Osia

A way much better experience than Joel Robuchon!

Not sure if they knew we had previously "complained" about service over at Joel but service at Osia was excellent - attentive, friendly, detailed oriented. (Then again, they treated every table the same as far as we could tell so another plus!)

Garlic  and pesto (?) bread served with butter, olive oil and home made garlic feta. That garlic feta was amazing, strong and creamy and delicious on the warm flat bread. I had to be careful not to gouge myself less I get too full for the next courses (mission failed btw)

The delicious garlic feta, the chef makes theses spreads and there are a few different flavours, depending on his mood. He should sell these man

Foie Gras (love the plating), pardon the picture, lighting was horrid.

Nicely cooked and paired perfectly with beetroot.

Tenderloin - a very generous chunk on top creamed sunchoke with some tomato rice puffs and a red wine sauce. That creamed sunchoke was delicious, light yet performing that 'starch' role perfectly well. And I love the rich wine sauce, I usually prefer to eat my meat "naked" but in this case, the sauce really brought out the flavour much more intensely

Innards

Chocolate soup (or undercooked chocolate cake?) with black pepper ice cream. That ice cream was interesting but not a fan of the peppery aftertaste. Chocolate soup was thick, rich and gratifying, I could not muster more than 3 bites but of course this was right up the boy's alley who finished off both. 

I had a really good meal here. Finally a celebrity chef restaurant  worth visiting.

Level 2, World Square (Resorts World Sentosa)

8 Sentosa Gateway

65776560 

Savour 2014

Savour was held at The Promontory @ Marina Bay instead of the usual F1 Pit building. I am not a big fan of the new location, sure you no longer have to walk up and down the building but its so much smaller, resulting in a much more restrictive experience. The Jason's hall for instance was about half the size of last year, there were also fewer areas for classes. 

It was blazing hot as usual. Walked around with them cold beers most of the time. The rest of the time - hiding in the Nespresso tent

Sneaky photo of the very fine Emmanuel Stroobant. Unfortunately, wasn't a fan of his tempura foie gras, way too greasy. Perhaps it was the weather, not a dish you would want to eat under the sweltering sun. 

Ok on to the food

Crab meat linguine from &Sons 

Really good sized portion and delicious.

Roast Cod from &Sons

Not as melt in your mouth as I had expected. Thought it was slightly overcooked. 

Combo Platter from Forlino

5 cheese tortellini, pork cheek, and a chocolate macaroon with passionfruit coulis.

The tortellini was great, the rest were so-so. Not a fan of the dessert, too soft and mushy (more texture pls!)

Braised Beef cheeks

Cant beat the holy grail that is at  Bistro Du Vin. Maybe I should stop trying other versions.

Meat platter from Stellar 1-Altitude

Rib eye, roasted pork and short ribs. A pretty expensive plate but wow this was good. The ribs and beef were tender and seasoned well while the pork was juicy and crackling good. Favorite dish of the day.

Need to get my ass back to Stellar for more of this.

All in all, Savour is still a fun food festival with the opportunity to try tons of dishes from  various celebrity chefs but I somehow feel the experience this year very much muted from the previous years.    I do hope Savour 2015 brings forth a more scaled up version. 

L'Ateliar de Joel Robuchon

Came here for my birthday dinner and was surprised to see how casual dining is here, with counter seating for almost half of the restaurant and high top tables for the remaining.

We got the counter seating which was really fun because we got to see all the chefs at work thru the open concept kitchen. 

Amuse Bouche - Foie Gras Custard with Red Wine and Parmesan Foam.

I personally dont get foam on dishes but I appreciated the varying layers and texture in this. Foie Gras is always good too.

Bread basket - so many types that I had to be careful not to over indulge. The butter rolls were really good.

Foie Gras with mango puree "- nicely cooked, no complains

Soup with iberico ham and a soft boiled egg - once again tasty dish but nothing spectacular

Beef cheek, meat was soft enough but somehow, I still very much prefer the rustic home-made style perfected by Bistro Du Vin. 

Ah the famous mashed potatoes, comes with every main course. I honestly expected this to be life-changing but I was really quite disappointed. I wonder how much butter was used in this because the taste of butter was pretty overwhelming.

The boy chose a pork dish as his main course which was really not worth mentioning.

The poached pear for dessert was pretty good.

Overall, I thought the dishes here were well-executed and technically perfect but it really lacked soul.     The chefs in the kitchen didn't appear to be enjoying themselves particularly (maybe having diners stare at you while you cook is not that great an idea) and that may have been reflected in the dishes.

Service was a whole different story. While the L'Ateliar may not be as expensive or exclusive as its sister restaurant next door, one would expect a certain standard of service given that prices here are not exactly cheap either. The staff were either dismissive or not attentive but to Resort World's credit, we were offered a complimentary meal as a compensation after we provided our feedback to the hotel; a gesture that they didn't have to make but did so anyway so I am truly appreciative. Hence I shall not elaborate further though I will definitely not go back to this restaurant. 

Truth is, not matter how good the food is, people always remember bad service.

Alas my 28th year didn't go off too a good start with 2 bad birthday meals :(

Level 1, Hotel Michael (Resorts World Sentosa)

8 Sentosa Gateway 

Jamie's Italian

One of the most hyped about restaurants in 2013 - finally trying Jamie's Italian. And boy was I disappointed. I am a huge fan of Jamie Oliver so I was suitably excited when I heard he was opening up a place here serving up his classic healthy, hearty dishes.

Visually stunning meat plank 

Every dish was mediocre to average, only the fish was good, very fresh and sweet. The pasta, supposed to be freshly made daily was lacking in flavor. Perhaps we ordered all the wrong stuff? 

1 HarborFront Walk

Vivocity

#01-165/167

Tel 67335500