200. Braise

* Picture with courtesy from Braise

The tall white pillared ceilings and glass window panes gave the interior a bright furnish.

A group of us were at Braise today for the lunch organised by Hinata Diaries. I felt it was pretty strange when the event was promoted on other food bloggers' blog, Gastronomic Ruminations and The Hungry Cow when the organiser herself has a blog. The organiser has been locked out of her food blog because she has forgotten her password. Oh gosh....I think it will take some time before she can login to her food blog. This happened to me sometimes.

Braise occupies the upper deck of the old monorail station above The Silk Road, overseeing the beautiful and idyllic Palawan Beach. Walked up the wooden stairs, I arrived at the door. Faced with a huge metallic door which had a sign 'PUSH' but nobody was there to usher. I did ponder for a second if I was at the right entrance.

Each of us were given a 20% discount voucher and a CD-Rom which is a press kit for media, containing the pictures of the interior and the food which Braise served. It was a nice gesture of them. The majority who turned up are food bloggers equipped with cameras.

The lunch menu which was $38++ per pax came as a great deal. It was different from the usual set lunch offered to the public. The header on the menu took me by surprise- The Singapore Food Bloggers Association Annual Lunch. Official or non-official?

Herb bun was served warm; freshly baked. I personally like the addition of the wolfberries sun-dried tomatoes which gave the bun the nice red colour and a hint of sweetness.

Entree - Capellini with Seared Hokkaido Scallops, Parmesan Veloute

I tasted a few strands of the capellini. It seemed like a generous lash of black pepper was added but it wasn't a presumptuous guest. The scallop wasn't thoroughly cooked. The uncooked tinge of pink in the middle gave the soft texture. I didn't taste the scallop; comments reserved.

Entree - Pressed Foie Gras with Sauternes and Camomile Jelly, Vegetable a la Greque

A thin slice of toasted sweetbread was served with this entree. Frankly speaking, I wasn't very much attracted to the foie gras when I did my registration to attend this event. I'm not a connoisseur when it comes to foie gras neither am I big on it. Not here nor there. I was more keen on the camomile jelly. I was expecting it to be light in taste but it wasn't. I felt it was a tad too sweet and the fragrance essence a tad too strong.

The foie gras by nature has a rich buttery taste. Prepared with sauternes, the foie gras was with a hint of sweetness. I felt the pressed foie gras would have taste better if it was slightly pan-fried. The molded slice of foie gras was slightly too much with the given thin slice of sweet bread.

Main - Pork Three Ways (Confit Cheek of Pig, Pan Roasted Pork Belly and Pig Tail Roulade with Spice Port Wine Sauce)

I thought this was going to be the lauded dish from the name of it but it wasn't. I find the pork a tad too dry and the pig stench was very strong. Even the pan roasted pork belly didn't look and taste appetizing.

Main - Roasted Fillet of Beef with Savoy Cabbage, Beef Cheeks and its own Braising Sauce

The roasted beef was pretty well-marinated at the edge. To lock the taste and juice of the beef, a chef has to first cook the edge. However, the taste of the middle part of the fillet wasn't as significant as the edge. If I'm not wrong, the mashed potato had cheese added to it. I didn't like the taste of it.

I was told by the waitress someone at our table opened a bottle of wine, Riesling. I thought it tasted more like pinot noir chardonnay.

Dessert - Green Tea Cream Brulee with Margarita Sorbet

My vote goes to this! I think the green tea cream brulee was quite a good one. The green tea wasn't too overpowering. The marscapone cream was of the right texture and vanilla-rich. A lot of the black vanilla pods resided at the bottom of the cup.

I felt the margarita sorbet was a pretty good palate cleanser after the cream brulee. A little bittersweet and sour. It's so refreshing!

Dessert - Chocolate Lava Cake with Coffee Ice-cream

Some of us had a collapsed chocolate lava cake. No surprise for them. Anyway, there wasn't any surprise. It wasn't so much of a chocolate lava cake, more of a chocolate fudge cake. The molten chocolate in the interior was too dense. The crust was quite thin though. Coffee ice-cream was average. The chocolate wasn't too sweet so it was overall a pretty decent piece of dessert.

Braise
60 Palawan Beach Walk
Level 2
Tel: 6271 1929

http://www.braise.com.sg/