Monday, March 26, 2007

Basil Alcove, Fortune Center, Singapore

I've heard some good things about this place and have always wanted to check them out. After procrastinating for quite awhile, I finally got myself down to see if they're as good as touted to be.

I may be a little biased here because I've just had a really fantastic bruschetta at Zanotti's but the bruschetta here, was at best, slightly above average. The tomatoes were too tart and the bread base too hard and crumbly, the olive oil with balsamic vinegar on the side was a nice touch but almost impossible to dip into without losing some of the topping. It would have been better if it came with a little drizzling spoon.

Although we got off to not the best start, it started to pick up very quickly. The chicken caesar salad was really quite delicious. They are very generous with the well-marinated grilled chicken and the addition of raisins to the salad was quite fun as well. They don't skimp on the dressing here either which is great since I love every leaf with a nice coat of that anchovy-based caesar dressing. Just wished that they would add some croutons to this though, maybe I'll try their conventional caesar the next time and see if it comes with croutons.

The grilled lamb comes in two double-cut French cutlets. It's nice and tender if you order it medium-rare. You may slice it saggitally and use the rib bone as a handle to eat it like a drumstick. The mash was made from real potatoes (i.e. not instant mash powder) and still had a very slightly coarse texture to it. I thought that canned pineapple and green beans were rather odd an accompaniment to lamb; it turned they were just the standard sides that came with everything else.

The grilled duck had a nice aromatic smokey scent and flavor. The charred margin of fat was indeed quite delectable. It came with a scoop of pesto and some other sauce that didn't affect the dish much since it's tasty enough to eat on its own. The best part about the entire meal was the price which came up to only about 50SGD! The only gripes I would have about this joint are the lack of air-conditioning and desserts but I'll definitely still be back to sample the other things on the menu.

D

3 comments:

LiquidShaDow said...

In terms of standards and all things considered, they definitely have ways to go in comparison with more expensive places. In context to how much they cost, I think the food is considered value for money which is something that is actually not so common for the kind of things they do. I think the presentation of the dishes is a nice touch which a lot of people appreciate.

D said...

liquidshadow: The value is definitely there, too bad the al fresco bit is hard to pull off in Singapore heh.

Anonymous said...

my gripe with the place was they served me a fish, I think it was cod and I thought it was undercooked. He said that was what was intended and I don't like my fish overcooked but the middle was sticky and would not flake so that is too undercooked for my tastes.

The other food my friends had were good, particularly a chicken dish. But the place was too too too hot.