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Monday, October 29, 2012

New Restaurant: Symmetry

This new restaurant is run by chef & founder, Ms Abby Lim, according to The Business Times! The restaurant itself is um quite small (restaurants nowadays are v small compared to the past!!!) and only sits about 20-25 ppl? So its best to call ahead to make reservations! 

The restaurant is located at Jalan Kubor and the boy and I got lost cos we ventured to the Jalan Kubor opposite Santa Grand Hotel and we were walking next to rows of tombstones and then along this really deserted road haha. But we managed to find it in the end 'cos we called the restaurant! Do note that its "next" to Santa Grand Hotel!



Entrance flanked by Nightmare Before Christmas dolls 'cos its Halloween period!


If you call ahead to reserve, your name will be up on the board there :) Also on your table will be this small rock with your name written on it!

****

Here are pictures of the menu! I really love their menu, especially the drawings! Their drinks menu is equally nice!









The bar area and about 3/4 of the restaurant


Amuse Bouche - Grapes!

Haha totally something new but the grapes were a balance of sour and sweet, good start especially since I love grapes :)




 
I quite like the decor here :) vintage but modern at the same time! Nice feel to it :) Also I love the fact that they have a wide range of magazines that you can read!!!


Symmetry
$22
Vanilla vodka, summer fruits (passionfruit, strawberries), lime sorbet, mint leaves

This cocktail was great! Loved how the vodka taste isnt overpowering the rest of the taste but blends well together! Its sour and appetising plus hints of bitterness from the vodka, great great mix! Dangerous though cos methinks there isn't much alcohol in there so you can really keep drinking and ordering and well $$$$ haha. Great drink when you want sth appetising but alcoholic! Also there were quite a lot of chunks of strawberries + passionfruit!! Loved that :) 4.6/5

Other interesting items on their drinks menu that I can rmb include:
Green tea martini (vodka based I think? W green tea and red bean!!)
Breakfast cereal smoothie (yes they have smoothies too! And fruit juices. Not sure abt mocktails)
 Cant rmb the rest but the menu sounded v interesting to me I rmb.


Cod
$32
Pearl Onions, Feva Beans, Saffron

A thin layer of cod pan seared to near perfection I'd say. Subtle sweetness from the fish, soft on the inside and a layer of crispiness on the outside, I really like the texture! Would really like a bigger piece! The yellow stuff could be polenta we think, not much of a taste though, nicer if you eat it with the bacon bits! 4/5




Hamburger
$29
Beef patty, foie gras, chorizo, beetroot relish, mornay sauce, bun

Don't be mistaken and think that the patty is like those that you'd find in McDonald's, all minced up and fried! This is in fact a whole chunk of beef that was really soft and tender (doesnt get stuck in your teeth!!) The foie gras upped the sinfulness and decadence of the burger with its buttery oily texture :) The boy feels that this bun isnt as nice as &Made's cos it wasnt crusty, kinda like a normal bun? The chorizo couldnt really be tasted! He said the sauce, which was kinda cheesy, went well w the burger as a whole! And its a sauce he's never tried before :)

Fries were really good, super crispy even right till the end! Can tell that its made from real yummy soft potatoes with a layer of crisp outside!

For this price, I'd say its super worth it!!!!! 4.4/5


Another shot of the yummeh burger


Scallops
$30
cauliflower, chives, kelp dust, chlorophyll, almond, bacon, tomatoes

I thought chlorophyll would be something interesting but I think its just the green leaves? The scallops were quite plump, though sadly, werent served hot, merely lukewarm. Atop the scallops sat bacon and garlic, as a whole they went rather well together. The orange stuff to the left were q sweet in the veggie sense and the red slices tastes like capsicum. 3.5/5


Peanut Butter Jelly
peanut parfait, cherry sorbet & jelly, cherries, puffed rice

The peanut parfait is tastes like the chinese peanut snack that we eat, the flakey one? Just that the texture of this is like a frozen mousse but still a little soft? Not sure if I'm making sense haha. The cherry sorbet was slightly sour and went well with the parfait. You get a diff taste when you combine the parfait and the cherry jelly (circular disc below the puffed rice). Puffed rice seem more like an afterthought, kinda like honey crisped rice krispies. You'll only like this if you really love peanut 3.4/5


