feizhu's Reviews
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Stepping into Persimmon is reminiscent of stepping into a high class coffeeshop, with its checkered tile floors, white top tables and wooden chairs. What it lacks is the spinning ceiling fans which have been replaced by air conditioning units but I'm definitely not complaining. Not with Singapore's heat and humidity. Coupled with a low ceiling and retro music, it made for a soothing and laid back atmosphere.
Mushroom & Sesame Shooter - I liked this inconspicuous little shot glass of warm mushroom soup. Savoury with a hint of sesame and bits of mushroom. There was suppose to be 绍兴酒 in it but that was apparently not evident.
Fisherman's Pie - Persimmon's rendition of the fisherman's pie took a different twist from the norm. Instead of the usual seafood ingredients enveloped within a mould of pastry, this one was more of a soup bowl covered with a puff pastry lid. Another interesting thing was the choice of soup, which was a less oily version of the ubiquitous Laksa gravy. Honestly, I didn't find the soup or the ingredients very outstanding, coming across as decent at best. The pastry also needed some reworking in my humble opinion, probably through the addition of more butter to make it more fragrant and creamier to the tastebuds.
Fried Kway Teow with Wagyu Beef - I'm sorry to say this, but as fragrant and tasty as the kway teow may be, it is still CKT (Char Kway Teow), albeit of a less oily version than the ones you find in hawker centres outside. It came with a poached quail egg and mushrooms but lacked the discernible wok hei taste due to it being pan fried I believe. Did I mention that it was a tad too salty as well?
The accompanying wagyu beef came served atop a bed of beansprouts and was tender, juicy and almost mouthwatering. But being too thinly sliced, it was a little overcooked and I honestly couldn't tell that it was wagyu beef. So much for such an expensive breed of beef.
On a side note, it would definitely be funny if someone called it 牛肉河粉.
Wagyu Beef - As with the wagyu beef from the CKT, this dish of wagyu was thinly sliced and a tad overcooked, but at least portions were more significant and each slice held more bite. I just wonder how much would such a dish cost.
White Pepper Crab Cake with Tunghoon Salad & Scallop - I've never really been a fan of crab cakes and Persimmon's offering wasn't just about to change that. But thats not to say it wasn't good. As a matter of fact, it was quite decent, with lots of shredded crab, but just not outstanding.
The tunghoon salad held quite a few surprises with its overly zesty taste harbouring a spicy aftermath that hits you slowly but surely. And the lone fleshy scallop that came alongside was a little too undercooked, soft and bland.
Pineapple Tart - Now this was one huge unconventional pineapple tart. A scoop of ice cream atop a sweet pineapple ring, covering a layer of caramelised pineapple, all on a huge tart base. I'm a sucker for pineapple tarts so I liked it quite a fair bit with the nice and smooth ice cream but I did think that it could have been better. The tart base lacked the oven baked taste which I personally like and it wasn't crumbly enough. That aside, its really quite worth the eat.
Overall I think the food is pretty decent and probably a few minor tweaks here and there would suffice. As mentioned earlier, it was a complimentary tasting session hence I am unsure of the prices but a quick glance at the regular menu shows most main courses to be in the $20 range. I might do a revisit, just as soon as I am able to ascertain the food prices.
To end, please allow me to extend my thanks to Helena for the invite and for being an excellent host.
See all pictures here.
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!All the fusion food I tried so far is ridiculous, I still prefer cusines in their authentic flavours and using traditioal cooking methods. The Chinese art of cooking is too %u51FA%u795E%u5165%u5316
05 May 2008 at 6:45 pm
Wah! I used a Chinese idiom and didn't expect it to be liddat! Not using vulgar language. It means the Chinese art of cooking can be so incredible that it is out of this world. :P
05 May 2008 at 6:58 pm
Fusion food gives the best of both worlds if properly done :)
05 May 2008 at 9:14 pm
Located just a stone's throwaway from the ever crowded Holland Village in the quiet, tree lined stretch of Jalan Merah Sage, La Terrazza offers a respite from the hustle and bustle of life as the rat race takes a back seat in this charming little neighbourhood restaurant. The decor is simple yet comfortable, with its rattan chairs and a small alfresco dining area to cater to those who wish to enjoy the humidity of Singapore. Then again, there's only the air curtain to seperate the air conditioned area and the alfresco area so sitting inside doesn't guarantee a cool dinner, which was the case that very night I was there.
The complimentary bread was a good start to the meal. Fragrant, soft and moist on the inside yet crisp on the outside. It would have been better if served warm though.
La Terrazza's offering of the minestrone soup hit some rather flat notes to render it painfully average. I could have gotten the same standard of soup at most decent western restaurants for a lower price. Probably the only interesting thing was that the soup came with a slice of cheese in it, something I've not seen anywhere else. Not that it really made much of a difference to the taste of the soup though.
