! We had 2 of their signature dishes; ribs and the beef burger. Unfortunately, the beef burger did not qualify as a main and did not come with the promotion. This, as we later found out, was to be a good thing. Be warned that the servings here are huge. For a moment there, I felt like Gulliver in Brobdingnag.

The Caesar Salad, pressumably. I don't know about you but this did not look like a Caesar Salad to us. It was more like a garden salad served with some random tasting dressing that they tried to pass off as Caesar. Oh not that it was bad or anything. It was passable. Just definitely not Casesar dressing. So more like a Garden Salad served with a dressing that tasted remotely like Caesar. Need I say more about the incongruity of this place?Next up, the ribs. Mind you, this is the smallest order of ribs they offer. The menu reads "the lighter appetite". I'm not sure I want to know how big "the steel city rack" would be. These ribs were succulent and finger-licking good. I appreciated that the BBQ sauce wasn't too overbearing that it took away from the taste of the ribs. That said, I've had better and I felt that the ribs were a bit tough and did not fall off the bone. The coleslaw served with the ribs was forgettable too. The cabbage was limp and lifeless, as if it had been soaking in the slaw dressing for far too long. I've had better- at KFC.

Sheryl had the beef burger. We had asked for it to be medium-rare but it came more like well-done. No blood! No sweet blood! Nonetheless, the patty was juicy and flavourful. It was rather decent. It was supposed to come with Swiss Cheese but came with a disappointing thin slice of Kraft Cheddar Cheese look-a-like, taste-a-like. It wasn't even melted properly and it lacked that glorious cheese-in-every-nook-and-cranny, stretchy, gooey, wonderful cheesy thing. In fact, I thought that the amount of cheese was too pathetic and was completely lost in that gigantic patty.

The apple pie was great. The apples were not cooked till they were mushy but instead retained that firmness and crunch. It was not sickeningly sweet either and was in fact all rather tart. It looked more like a mini-chicken-pie, the size of a tart, that you can get at Delifrance. In fact, it tastes like that too. The pastry was commendable. Very buttery and nicely browned. I'm just not sure I would come back to Bobby's just for it.

Bobby's. Definitely a place to go if you're into food sharing. Or if you have one helluva appetite. But, with the myraid of options diners have at the revamped Cuppage Terrace, its easy to overlook this restaurant in favor of the other, more unique, ones.

P.S We didn't take many photos this round as we got stopped by Desmond who told us that they had a 'no food photography' policy lest other restaurants follow their recipes, presentation etc. This I don't understand. How can you copy a recipe from a photo? And seriously now, how many different ways are there to plate a burger or ribs?

the canopy@Aramsa

I can't believe it took me this long to come to this gem of a restaurant. It's nestled in the heart of Bishan Park II and so very convenient. I read a few bad reviews of this place online but I've also heard some good stuff about this place from friends who have been here so it was with mixed feelings that I came here. I loved it.

For one, the ambience is amazing. Stashed away from the glaring street lights, shrouded beneath the lush green foliage of the park, all within the vicinity of your own home. From the moment you step out of your car, you're greeted by the warm light that beckons you towards the restaurant. You're in the heartlands but it feels nothing like it.

It's so peaceful and quaint; and not in the least bit pretentious that many restaurants in Singapore are like. Even in the restaurant, people were joking and laughing merrily, clinking of glasses and hearty guffaws could be heard from tables all around us. It was very comfortable and yet very elegant. No forced hushed whispers or anything like that. I see joggers and dog-walkers ending their day off here, it is such a fantastic whimsical joint.
Grilled Snapper Fillet with Moroccan flavours served with rice pilaf. The fish was way way way too overdone. It was hard. Normally when I eat fish, I can cut the fillet using just a fork. I had to use my knife for this fish. It was so tough it was more like chicken. Snapper tends to be tougher but this was obviously way too overcooked.

The moroccan sauce was unusual. I quite liked it. It was a very intense tomato-based sauce with roasted red peppers undertones. I liked how tangy it was and the slight spicy punch the peppers gave. It was not fantastic but it was unique. Sharon HATED it. She wanted to gag because she hates hates hates roasted peppers. I guess that means no moroccan food for her in future.