 Beets Sorbet
$16
raspberries, milk pudding, lavender, pistachio, meringue, shiso

The dark red quenelle is the beet sorbet and it really does taste like beet! Really like this creative idea and the fact that it turned out well :) The sorbet in front, I'm not sure what its flavour is but tastes like berry yoghurt sorbet? The meringue wasnt overly sweet. Idk which is the milk pudding but the "blobs" of white stuff didnt have any taste. Wasn't any lavender taste either! V light ending to the meal. Would love it if they gave more sorbet instead!! 3.6/5

Service there was really good, friendly and smiley! When we first arrived and the boy kept fanning himself cos it was a lil stuffy where we sat, the waitress quickly asked if we wanted to change to the table where the aircon was blasting! One thing I didnt really fancy was that our scallops actually arrived later than our mains and the waitress said that they'll serve all the food tgt when I asked them to check on our scallops. 

Their menu's v interesting though!! Mozzarella marshmallow, welsh rarebit, squid w black pepper aioli, prawn popcorn! If yall do give it a try, please tell me what you think about these dishes! :) 

Its easy to spend a lot there cos everything seems interesting! Our bill was $170! This is a place where we wouldn't mind going back again! They serve brunch on weekends and from their fb, it seems pretty popular + crowded so do make reservations!

Symmetry
9 Jalan Kubor
Tues-Thurs: 11am-11pm
Fri-Sat: 11am-12am
Sun: 11am-7pm

Saturday, October 27, 2012

New Restaurant: edge Dinner Buffet Part II

Continuing off from where I stopped previously in part I, here's the next part of my post!



Dim Sum Selection

They have quite a wide variety! Basically what they have is what is shown in the pictures and the big bamboo baskets to the right in the 1st pic is where your hot dimsum comes out from!

Siew Mai, Custard Bun (liu sha bao), Lotus Bun (lian rong pau), Steamed Pork Ribs with Fermented Beans, Har Gow (prawn dumpling), Veggie Dumpling


Har Gow - this was not bad, succulent prawns, skin wasnt too chewy/hard either

Custard Bun - do note that this one DOES NOT flow haha. There are some that doesnt flow and some that do, and its meant to be like that. So if you're the type that likes the flow, this is not for you! Unless they've changed it!


Ingredients for Noodle Bar


Noodle Bar

They have a VERY wide and extensive noodle bar selection imo!

Types of noodles:
Hor fun
Bee Tai Mak (!!)
Yellow Noodles
Fine Vermicelli
Mee Sua (!!)
Laksa Noodles
Wanton Egg Noodles

Types of Broth:
Chicken broth
Curried-Spiced Aromatic Coconut Gravy (aka what you have for laksa!)
Penang Spicy Hokkien Prawn Broth (assuming for prawn mee)

They have many types of chili available as well: green chili, chili padi, sambal etc.


Laksa

My mom asked for very little, hence the small portion!



Roast Delights

Peking Roasted Duck, Crisp Roast Chicken, Roasted Pork

We all gave this a miss somehow haha idk why! Do try and lemme know your comments!

*****

On to the dessert buffet spread now!!! It gets its own corner at the far end of the restaurant, my idea of heaven :)


1/3 of the spread!!! More details below


Milk Chocolate Fondue (not pictured) | White Chocolate Fondue 

Strawberries | Marshmallows | Dried Apricots


More detailed view of the traditional dessert spread!


Pandan Chiffon Cake | Almond Jelly & Longan | Red Bean Fried Mochi | Peanut Fried Mochi


Prune Kueh Lapis | Assorted Ang Ku Kueh | 


Kueh Bingka | Seri Kaya | Kueh Kosewee


Childhood snacks
Fish biscuit | Biscuit w Pineapple Jam Filling


Childhood Snacks
Sugar Gems | Roll Biscuit

Was so excited when I saw these snacks at the buffet!!! Have never ever seen them featured and I think its a really nice touch :)


Small platings of desserts! Look at the top row okay! Bottom row is probably for purchase only haha

What you have in the top row:

Chili Chocolate Pudding
Matcha pudding with Adzuki Beans
Mango Pudding
Creme Brulee

Forgot what else there was! But about 2 more small desserts there


Chocolate Cake

This wasnt too sweet, quite an average chocolate cake I'd say though it sure looks pretty!


