Benefiting from WH's farewell extravaganza...

Gosh..it's been ages since I updated my blog! Actually I've started on quite a few posts but the works in progress pile is growing cos of missing photos, details etc. and MIA editor (you know who!)...anyway, thought I'd bang out this one about Ah Hoon's multi-farewells.

My cubemate of 3 years, Wee Hoon (WH) resigned a couple of weeks back (sob sob)...WH is moving on to greener pastures at Tourism Australia where she'll be driving the come visit "bloody" Australia campaign. Man, this girl sure is one popular person...her send off started 2 weeks before her official last day! No complaints though as I have been a happy beneficiary since as her cubemate I inevitably get invited by default to these festivities...so far, I have been to one farewell thrown by the worldwide folks (we had a good Indian meal at Ivory Kitchen at Clark Quay - good food but pricey! LOVE their Indian bread options and grilled prawns), one hosted by an agency @ Wild Rocket and another one last night with the business team at Margarita's. There's still the finale to go, in 2 weeks, we will be doing a Karaoke session at St James Powerhouse..:p

Not so Wild about this rocket

I patroned Wild Rocket about a year back when they first opened. Despite its popularity with the yuppie crowd, my conclusion then was that the food was pretty mediocare. WH never tried it before and having read good reviews of it recently, we decided to give it another go. There were 4 ladies in our group and we ordered a good range of dishes (recommended by the waiter) to share family-style.

For starters, we had the cream of mushroom and cream of brocolli, soft shell crab and tofu rocket salad. The mushroom soup came with a generous sprinkle of white truffle oil but the whole combination left a rather bitter aftertaste..This is my first ever bitter mushroom soup! Further queries with the chef confirmed why..seems some batches of the mushroom could be bitter! hmm, and no amends were made despite the feedback....anyway, moving on...

The soft shell crab came with two large crab pieces and was served with black pepper sauce on the side. I found the crab rather oily (they could hv drained of paper towelled off some of the oil!) but the choice of dip was rather unique. It was really pepperish and not something one would normally choose to dip the crab with. The tofu salad was pretty healthy fare - not a bad choice as a starter as it was not overwhelming.

For mains - crusted catfish, seabass, pesto laksa prawn pasta and beef sirlion. The two fish dishes shone - very yummy - seabass tasted like cod and thankfully was not overcooked. The catfish was crusted with tomatoes and other herbs and all in all a pretty good choice from the set menu. I was dissapointed with the pasta as I thought the gravy could have been thicker..it was rather watery. The pesto taste was overwhelmed by the laksa coconut taste - also the prawns felt undercooked. eeww! No comments on the beef as I found it quite ordinary. Morton's to me still serves the best beef :)

Thankfully, desserts were acceptably good. The molten lava cake was just right although I can't be sure they used valrhona :p. Conclusion - still unchanged..pretty good but doesn't really pass muster in the highly competitive Singapore foodie scene...unless I get another surprisingly good review from personal friends on this place, I probably won't come back here again.

A jolly good time @ Margarita's...

There is a little unassuming place tucked secretly away in the residential area of Clementi at Faber Drive. If you are looking for mexican fare beyond the usual fajitas, tacos and quesadillas, this is a great place to explore what other dishes hail from the land of mehico.

Walking in, I felt like I stepped into someone's cosy home instead of a restaurant. Nice ambience created by warm lighting, a mixture of round and square tables and colourfully decorated walls and chairs, mexican style - the whole place felt truly inviting. Our waitress sensed our hungryness (had to wait for WH while she struggled to download her last remaining files) and immediately served us nachos with tomato salsa (do note that this is chargeable and not FOC as I initially thought it was seeing no one requested for it :p). While we nibbled on the nachos to placate our hunger pangs, we decided to avoid the hassle of looking through the menu and just ordered what was recommended by the waitress and a few friends who have frequented this place before.

We had : portobello mushrooms (not listed in the menu), spicy chicken, sliced beef, fajitas with prawns and chicken. The mushrooms were big! and served with one jalapeno and some salad. Grilled perfectly, they retained their juicyness and every bite spiralled me into mushroom heaven :). The spicy chicken (called pollo bibil) was actually not so spicy. It was oven-baked and came accompanied with a bean paste sauce (which tasted like bean humus) which you spread along your warm tortilla and lay a couple slices of chicken to give you a comforting meal. The beef was tender and not overcooked and I liked the sauce that came with it and splashes of sour cream.

Although the prawn and chicken fajitas were tasty (prawns nice and crunchy) - I did wish after we were done cleaning the plate that I had not noticed the globs of oil left on the hot plate. Very stuffed after all the food (servings were big! I can't imagine finishing a dish by myself) ...but as always, somehow there must remain room for dessert. We picked the kahlua tiramisu and mango turnover crepe. Both desserts were OK - the tiramisu was very simply done up and the sponge in it wasn't all that soaked in the coffee liquor - so you do get some bites where in between you taste dryness. The mango crepe was a tad too sweet for my liking but the coconut ice cream which came as a side was a refreshing end to a good meal.

Of course we had maragaritas which explains Wee Hoon's face colour ;). We ordered the

premium version at $55 a jug and although it did not taste very strongly of tequila, mind you..it's strong! so go slow on it :). Would def come back - but only with a big group as that helps spread the portions and give you more variety. Prices a bit on the high side with appetizers starting at $10 onwards and mains at $25 onwards.

The verdict - OLA! (but only with a big group)