Now, the star of the meal is not the fish, not the sauce but the rice. The rice is amazing. I don't know why but it tastes like chicken rice. It's probably cooked in chicken broth. It is amazingly fragrant and gorgeously savoury. Raisins were sprinkled into the rice and anything with raisins works for me. The raisins gave a nice burst of sweetness when bitten into and that complemented the rice very nicely. It was very refreshing, to say the least. I also liked that they added toasted almond slices to it. The rice was fluffy; the raisins were plump; and the almond's crunch really pepped things up. It brought a fascinating contrast to the already differring textures. The rice is the thing to go for here.

We also ordered Duck Meatballs with Fettucine and fresh herbs.

The pasta was overdone but it was very tasty. It was engaging and sapid, with a faint aftertaste of the duck.

I thought that the meatballs tasted of duck but Sharon thought that they tasted like normal meatballs. I could smell the distinct aroma of duck as I bit into the meatballs. I think this dish is not bad at all. The only thing is that it was a bit oily.

The serving is small and I think deliberately so, because one gets very jelat of the taste after a while.

We wanted to order the flourless chocolate cake but they were out of it so we opted for strawberry shortcake as recommended instead. It's more like apple pie than strawberry shortcake, except that in place of apples they used strawberries. I wouldn't say that it is spectacularly good but it is pretty good. It tastes very homemade, old-fashioned and is exceedinly comforting. The vanilla added a wonderful warm touch to this dessert and I was properly satisfied by it.

All in all, I enjoyed my dinner very much. I guess the bad reviews stemmed from people ordering the wrong dishes (as is the usual case) because the food was really not bad! So the trick, is to order what the restaurant is known to be good for, and not hazard a guess from the descriptions. That's why food reviews are important, so you know what to order and what not to.

The Canopy @ Aramsa
1382 Ang Mo Kio Ave 1

Bishan Park II

hooked on hooked!

ok people. I eat my words. I said that there was no good food in the North. I said that when right across Meng Kitchen, there was Hooked!

This is not their flagship outlet, the original is at Upper Bukit Timah but I've never tried that. To be honest, it would never have crossed my mind to even consider this place. We wanted to try the Vietnamese place along Upp Thomson Road but it closed down. It was late, we had just gone to the gym and I was starving. I'm positive Sharon heard my stomach growl.

I must say they have a very extensive menu. I think there were 700 plus items in their menu! I deduced this because the last item on their menu had a number 700-something. Although I must admit that their first item started on 100-something. (Ee. Play cheat) But really, in all honesty, their menu is very interesting and very extensive. I was quite blown away by the variety.

After we ordered, we waited a long time for our food to come. I fell asleep at the table. Yes, I did, like Goldilocks.

We ordered Salmon Wonder rolls. Thin slices of Salmon fillet spread with Medelov sauce, wrapped with asparagus carrots, topped with fish roe and slow-baked till just under-cooked. 3 for $10.90. (Kill people set fire)

But, it was good. Boy did they deliver. Wonder rolls they say? Wonder rolls they are. It was not fishy at all and salmon normally is. The crunch of the asparagus complemented the salmon's molten texture perfectly. The sauce was brilliant and the fish was done just undercooked, just like they promised. I enjoyed this thoroughly.

Roasted Cod in Lemongrass Miso. This is how they described it: Generous portion of Cod steak roasted till the full aroma of the lemongrass miso comes through.

When this first came, I thought to myself. This dish is not going to be good. I've never been so wrong. It is ohmygawdicantbelieveit-good. If I thought the wonder rolls were good, these were magnificent. I have nothing but glowing reviews for it. This cod is truly ambrosial. It was remarkably fresh and the miso sauce was sensational.

I think the service staff thought we were weird. We kept stuffing fish into our mouths all the time muttering "wahlaueh this is damn good". (Eh. When I say wahlaueh, its really wahlaueh.) Utter disbelief at how good this tasted.

The texture was faultless. It was so tender you can't pick it up with a fork. That's not all. Despite the fish being so gloriously tender, the skin was astoundingly crispy. As I chewed on it, I literally heard the crackling of the skin. And that magnificent collagen-providing fat under the skin was so succulent so soft. "Oh. my, gawdddd...." (like Janice from Friends)

Seriously, this is possibly the BEST cod I have had. The texture was so good it was surreal. This fish died a martyr. It was a monumental moment for me there. Other fish I have had were good, they were fresh and sweet and succulent. But none gave me texture like this. This beats the like of Fish and Co. hands down. Hands down baby, hands down. Oh what the heck, feets down too if there's such a thing.

