The restaurant, which is on the 2nd floor of the shophouse, was empty when we got there. Another pair came in 10 mins later (one of the guys was the boss of one of my friends, but that's a story for another day) and it was just 2 tables occupied that day.
Their ordering system is rather strange - they have a set lunch (3 courses for $48++) and a degustation menu (5 courses for $78++), and the whole table has to order the same thing. It didn't make sense to us, and the waiter was not able to convince us that it was a good thing (note to aspiring waitiers - please do not repeat helplesssly "this is the system here...this is the way it works here", as it really does not work). That being said, he turned out to be a pretty good waiter since he could actually tell us where the teapot had been bought (we will never be able to verify whether he was lying or not).
We all went for the degustation menu. First up was a palate teaser (dare I say amuse bouche?) of potato crisps with yogurt powder. The yogurt powder was slightly sour, making the crisps taste like salt-and-vinegar flavour but with a slightly milky taste. 
The bread was made of potato flour and there were 2 varieties - the normal version, and the one with bamboo charcoal. 
Both versions juxtaposed 
The butter had roasted barley sprinkled on top, creating a slightly nutty flavour. It was excellent with the warm bread.
The first dish was Japanese tomatoes, strawberries and compressed watermelon with horseradish in a sorbet-like form. Very cold and refreshing. I'm not a horseradish fan but the combination of flavours and textures - the tang of the tomatoes+sweetness of the strawberries+watermelon juice+crisp bread+hit-you-in-the-nose-horseradish was amazing.
The second dish was a grilled scallop with watercress, chicken oysters and buckwheat topped with a carrot puree sauce, and chicken powder. Chicken oysters are apparently named because this piece of chicken meat is located between bones that cause the oyster shape. The chicken powder is apparently made from ground concentraced dehydrated chicken meat. This was another winner - the scallops were perfectly done; cooked/seared on the outside but still slightly raw in the middle.
Third course was an escabeche of mackerel, with fennel and kyoho grapes on top of quinoa and another vegetable that I couldn't quite catch the name of.
I didn't quite enjoy this dish as much since I'm not a fish fan. The quinoa and (I think it was carrot-based) sauce was rather mild, probably to balance the stronger flavours of the fish.
The fourth course was a chicken breast that was seared after being boiled. I have no idea what was in the foam, but there was a pine nut sauce which tasted like peanut, and granny smith apple discs on the chicken. Unfortunately boiled chicken breast is not a very exciting dish for a degustation menu.
Dessert was a combination of sweet cucumber and apple strips with an apple sorbet (again, I'm not sure if this is the right word) topped with a foam of concentrated lemon juice. There were little celery and cucumber cubes as well. Interesting and pleasant, but it didn't quite have the boomz effect. Something more sinful like chocolate would have made me much happier.
Our petit fours in the form of Apple gelatin drops. We were told to peel it off the stone, and leave it on our tongues to melt. This was really nice.
It reminded me of my meal at Vue de Monde in Melbourne earlier this year, albeit not quite on par - Vue de Monde was a lot more luxurious (and expensive) with much more variety on offer, and 53 was sadly lacking a restaurant buzz which VdM had even for a weekday lunch. But I think it's pretty good for local standards and could be worth another go at dinner time with a lot more time to enjoy the food with wine.
53 Armenian St
The butter had roasted barley sprinkled on top, creating a slightly nutty flavour. It was excellent with the warm bread.
The first dish was Japanese tomatoes, strawberries and compressed watermelon with horseradish in a sorbet-like form. Very cold and refreshing. I'm not a horseradish fan but the combination of flavours and textures - the tang of the tomatoes+sweetness of the strawberries+watermelon juice+crisp bread+hit-you-in-the-nose-horseradish was amazing.
The second dish was a grilled scallop with watercress, chicken oysters and buckwheat topped with a carrot puree sauce, and chicken powder. Chicken oysters are apparently named because this piece of chicken meat is located between bones that cause the oyster shape. The chicken powder is apparently made from ground concentraced dehydrated chicken meat. This was another winner - the scallops were perfectly done; cooked/seared on the outside but still slightly raw in the middle.
Third course was an escabeche of mackerel, with fennel and kyoho grapes on top of quinoa and another vegetable that I couldn't quite catch the name of.
I didn't quite enjoy this dish as much since I'm not a fish fan. The quinoa and (I think it was carrot-based) sauce was rather mild, probably to balance the stronger flavours of the fish.
The fourth course was a chicken breast that was seared after being boiled. I have no idea what was in the foam, but there was a pine nut sauce which tasted like peanut, and granny smith apple discs on the chicken. Unfortunately boiled chicken breast is not a very exciting dish for a degustation menu.
Dessert was a combination of sweet cucumber and apple strips with an apple sorbet (again, I'm not sure if this is the right word) topped with a foam of concentrated lemon juice. There were little celery and cucumber cubes as well. Interesting and pleasant, but it didn't quite have the boomz effect. Something more sinful like chocolate would have made me much happier.
Our petit fours in the form of Apple gelatin drops. We were told to peel it off the stone, and leave it on our tongues to melt. This was really nice.
It reminded me of my meal at Vue de Monde in Melbourne earlier this year, albeit not quite on par - Vue de Monde was a lot more luxurious (and expensive) with much more variety on offer, and 53 was sadly lacking a restaurant buzz which VdM had even for a weekday lunch. But I think it's pretty good for local standards and could be worth another go at dinner time with a lot more time to enjoy the food with wine.
53 Armenian St
Tel: 6334 5535
No comments:
Post a Comment