Cappesante Alle Erbe e Brandy - Sauteed Scallops with Brandy and Herbs - I like scallops hence I tend to have higher expectations of them. And these failed miserably. The scallops were bland and soft, not firm as I would have expected and there was no taste of brandy whatsoever. The only discernible taste came from the ground pepper scattered atop.
Tagliatelle Al Granchio - The Tagliatelle Al Granchio aka crab meat pasta provided a much needed boost to the disappointing dinner thus far. Al dente without being too heavy on the cream or taste. Nice and filling just the way I liked it. Could do with a little more crab meat though.
Crespelle Alla Crema - Caramelised Thin Pancakes with Vanilla Pastry Cream and Vanilla Ice Cream - This is probably one of the very very few times where I order pancakes for dessert. But I'm glad I did. The caramelised pancakes were rather interesting because as the name implies, the pancakes were coated with a hardened layer of caramel, making it sweet. Personally, I would have prefered chocolate cream instead of vanilla cream inside though.
Tiramisu - Undoubtedly the star of the evening, and one of the main reasons why I wanted to eat at La Terrazza - the tiramisu. The not overly wet sponge to mascarpone cheese ratio was quite even and overall the tiramisu came across as light and fluffy with a stronger than usual hint of alcohol. A slice costs $10 and if you want the entire cake, its $60.
$94 for a soup, an appetiser, a main and 2 desserts certainly isn't prohibitively expensive considering the relatively above average quality of food in general. But it isn't cheap either. On the flip side, service is good and efficient but rather mechanical, lacking the personal touch and warmth.
See all my pictures here.
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Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!how come the recent posts all short and sweet one? digging out all the old posts ar? haha
01 May 2008 at 12:26 am
My take on this one? The beef is good, but only the beef. Didn't get to try the dessert as we had plans to head on to Haagan Dazs after that. The waitresses were friendly, but a little lacking in service. I ordered a refillable glass of Coke and I had to wait for quite some time to even see a waitress to get it filled up. Nice laid back atmostphere though.
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Finding the place wasn’t too difficult as it was just next to Hong Lim food centre and parking was a breeze with the multi story carpark just next to it. (Its $1/hr even on Sundays though) When we got there at about 1100, the restaurant was almost packed with people. (The restaurant could seat about 100 people easily) The interior looked like that of a typical Chinese restaurant of yester year. As we were only having dim sum, a list was provided for us to tick off the types of dim sum we desired. We ordered the Mini egg tarts, Xiao Long Bao (Steamed Shanghai pork buns), century egg with pork porridge, Char Siew Sou (BBQ pork puff), Har Kaw, Siew Mai, Chee Cheong Fun with BBQ pork and Chee Cheong Fun with prawns.
The mini egg tarts at first glance, looked totally unappealing with its slightly dark crust. But as they say, goodness comes from within. In the case of this egg tart, it was literal. The custard wasn’t too sweet and very smooth. The crust was a little hard and had a little milky and oven-baked taste, just like a cookie. Very good I should say! I like this crust better then Tong Heng’s one, but Tong Heng’s custard still prevails. The Xiao Long Bao was disappointing, being too dry with no hint of juiciness at all.
I’ve never liked century egg and all the variations that come with it. But I tried the century egg with pork porridge after some cajoling by my gf and I liked it. The porridge was very sticky and didn’t have the century egg taste at all. (I avoided the century egg) In fact, it tasted like very good pork porridge with deep fried crispys. Next up was the Char Siew Sou, whose crust I like very much due to the oven baked taste that separates it from its other competitors. However, the char siew filling was not up to the mark. It tasted a little watery and didn’t have the real BBQ pork taste. The Siew Mai was good, not too salty and with lots of prawns and lean meat packed into it. Har Kaw tasted normal, but a little expensive in my opinion, given its size and taste.
Last up was the Chee Chong Fun, one with BBQ pork and other with prawns. I liked the one with prawns a lot better as the BBQ pork was practically tasteless. The Chee Chong Fun itself wasn’t too soft, unlike good Chee Chong Funs.
At about $32 for 2 pax for dim sum, it’s a little on the high side, but take comfort in the fact that quite a few dishes at Yan Palace Restaurant are well worth the money. However, do note that the dim sum range is not extensive and they do not serve the dim sum in pushcarts, unlike Red Star. (I’ll do a formal review soon) Nevertheless, Yan Palace Restaurant has found a fan in me with their egg tarts. I’ll be back to try out their long forgotten Zhu Jiao Chu.
See all my pictures here
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Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!Wah lau. You post free one lor.
30 Apr 2008 at 10:14 am
My experience there was a recent wedding dinner and its totally not good. Updates later!
30 Apr 2008 at 12:33 pm
Their dinner sucks.. only their dim sum is good.
30 Apr 2008 at 2:12 pm