Mango Pavlova


Plum Tart

This was good!!!! Really liked this. Nice tart crust too. Can rival Basilico's (Basilico's wins it by a little though haha)


Background - butter cake with coconut frosting
Foreground - carrot cake

Love how christmas-y this looks!


Cheesecake


Ice Cream!!!!

Mango, Maple walnut, Strawberry, Chocolate, Lime & Lemon Sorbet, and forgot whats the last one!


Assorted Toppings for Ice Cream


Bread & Butter Pudding


Waffle Station!
Freshly Made Waffle
Berry coulis | Vanilla Sauce | Maple Syrup

Crepe Station (Right beside it)
Freshly Made Crepe
With more sauces there to choose from!


Freshly Made Waffle with Ice Cream

The chef there was so nice :) He first asked if I wanted any syrup and I said yes, maple. Then he asked if I wanted ice cream! So I got rum raisin and mango!

Do note that the 2 slices of waffle shown here is 1 order of waffles! 

Waffle - only very slightly crispy, thin batter, dont really like it
Maple Walnut Ice Cream - this was gooooood! Love the crunchy walnut bits and the slightly sweet maple syrup taste in the background, yum :)
Mango - this was quite good too


Plum Tart - as I've mentioned is good
Chocolate Cake - as I've mentioned too
Carrot Cake - not much spice taste, cant really tell its carrot cake! Slightly sweet too


Chocolate Truffle!


More Chocolate Truffles!


Cookies!!


Even more variety of chocolate truffle!


Green Tea Chocolate

Really loved this! Took more servings of this :) Its texture is in between a chocolate truffle and a mochi?? Its kinda soft actually! Nice milky green tea taste!!


Chili Chocolate Pudding | Mango Pudding | Red Bean Matcha Pudding

Chili Chocolate is okay, slightly spicy only, dont expect lava cake flow haha

Mango pudding is not bad, passable

Red Bean Matcha was bad haha


Choc Truffle w Alcohol!

Not sure which alcohol but it was gooooooood :) Their truffles are good hehe


Hazelnut Choc Truffle

This is like ferrero rocher! Super good :) Look at that hazelnut!


Freshly made Crepe w Bananas and Maple Walnut Ice Cream

Now this was GOOOOOOD. The crepe was SO crispy and so yummy!! Just thin enough but thick enough to wrap around my banana and ice cream!! Its so big cos there's a whole chopped up banana inside there! Do note that you can ask for bananas to be added to your crepe ok! And the ice cream hehe, so nice till I had to have another scoop :) Finished this on my own and everyone was so shocked cos I ate this rightttt at the end when we were all super full. Lucky I went to give this a try and not give up aft the unassuming waffle!

General comments about the buffet
  • VERY value for money! I feel that at $55++ its super duper value for money for the spread + quality that you get!!!! Really feel like its super worthwhile!
  • Do not like it that there are no labels
  • Service can be a bit slow sometimes - never refill water/clear plates
  • Service v. friendly though and courteous, willing to help
Note: there is NO complimentary parking unless you are a Pan Pacific Privileged member and has spent >$150 at the outlet! (Feel that this is kinda absurd, almost all of the oth hotel restaurants I know provide you w complimentary parking!)

OK just a disclaimer in case anyone suspects anything, this is NOT an invited food tasting nor am I working for the restaurant/hotel group!!! I am still a student and I paid for my own food and went there on my own accord!


edge
Breakfast (6:00am to 11:00am)
Adult - $48++, Child - $32++

Lunch (12:00 noon to 2:30pm)
Adult - $48++, Child - $32++

Dinner (6:30pm to 10:30pm)
Adult - $55++, Child - $39++

68268240
Pan Pacific Hotel (the one near Marina Square!)

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