to be honest, i would never have made my way to rubato if not for restaurant week. it is just so out of the way! thank goodness for the downtown line, though; else i would never have considered going for restaurant week as well. located at greenwood avenue, it's one of those places that people drive to, not take public transport to. we walked about 10-15 minutes from the nearest train station, which wasn't too bad.
i've never been to that part of bukit timah, so rubato is a restaurant that i've never been to. it's one of those places that are just slightly under-the-radar (coupled with the fact that it has a not exactly convenient locale). decided to try it for restaurant week because well, restaurant week is about trying new places, after all. adventure spirit!
we went with basically no expectations, but the food pleasantly surprised us. it was a three course meal, with two appetisers. they started us off with focaccia, with an accompanying olive oil and balsamic vinegar dip. because of whole 30, i haven't had bread in a month. to break the bread fast over this focaccia was completely worth it. it was toasty, warm and just slightly dense, giving it excellent texture. i've never had focaccia that i liked this much. upon enquiring, we were told that the bread was made in-house. of course we had seconds- the bread basket was replaced almost instantly after we'd finished. it was so good that we asked if we could buy a loaf of it back, and they did let us, charging $15 for quite a large loaf.
it was a good start to a meal, and the rest of it didn't disappoint as well. the first appetiser was angel hair pasta in truffle cream (the menu said scallops, so i wasn't expecting pasta- but i guess they are an italian place, after all). served cold, it was an excellent starter. it reminded me of indo mee, actually, but in a good way. i especially loved the salty kombu bits.
the next appetiser was a chicken consommé. it was served plainly, but its taste more than made up for it. warm and comforting, it set us up for the next part of the meal.
two choices for mains, but both of us decided on the wagyu flank, medium rare, instead of the barramundi. premium japanese wagyu flank over truffled potato purée and grilled vegetables, drizzled with veal jus. the menu described the veal jus as "intensely flavourful", and they were right on all counts. it was deliciously thick and caramelised, reminding me a bit of char siew sauce. awesome paired with the wagyu flank (i'm usually the type to cut out the fatty bits, but the fats were so melt-in-the-mouth and flavourful i ate them with no regrets). definitely the highlight of the meal.
the meal ended with dessert. i'd initially asked if they could replace my dessert with coffee, but they didn't allow that. no regrets though- the dessert was a small piece of tiramisu that i easily finished, because it was so good. the ladyfingers were soaked with liquor, cutting through the creaminess. loved that it wasn't too sweet as well.
service was attentive and pretty good. when we asked to buy the loaf of focaccia back, they charged it separately from our main meal, just so we wouldn't have to pay service charge on the bread! that was something they didn't have to do, and it was really nice of them to go the extra mile. the descriptions of each dish were also given, and the timings between each course were surprisingly quick.
loved the place and the food, though i would've liked more of the wagyu flank on my plate. i did end up surprisingly full, though. checked out their normal menu, and prices seem quite reasonable as well. would probably come back to try their main menu- i spied mussel pots on other people's tables that look good!
rubato
21 greenwood avenue
https://www.facebook.com/rubato.sg/
made our way to privé for restaurant week, mainly because their menu drew me in, and also because reviews on their previous restaurant week offerings were positive.
since there were two options for each course, L and i had one of each (also helped that the options catered to each of our tastebuds), so it was an easy decision regarding what to order.
the meal started with a bread basket, served with olive oil and black vinegar. the bread was warm and toasty- i especially loved the raisin bun. service was pretty attentive- we were also offered more bread between courses, once we'd finished the bread.
i got the beef consommé, while L got the torched salmon belly tartare. the consommé was warm, comforting and light in taste, while the ravioli was alright.
the salmon belly tartare, however, stole the limelight with how beautifully presented it was- splashes of vibrant orange romesco sauce that looked like an artist has been at work, combined with a generous tumble of salmon sashimi and caviar. it was certainly the better appetiser choice, though we wondered what the sauce was for. it was so light in taste that it hardly added anything, aside from artistic value. still, salmon tartare can hardly go wrong.
mains were served shortly after. i had the rump cap, which was cooked to a perfect medium rare. the steak was so good it didn't even need the accompanying béarnaise sauce. the sides that came with it paled in comparison, even though they were passable. the slow-cooked baby carrots were particularly sad- skinny and shrivelled. i happened to glance over at a neighbouring table and realised that it was only my carrots were so sad.
