Rob and I had a very full weekend but the most noteworthy part was a birthday dinner for our friends Becca and Mark. Becca and Mark are engaged Americans who’ve been here in Singapore about as long as I have – 2 years or so and both are celebrating a milestone birthday this year…. let’s just leave it at that as age can be sensitive!
They decided to celebrate together in style and planned a lovely dinner at the Coriander Leafdown in Clarke Quay. I’d never been before and I have to say I was very impressed – first because a space that classy could thrive amidst the debauchery that is Clarke Quay on a weekend night and second because the food was really good. The restaurant is up on the second floor and is very open and mellow. They also have an open kitchen where apparently they do cooking classes – Becca and Mark have done 2 and say they’re great – guess I’ll have to try for myself one of these days…
The food was really good but alas I took no photos so you’ll just have to take my word for it. We had 3 samplers that pretty much toured us around asian cuisines…in place of photos I offer the menu:
ASEAN Sampler
Tom Yam Soup
Crab Cakes w/ homemade tomato chutney
Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls w/Shrimp w/ peanut dipping sauce
Salt & Pepper Tempura Calamari w/ arugula . roasted garlic & chilli sauce
Smoked Duck, Mango & Pomelo Salad w/ chilli, coriander & lemongrass dressing
Miso Cod .vegetable kakiage . miso emulsion
Mezze Sampler
Spicy Lentil Soup
Labne (yoghurt dip)
Muhammara (roasted red pepper & walnut dip)
Waraq Inab Bil Zeit (Dolmades) – rice & tomato w/parsley wrapped in vine leaves
Fattoush Salad
Bursa Kebab (marinated beef brochettes . spicy tomato sauce .yoghurt cream)
South Asian Sampler
Tomato Soup scented w/ cumin
Spinach Patties w/roasted tomato salsa
Curried Chickpeas in Mini Puris w/ tamarind chutney
Potato Cutlets . tomato chutney
Lentil Dumplings in Spiced Yoghurt sauce
w/ mint & tamarind chutney
Lamb Kebabs w/ coriander raita
Dessert Sampler
New York Cheesecake w/ orange caramel sauce
Mango Mousse in Chinese spoon
Mini Valrhona Chocolate Fudge Cake
Coffee & Tea
Make you hungry?? It was GOOD. My top picks would have to be 1) Labne and pita (drooling a bit just thinking about it…), 2) Miso Cod, 3) and the Tomato soup but everything was pretty good even the smoked duck with mango which seems like a very odd combo and I’m not the biggest fan of duck.
Beyond the food, our table of 14 had a private room and included Becca’s parents who were visiting and got pretty rowdy but they were very good fun (Mom joked about dancing on the table and gave a drunken, singing toast and Dad was channeling his inner 21 year old =)). It was a great chance to celebrate with our friends and we rolled through quite a few pre, during and after dinner drinks…Cheers to Becca and Mark!
WOAH! Clarke Quay all lit up 🙂
Some of the classy surrounds of Clarke Quay.
expatopia 