Located at the top storey of ION Orchard, the restaurant looked impressive enough with a large LCD monitor displaying the day's menu. The wine cellar was tucked away at the side of the entrance, with a wide array of wines and champagnes that would certainly have been a haven for wine connoisseurs. More impressively, the restaurant offered a quite-breathtaking view of the Orchard area and part of Scotts Road as well.
Alas, we were told the unfortunate news that the restaurant would be officially opening the next day, and the food currently available was limited to a single page of entrees. Which sort of explained why we made up half of the total diners in the restaurant when we entered. That was never going to deter us though, at least not on my special day. While the menu was short, it remained challenging to pick out what we wanted to fill our tummies with - not least because the short description beside every item sounded ever so appealing...
But we settled on the Seafood Platter, which was on 1-for-1, and of course the restaurant's signature dish: the Nautilus soup kettle. The Seafood Platter was a sight to behold and looked interesting once it arrived at our table:
The essential requirement for seafood as a cold appetizer hinges on its freshness, and here the Seafood Platter scored big with us. The generous serving of 3 shrimps were sweet, juicy and firm to the bite; the oyster on a half-shell tasted like it came straight out of the ocean (there was a whiff of sea-water as I lifted the succulent oyster with my fork) and the accompanying crab claw was another winner. We didn't need any dips for anything - everything tasted great au natural. The Platter included a tiny slab of smoked salmon, some chillied clams, Japanese unagi and crusty French bread toasted to a crisp. Qi Qi especially loved the bread, as I would expect her to, which came with 2 tasty cream dips which complemented the warm bread perfectly.
Then there was the soup kettle - another hit with us. At the front of the restaurant, there are 2 big pots which the restaurant uses to brew their cooking stock. Diners ordering this get to choose between 4 types of cooking stock and then choose from 2 seafood combinations. If my memory serves me well, the 4 stocks are Thai spicy coconut (sinful!), sweet & sour Sichuan (sinful!), clam chowder (very sinful!) and fresh Mediterranean (sounds healthy...) And of course, Qi Qi and I sinned to the max! The thick and creamy clam chowder was slurped up in no time! 4 thumbs up from us, definitely!
And, oh, what is a birthday without presents... Qi Qi had kept the present well-concealed from me, as usual... so I had to use all my senses to decipher what it could be...
I tried to listen...
And I sniffed...
I was so desperate, I even tasted it...
But still I couldn't get it right... And so I did the only thing I could - I ripped everything apart and saw it for myself!
A Gucci wallet! Heart pain la... so expensive... that's the way my dearest Qi Qi is, splurging on me, so that she can continue to say that I am a pampered little boy!
Happy birthday to me!!!
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