The only thing I can say is that the portion is pathetic. Look at that anorexic slice of fish and tell me is it a generous portion like they said it would be? I left the place still hungry. Otherwise, I'm coming back here. For sure. I love fish and seafood, and the food here is relatively healthy. Steamed, baked, roasted, grilled.. My daddy's going to love this place.

Thank you Hooked for giving us Northies hope!

Hooked!
203 Upper Thomson Road

(oomph)atico's

There's a reason behind the title of this post, or rather, why this post is spelt this way. The place is called oomphatico's, but there is no oomph. Not in the least bit.

I've been to oomphatico's before, about a year ago and thoroughly enjoyed my nice breezy lunch. A year later, I visited this place again, this time much to my chagrin. They changed the menu and the food there is quite nasty now.

Props to them for decor though. This cafe is extremely pretty, with rainbow chairs and funky signage like this. It is difficult not to feel cheery just being in the cafe. There's indoor and alfresco seating, and the place is generally bright, sunny, chipper and pleasant. This place is designed with the fairer sex in mind and it shows.

Lok at the cute "saucers". Talk about eye-CATching.

ok, bad pun, sorry.

The chicken caesar salad was not that bad, the egg was a tad over-cooked but nonetheless it was a very laudable attempt. It was almost just-right, just that underneath that glorious golden runny outlook, the yolk was unfortunately a bit powdery.

*Sharon, on the other hand, says that it is very easy to cook the perfect egg. She says, just give her 5,6 tries and she will get it right. It's either, 2, or 2.5 or 3 minutes depending on the size of the egg. (talk big only la she)

The croutons were fried to a gorgeous crisp and tasted fabulous. The chicken was beautifully roasted and very fragrant. It tasted a bit like barbeque chicken. :) The vegetables were fresh (but also uncut and huge and difficult to eat.)

The salad dressing though, was ghastly. It did not taste like caesar dressing at all. It was acrid and not palatable at all. I like tart-tasting food and I didn't like it. I only had it because the salad would be too dry otherwise. Pui.

The farmer's club sandwich. The rye bread had only a faint aftertaste of rye and otherwise tasted like normal wheat bread. The texture was nothing like bread and instead more like an extremely dense teacake.

The chicken was very very tough and much too dry for my liking. It tasted gamey and nothing like the chicken in the caesar salad. I have only one reaction to it. pfftttttt!

The only redeeming factor was the grain mustard spread. However, they were stingy with it and the sandwhich ended up exceedingly dry and unappetizing.

The chicken and the sandwich was so bad Sharon ended up eating only the avocado.

Another grouse is that while the description said chicken, tomatoes and avocado, the sandwich came in three mini sandwiches of chicken and tomato sandwiches on the sides and a plain avocado sandwich well, sandwiched in the middle. We had to deconstruct and reconstruct the sandwich ourselves. (Sharon: I did not pay $18 to make my own sandwich ok)

Where's the oomph in oomphatico's?

Oomphatico's!

Tanglin Mall

#01-03 & 01-35/36

163 Tanglin Road

canele - food porn ahead

Today is give-Les-Amis-money day. After a crazy expensive dinner at Canteen, we proceeded to Canele for their desserts. I think I still prefer the Robertson Quay branch but this was good too. Warning, foodporn alert!

No, we didn't have this, but this is my favourite cake. MMM..

The lighting was perfect tonight. All the photos required no touching up at all because they are so so so pretty. (not that we do a lot of touching up normally)

This is the Asiana, lychee mousse, yuzu jelly, almond crumble, lychee and raspberry. This is extremely sweet, nectarine-sweet. You can actually see the pretty layers all pieced together to form a splendid array of colours.

The almond taste is quite faint, but strong enough that you get a whiff of the almond with each morsel. This is nice, because I usually find almonds very overpowering. The yuzu jelly was very tart and contrasted nicely with the velvety, saccharine quality of the lychee mousse. The mousse was extremely sweet, extremely intense. This was nice only when eaten with the other layers. If you eat the mousse by itself, it is too sweet. Thank goodness the yuzu jelly and the almond crumble neutralised the candied mousse.

This is very nice, but I can't eat too much of it. It's so sweet I got sick of it after a while.

The macha - greentea mascapone mousse, chestnut cremuex, greantea biscuit, almond crumble.

Now, this is a must-have for green-tea lovers. The green tea flavour shines through the dessert. The mouse is fantastic. My first mouthful was just ecstastical. The mouse was so silky-smooth and literally dissolved in my mouth, that luscious green tea flavour spreading out over my tastebuds. Oh that mellow aroma, that understated sweetness.. I almost wanted to stand up and shout. But no, because I was honestly a bit awe-struck. I kept quiet for a second or two, looked up at Sharon and said plainly with a thumbs-up, "this is damn good man."

