Wild Rocket

fusion food has always been given a bad name and it doesn't take a genius to understand why. most of the time, they're badly done using some weird east & west ingredient combinations that you'll never dream of using in your entire life - think chinese style carrot cake with balsamic vinegar *gasps*. and while i hadn't had that much fusion food to begin with - just two places 2b exact, mykii and persimmon are just reasons enough for me to avoid them like plague altogether. as the popular saying goes, when badly done, fusion becomes confusion and i hv to agree! but its my visit to wild rocket that changed the perception of fusion. for the better of coz. well, kinda.

the restaurant is located inside hangout hotel, a backpackers' hotel at mount emily. while not exactly accessible, its "walkable" from dhoby ghaut mrt (or perhaps even nearer from little india MRT) and a stonethrow away from paradiz centre/parklane shopping mall but you'll hv to walk up a slope. of coz it'll make bigger sense to just cab in coz walking under the sweltering heat especially during lunchtime is no mean feat.

complimentary cheese bread with olive oil dip. quite good. we were there for lunch and apart from ala carte, you can choose between the set ($28 ) or ala carte set ($35 ) which consists of an appetizer, main & dessert. for obvious reasons, its better to go for the ala carte set since there are far more choices and is better value for money. imagine, some mains are already 30 bucks on their own!

pan-seared tuna rocket salad with light ginger dressing ($12.50). the tuna was really tough & fibrous, to my dismay. not sure if it was becoz the fish was unfresh, or due to the cut. the rocket salad was good tho'. i'm pretty crazy over rocket leaves lately that i'll travel to fairprice finest just for it!

black pepper soft shell crab with granny smith salad ($12.80). this one was quite nicely done. the batter was light, crispy and not too oily and the black pepper sauce's sweet! however the granny smith "salad" was hardly any salad but rather a few pathetic green apple slices. tsk.

braised lemongrass ginger lamb shank & garlic potato mash ($29). first mouthful was good but subsequently the taste was just too "lamby" for me. all in all acceptable but nothing spectacular. i'll take lamb chop or rack of lamb anytime!

crabmeat linguine with chilli tomato cream ($19.50). this one was quite good. for a moment i was trying to figure out the taste and description, only to realize later that its actually a twist from our local chilli crab dish.

for desserts, we had the dark lava choc gateau with flambe banana ($10.50). it was SO good. no doubt they didn't "proclaim" the use of quality choc like valrhona, it was alot better than the places that did. so apparently it might not be the quality of choc that affects, tho' it does matter to a certain extend.

we also had the chilled black glutinous rice with coconut ice cream ($9.50). big mistake. i took it for granted that the black glutinous rice would be the soupy kind but it wasn't. it was really dry, sticky and tasted somewhat uncooked. also, the coconut ice cream wasn't creamy, neither was it fragrant enough :( it might work if the the glutinous rice was more moist and the coconut ice cream more creamy. i would hv liked that! its one of my favorite local desserts afterall, but i try not to order it when i'm out for the risk of having black bits stuck inbetween my teeth :p

we finished everything nevertheless and it was a pretty decent meal. i'll definitely go back again, suppose if i'm in the mood to climb some slopes haha.

for more reviews, pls visit my blog @ http://bossacafez.blogspot.com

Being located in District 9 but nestled on a hill away from Orchard Road nearby gives Wild Rocket the advantage of being accessible yet far away from it all. But most importantly, Wild Rocket serves what Will and his friends like to eat - basic, fuss-free cooking – simple good food with the best ingredients possible. The meal was kick-started with the complementary bread. Despite being served warm, I felt that the serving was pathetic, and also the lack of Balsamic Vinaigrette to the olive oil dip, disappointing.

I opted for the Salmon Carpaccio with Wasabi Sauce & Ebiko for my starter and I was impressed – the fish was lovely sliced into thin sheets and goes well with the Mayonnaises Sauce, but what I found absent was the lack of wasabi flavour which was pretty much non-existence in this dish.

Having heard so much about it, I naturally choose its signature Wild Rocket Burger with Sun-Dried Tomato Relish as my main dish and boy was I sold. The Beef Patty was excellent – nicely mashed and chopped up, the texture was just right and what’s more it was enormous! Moreover, the sun-dried tomato relish complemented perfectly with the beef – producing a harmonise flavour of salty, sweet and sour all in one bite.

For dessert, I selected the Vanilla Ice Cream with Roasted Black Sesame Sauce – highly recommended by one of my colleagues – and once again, I was amazed by how such a simple combination could produce an excellent dessert. The texture of the sesame sauce was finely grind and produces an amazing flavour, and it was not too sweet which goes extremely well with the vanilla ice cream.

Overall, I will highly recommend this venue for a business lunch.

You can view the photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.