Thursday, October 11, 2012

Restaurant Week Singapore 2012

A week long gastronomic affair with over 100 participating restaurants offering lunch and dinner at $25*+++ and $35*+++ respectively for this week only.
Organised by diningcity.com, they have an online booking system where reservations, changes and cancellations are to be done solely online.
For every booking made, there'll be a reservation code generated and sent to your email inbox.
A few days prior to your reservation, an email reminder would be automatically sent.
Cancellations made within 24 hours may be liable for a cancellation charge imposed by the restaurant.
That's only fair since they would be preparing ingredients for the special restaurant week menu offered during this period.
Dummy's guide to the online system unnecessary. :)


Nestled behind Jumbo with ample parking space.
Hello Roadhouse.


Their normal daily menu at the restaurant side with indoor seating.
White washed walls,
minimalist but their cosy lighting and cushioned seats along the side of the wall gives a sense of indiscriminate comfort.
Just across from them you'd find Hacienda, their bar and bistro side with chill out style alfresco seating.
That's also where the washrooms are located.


Special menu for the $35+++ dinner for restaurant week.
It was easy.
Two of us and two choices of each.
We'll have everything on the menu please.


This was the first dish to arrive and look at that beauty. :)


Bacon rind is a perfectly edible ziplock for juices.
My case in point.
The juicy chicken encased within crisp bacon rind.
The bit of green jalepenos did wonders to open up an appetite and reduce the effects of sticky sweet honey glaze.


Prawn tostadas.
This was a mouthful of flavours.
The sweetness and light heat of the mango salsa, creamy guacamole and diced prawn with crunch with a melted topping of strong gorgonzola cheese
on a lightly toasted soft tortilla triangle.
Once you pop, you can't stop.


Seated by the windows,
you watch as the darkness of night slowly creeps up on you.
A perfect night out for a slow dinner to be enjoyed.


Why people would chop up wagyu to be used in a patty I fail to comprehend.
170g was the size of a toddler's fist.
For what it lacked in width, it made up in height.
The green apple slices were smothered to death by cinnamon powder, it left a terribly bitter aftertaste that marred the entire eating experience.
The caramelized onions were a caramel color but it did not have the sweet charred taste I was expecting.
Now the thing that me about these tiny gourmet burgers is that they are too tall and too small to be taken in both hands in eaten heartily.
So I was of course, resigned to using the utensils and attempting to deconstruct and eat it with pairings of whichever portions dependent on what can be speared together.


But those fries were a treat.
Tossed in truffle oil?
Crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside.
For a moment I forgot about my first love for soggy fries. :)
Mayonnaise and chilli in squeeze bottles.
Yum!


The use of an artificial light from a Galaxy SII with an unccoperative light crew.
He was suitably embarrassed holding onto the flash light in the cosy restaurant only indulging me in my pictorials because he wouldn't be able to touch this plate otherwise.


Then I realised perhaps my SIII's camera flash would suffice.
The mushrooms were full on with their earthy woody taste.
It overpowered the taste of the steak.
We asked for a medium but it was almost well done but we were too hungry to bother.
This was an ample grammage of meat for a hungry man.
Thick cut and full on juices.
It might have been the comparison with the wagyu beef patty but this was lacking in that beefy taste a carnivore would be looking for.


Sticky date pudding served warm and topped with a generous helping of walnuts covered in butterscotch sauce and a side of vanilla ice cream.
I knew I love you before I sank my spoon into you already.
The vanilla ice cream evident with speckles of vanilla bean in the picture was a disappointment since it did not taste redolent of its essence.


valrhona caramelia chocolate mousse
when served together with the sticky date pudding,
this looked like a sad piece of cake.
and it was.
it didn't live up to its name.
While the chocolate sponge was good,
that which was called a mousse...
tasted like salted caramel which would not be bad thing save for the oily aftertaste left lingering in your mouth.

More misses than hits.
But the service was good. Attentive waitstaff made sure the plates were cleared and water continuously refilled without being intrusive.
Still a good venue for dinner.
But perhaps let's just stick with the regular menu options.

This was a first time participation for Roadhouse in Restaurant Week so I hope they'll work on the menu hey.

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