Again, you can see the gorgeous layers. I liked that this dessert was not cloying at all and very very light. The chestnut taste was subtly imbued, the crumble and biscuit brought differing and contrasting textures to the mouse. This was excellent.

The only thing is that after the Asiana, this dessert tasted really bland. After another bite of the Asiana, I couldn't taste the green tea again till I cleared my palate with a douse of water first.

What a pleasing macha dessert. Shally LOVES macha. Now you see, now you don't! This baby will be gone in a jiffy in front of Shally.

Canele is really my favourite dessert place. I've heard some bad stuff about it, but I don't get it. It's excellent, really. Very refined, top-notch, superb desserts in my view. But my favourite branch will still be the one at Robertson Quay.

Canelé Pâtisserie Chocolaterie
1 Scotts Road
#01-01A,
Shaw Centre
Singapore 228208

black angus

Black Angus is one of those places I always remind myself to come back to but hardly ever do. I think Black Angus is one of the better steakhouses in Singapore and serves up great food. It's not exactly cheap (be prepared to spend $50 per head for dinner) but the food is definitely above average.

Went there with Gabrielle, Shally and a few others for dinner today. Their entrees are pricey but they all come with salad or soup so that kinda salves the pinch right?

The mushroom soup was too salty and not thick enough. This was a let-down. It did not have the aroma of mushrooms but tasted like Campbell meets Marmite.

The baked potato soup looks really appetizing. It looks like a baked potato!

It even tastes like baked potato in puree form, except they do have solid potato cubes in it. Think baked potato drowning in baked potato puree. It's not bad, but I found it a tad too jelat.

Shally had the Stuart Steak Soup. It is nothing to look at and tastes like salty beef stew. Shally found it decent but I think its too salty for a soup.

This is my favourite Honey Mustard Salad, chicken breast, diced eggs & tomato, croutons, orange slices on fresh lettuce. It's a big salad, definitely not starter size.

The honey mustard's flawless. It's sweet and tangy, the way it should be. It dressed the salad wondrously, any parchness gone in a flash with the miracle balm. The chicken was a bit dry but the honey mustard made it all better. I particularly liked the orange bits that were served. They were an invigorating touch. The crisp juicy sweetness complemented the fresh lettuce perfectly. I just wish they were more generous with the amount they gave. Two measly slices are hardly enough.
I wish I could eat it as a main. It's so light and crispy, bountiful in flavour and tastes so good it should be sinful. What glorious greasy goodness!

The steak was very well-done. Not over-cooked well-done, but excellently executed well-done. It had that carnivorous thing down pat. The flesh was astoundingly marbled and tender, so soft and chewy and sapid. A sensational piece of meat.
The Top Sirloin & Salmon Combo comprised of a slab of steak and a portion of salmon, both proper meals in themselves. The steak was good, as above, but was less marbled. But of course, how can you compare a top sirloin to a nice fatty oleaginous ribeye cut? The salmon however was overcooked. Nothing worse than an overcooked piece of fish. It was dry, even though salmon's an oily fish. It was not fresh and the fishy odour was overwhelming. It was bad.

Shally had the Rib Sticking Baby Pork Ribs which was so bad. It was dry and tasted like turkey with generic barbeque sauce. The meat did not fall off the bone, the way it's supposed to be. I think these are the WORST ribs I have had. I don't know if this was a bad night, but it was definitely bad. You can get better ribs from Cafe Cartel.
The Pan Fried Black Cod was a lot better than its salmon counterpart. It looks a whole lot better too. It's light, clean-tasting and very tender. It's not rave-material but it's decent.

Stuart Anderson's Black Angus

Orchard Parade Hotel
#03-21, 1 Tanglin Road
Singapore 247905

all-day brunch @ relish

I like Relish, I like brunch, so when I heard about Relish's all-day brunch menu, I was just dying to try it. Somehow, we only got down to it on Sunday. We went with Shally and Gabrielle. I was mighty excited.

Relish is such a bright chillout place. Everytime I am there, I feel transported away from Singapore. It's high walls and white beams, graffiti walls and chalkboards, how can you not love this place?

