5th Wedding Anniversary dinner at Absinthe, Boat Quay

Hubby bought me to Absinthe at Boat Quay for our.....*think and count by fingers...*....5th Wedding Anniversary dinner. =)

On the way to dinner - New fringe + hair colour

At all times. Either his phone or mine. 

I love the decor and ambiance of the place. It has a rustic charm to it, making it warm and cozy. At the same time, it was classy and opulent with the plush sofas and dim orange lightings which were glowy but yet not overly warm or dark. The music was just slightly louder and upbeat than what I preferred but it was still acceptable. However, it was pretty crowded on that friday night and it was kinda noisy with all the chattering around us. 

It's not until I cruised by the website at http://www.absinthe.sg/home.html then I realized they have private rooms. Gorgeous, I would say. You can drop by the website to see their decor. 

We had the following dinner menu.

At first glance, I was overjoyed, for the menu includes all our or rather my, favorite food. Like lobster bisque, foie gras, cod fish, creme brulee. And the price seemed too good to be true for a 7 course dinner! I'm a lover of french food, that's why dearie usually bring me to french restaurants on my birthdays or anniversaries. =)



My Review: 

Complimentary Bread

Very hard and stale. It seemed like they were being toasted overboard just to warm them up and even dipping it into the lobster bisque couldnt soften them enough. 

Carpaccio of Yellowtail Kingfish 

Beautifully presented. It's my first time tasting Yellowtail. It was okay, with no fishy smell, although I will prefer to have more marination, preferably more acidity.

Lobster Bisque with Cognac
We didnt really taste any Cognac but all it mattered was the flavorful soup which has the perfect texture. Quite a generous portion but will love more anytime.






Foie Gras w/ Morello Cherries
Saltish. Comes with a mini pancake. Haha. Pretty cute, hmm but the pancake was soggy and cold while the foie gras was warm. Foie gras was sadly kinda mushy...







Roasted black cod with prawn risotto
As it's my main, actually I expected my cod to be bigger, but it's still filling since it's a risotto. However, I didnt taste any prawn at all. Just 30sec lesser and the cod might be raw. Nice flavors overall.







Creme Brulee with Yuzu Sorbet
This is really the disappointment of the night. It was way too mushy, so much so I suspect it was undercooked. Unable to finish at all. 








Petit Fours
When I thought nothing can be worse than it's Creme Brulee, I was astounded to be served these, as Petit Fours.
In my mind, I was thinking, "Seriously?"
(Tea was included as 1 course, wasnt pictured)



A couple of minor hits and huge misses...while some people may feel main courses are of vaster importance than desserts....but do not forget desserts may make or break a degustation experience, simply because it's probably the dish which you remembered the best as it was last served to your palate.

To sum up, the prices might not be as friendly as it seemed from the start. Oh and if you're wondering why the assortment of cheeses were missing from the supposed dinner menu, I might enlighten you that it's extremely misleading on Absinthe's side as they're only included at a supplement of S$20. 

Then frankly speaking, shouldnt they put it at the end of the menu as an option instead of within the menu where it looks like it's included as one course? Thank god we're not raw cheese lovers. Therefore, instead of 7 courses, it's actually 5 courses excluding the cheese platter and the pathetic petit fours/tea. I would say the prices are okie considering the portions of the courses, instead of overly amazing. 

Service is very very slow. Yes we all know french food, fine dining etc are supposed to be savored s-l-o-w-l-y but it's still tooooo slow. We need to wait at least 10-15minutes for the next course and that includes billing etc. When I feedback to the coquettish french waitress that whether their Creme Brulee is supposed to be like that(i.e, that mushy), because I suspected it was undercooked, she looked flustered and said she will check with the chef but somehow she didnt came back. I also didnt ask further but merely left the dessert alone. On our way out, they said their byes and she apologized for the Creme Brulee. Zzzz.

Very centrally located so it's very accessible. But parking of cars might be tricky on weekends unless valet parking(not always available). $10 though. Ouch~

All in all, 
Food:6/10
Service: 6/10
Ambiance: 8/10
Price:7/10
Overall: 6.5/10

Love ya darling. Happy 5th Wedding Anniversary!! =D


Side note: I missed The French Kitchen so much....too bad it had closed down. :~(  So very sad. They win hands down in every aspect, no matter it's flavors  portions, service. Will try Chef Jean Charles Dubois's new creations at Balzac soon.... =)