L had the scallop and foie gras risotto, which i had quite a bit of. they were certainly generous with the scallop- an entire row of plump, perfectly cooked scallops lay atop the risotto. L felt that there wasn't any wow factor though- they were just well cooked scallops to her. not that the food was bad, though! it was still a pretty good risotto with generous amount of ingredients.
for desserts, of course i picked the warm chocolate and peanut butter fondant, because PEANUT BUTTER. i am unabashedly a peanut butter fiend, and their rendition did not disappoint.
the moment i cut into it, chocolate and peanut butter oozed out. really awesome- i practically finished the entire thing by myself. as L says, all lava cakes should here on come with peanut butter. the peanut butter fondant absolutely stole the show- i didn't even need the vanilla bean ice-cream nor the salted caramel honeycomb perched on top of it (but of course i loved the honeycomb, which was crispy and delicious). i found it mysterious that the plate came with a swipe of jam and a random scatter of micro herbs, since the peanut butter fondant was already so overpowering in taste.
L had the banoffee pie, which turned out to be a deconstructed version. certainly eye-catching, but had way too much chantilly cream. the ratio of banana filling, pie crumble and cream was all off, and we found ourselves swiping off bits of the cream just to get to the filling and pie crust. didn't take to the crispy bits of wafer (?) either. the portion of dessert was generous- even the banoffee pie came with ice cream, even though it wasn't stated on the menu.
quite enjoyed our lunch at privé, especially since it was set in such a gorgeous and serene environment. i was expecting it to be inaccessible by public transport, but it turned out to be just a short walk in from the main road outside. the restaurant week lunch ($25) was certainly value for money, with food of reasonable standards. i'll want to come back for their next restaurant week offering.
privé grill
2 keppel bay vista
http://www.theprivegroup.com.sg
i have to confess that i came mostly for the view, rather than the food. so it was kind of ironic that it ended up being hazy, and the sky was an uninspiring grey. still, the view was quite spectacular, and i liked the lighting and ambience of the restaurant.
we got seated on the second level of the restaurant, right at the edge of the balcony, so our table overlooked the tables below, which made for great people watching.
our restaurant week lunch started off with bread service.
bread was served warm and toasty, with olive oil as an accompanying dip.
appetisers were served pretty quickly. i picked the pork croquette, while X picked the poached prawns. we shared though, so we each got half. this turned out to be a good choice, because the poached prawns were light while the pork croquettes were heavier. i liked the croquette, because PULLED PORK! also liked the lemon puree that came with the croquette- it was interesting and added acidity. even so, i don't think i could've had the entire dish by myself.
the poached prawns, on the other hand, was way too light as an appetiser. only two prawns! but okay... saving grace was that it was cooked perfectly. X didn't take to the coconut yogurt sauce that came with the prawns, though.
was debating between the snapper and beef brisket for mains, and finally decided on the beef. glad i got the beef, because it was exactly my kind of thing.
the beef was pretty good- melt in the mouth and tender. the hazelnut granola added a crunchy element, but i wished there was more of it so that the hazelnut flavour could come through. i did like the dish, but i wondered if there could've been more of a wow factor.
i also tried a bit of X's snapper. it was, however, swimming in butter, which i found a little scary (which is also why i was glad i chose the beef after all). X commented that she could barely taste the cauliflower in the cauliflower puree- which was exactly how i felt about the carrot puree that came with my beef, too.
two desserts were available- chocolate temptation and berrylicious, so we got one of each.
presentation was certainly there, but i felt that desserts were probably their weakest link. berrylicious was simply a frozen berry dessert- a dome that straddled ice cream and sorbet. i don't like ice cream in general, so i didn't take to it. X, who likes ice cream, found it way too sweet. the chocolate temptation ("textures of chocolate", as our server said) fared better, but it was simply chocolate crumble, a quenelle of ice cream, and two squares of chocolate sponge.
in general, food was okay, but i wasn't too impressed. not impressed enough to give them another try, given the prices they're charging. i wanted to try mainly because of the view, so food was secondary to begin with, but subconsciously i guess i still had some expectations. oh well. it was still a pleasant lunch, given the spectacular view (though marred by the pesky haze) and attentive service.
salt grill & sky bar
#55-01 and #56-01 ion
http://www.saltgrill.com