Gabrielle had the Eggs Wild Benedict, wild rocket, toasted muffin, poached eggs, bacon and of course, hollandaise. I was quite disappointed with this. The eggs were overdone and slightly powdery on the inside. I like my eggs to be runny. The kind which oozes and melts so decadently in your mouth. Even better than runny is near-runny, it's soft its wet but its not gooey.

I thought that this dish was a bit bland, to be honest. It's probably because I didn't eat it with the bacon because Sharon says that it is a lot better with the bacon and she says the bacon was really well-done. But I thought that the hollandaise was not very well-prepared and didn't provide any winning touch or consolation in this case.

On the bright side, the sauteed potatoes were excellent. They were diced into tiny potato cubes and fried to a magnificent brown tan. These darlings were crisp on the outside and moist on the inside. Very nice..

My breakfast burger, home-made apple and pork sausage patty, emmental cheese, layered omelettle, baked beans, sauteed mushrooms. Now this dish really hit home with me. At first when it came I wanted to run away from it because gawd-the-mushrooms-stink. Shally and I did not want to be near it. The mushroom smell is overwhelming. But Sharon convinced us to try the mushrooms. They were mmmmmm. Need I say more? Possibly the best mushrooms I have had in a long long time. So chewy, so savoury, so delicious.

Now for the real test. My breakfast burger was so good. It tastes like sausage mcmuffin but so much better. When you dissect the patty you can actually make out the pieces of granny smith apples and sausage bits. You can taste the sweet-sour tang from the apples. The sausage was extraodinarily satisfying. The omelette was nicely done, runny the way I like them. The cheese was like icing atop a cake. The muffin was toasted to perfection. I'm sorry I'm gushing but Relish really knows how to do a burger well.

The only thing is that it's quite pricey and you're paying 10times the price of a sausage mcmuffin for an improved version of it. (very much improved I must add, though).

3 words. I ADORED IT. mmm.

The ONLY thing I can fault this burger for? It's crazy-tall! If Relish burgers were difficult to eat in the first place, these are insanely arduous. What a pretty sight when it is presented to you, but it is definitely NOT a pretty sight once you start tucking in.

Shally's open striploin steak sandwich, minute steak, truffle aioli, caramelised onions, baby spinach, fries. The onions were wondrously caramelised but the beef was tough and not well-seasoned. There was also not enough cheese. Sharon felt that the bread:meat proportion was too skewed in the former's favour and that severely compromised on the sandwich's taste. Shally swears she can smell the yeast in the bread (everyone repeat after me, nose of a hound..).

Sharon's pancakes were not fluffy enough and a bit too dense. I liked that the edges were a bit crispy but she doesn't like it. She likes soft fluffy pancakes that are moist right through the edges. I liked that the batter was even and was not clumpy but that was about it. The blueberry sauce was not rich enough. It might have been better if they had beaten blueberries into the pancake batter itself. Then the pancakes would have "double blueberry power".

Oh yes, not a first-date choice. It has the same effect as squid ink pasta. Your teeth, your lips will be stained. Unless your date likes a joke, stay clear.

These are the two desserts that were given on the house. The first was the Wild Rocket Strawberry cheesecake. I don't like cheesecake so I didn't partake of this dessert but they loved it. Shally particularly liked the digestive biscuit base although she did admit to liking anything digestive biscuit.

This is new, the ice-cream burger. Two crisp waffles enclosing on two scoops of chocolate ice-cream and kiwi slices. This was quite nice. The waffles were really crispy and nicely toasted. The strawberry-kiwi sauce that came with it was simply excellent. Sharon claims that the sauce literally fizzes in her mouth like coke, the taste reverberating and exciting the tastebuds so that you taste the sauce even after it has glided down your throat.

My only quarrel is that it's not special. The ice-cream, the waffle, the strawberry-kiwi sauce, they tasted store-bought. The chocolate ice-cream was not rich and creamy enough. The sauce tasted artificial because it was unnaturally sweet. The waffles, well, let's just say we have a suspicion which brand it is. ;)

Nonetheless, it was definitely tasty. Whether it's value-for-money, well I don't know. Afterall, this is something you can put together at home.

All in all, brunch was uneventful and sadly quite a let-down. We must add that this menu is still in its experimental stage and they are still trying to figure out how to make this work. This means that many of these dishes are still being tweaked. Hopefully, when the new FINALISED versions are out, I will be able to recognise the Relish-standard once again. Till then, brunch@Relish is average with more misses than hits. I expected better.

Relish
#02-01 Cluny Court
Singapore 259760