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| - December 2016 - 5 course Menu $85
Read lots of positive reviews for this restaurant, and decided to splurge a bit for a belated birthday celebration...needless to say with much regret that we will not be returning again, but let us explore why.
Ambiance of the restaurant was dark and perhaps to feign a romantic setting; maybe quaint is the word to describe it. To be honest, more light would be appreciated, since I wasn't able to see what I was eating.
Service was awful. Miss Waitress must really hate her job because she made minimal communication with us especially when it came to explaining food (She named the dish and that was it. Also didn't help the restaurant was so loud). It was quite intimidating to see how peeved she was at us when we asked for more time to make a decision on our orders (One of us had dietary restrictions, so reviewing the ingredients is justified.) A big part of the experience is feeling valued as a customer; I did not feel valued at all. Needless to say her attitude was sending patrons running for the hills. At the same time, couldn't be too upset with her since she did put a candle on our cake (speculating an emotionally conflicted lady)...
Food was alright, but did not quite fulfill expectations--we ordered the 5 course menu ($85 each)
[OK] Bread: The edge of the bread was hard as a rock, but the inside was quite soft. And so, had only 1 piece and discarded the rough edges. It was especially good with the homemade butter.
[BEST DISH] Squid: This was probably the best dish because you can actually taste the marinade in this one! Al dente bite to the squid and the crispy thing on top added more texture to it. The portion was unfortunately quite minuscule--think of a golf ball cut in half.
[MEH] Seabass + sprocket: Fish was not overcooked which was fantastic and the sprockets made the dish look pretty. Not my favourite, but it was good. Definition of good is the following--think of a boiled chicken breast. It is good for you but bland (that kind of good).
[HELLS NO] Fish & beets: Couldn't remember the exact name of this dish, but it was truly the worse one on the menu. Again, bland (probably boiled) fish in beats with lemon juice drizzled in some kind of extra virgin olive oil. There was a count of around maybe 5 pieces of fish the size of paper clips.
[2ND BEST DISH] Rabbit Confit (leg): Friend says this one was flavourful and meat was juicy. Unfortunately again the size was too small.
[MEH] Icecream + orange: Icecream was smooth but nothing out of the ordinary.
[OK] Rum cake: Was good especially with the chantilly cream (fancy name for whipped cream) since it lowered the cake's intensity of sweetness.
[NOT WORTH $65] White truffle risotto: The smell was really fragrant, but upon first bite there is no aroma of the truffle at all! It was almost equivalent to eating a crunchy styrofoam atop super salty risotto (so that's where all the salt went!). This is not recommended in my humble opinion even though they did give a reasonable amount of truffle.
TL;DR -- Our bill came up to be $352.56 before tip (~$450 after tip) which is quite expensive but given the circumstance justified in terms of fine-dining experience. I am not sure why there is such a big hype for this restaurant, but probably because the menus were different from our Dec 2016 selection. I suppose this style of cooking is not really to our palate's liking. The score would have been higher had we received better service, but we will not return again to find out because I don't like having to visit McD for a second meal after spending so much.
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