Friday, August 22, 2008

Roof Terrace Café

Impetuosity got the better of me. After placing our orders, I hurriedly excused myself and headed for the garden. Elaborated with colourful flowers, Asian-influenced ornaments and music from the streaming fountains, it was obvious why patrons preferred to dine al fresco. For me, it was a time to flex my toy, after a stressful week at work. A little piece of haven, if I should be more exaggerative as this garden is literally, located meters above the ground. Bring your date there for a nice, romantic meal and I’m sure you’ll score, big time. With the ambience, at least.

I chose to sit inside as I believe romanticism is long dead. Somewhere between dial-ups and broadbands. Forget sense and long live sensibility. Orgasm too, of course. Ok, the truth is, I was with friends (not dates), the lovely Js pair, and it was a hot evening. The interior, though minimal, was cozy. And that’s good enough for young, old adolescents like us.

Remember Duplo? Those Lego blocks for children between 1 to 2 years old? That’s how I would describe my Caesar Salad (S$9.80). The chunks of dressed crouton and bacon were unrefined, in my humble opinion. As much as I appreciate the generous size of things, there should be a standard for accessibility and munchability. No complain on the shaved romano cheese though.

I turned to the Spaghetti Marinara (S$17.50) with anticipation. The colour red was created for a reason, to turn on our tastebuds in more ways than one. Alas, the tomato-base sauce was rather bland despite the generous amount of mussels, squids and prawns thrown in. Is it just me or has the marinara pergi sana (go somewherelse, in Malay)? I can’t remember the last time I had a really good, luscious bowl of this tomatoey seafood wonder. Tell me if you know of one, ya!

There’s not much difference in the Spaghetti Vongole (S$16.00) either. Generosity ensured with a good amount of clams and other flavouring ingredients like chili and parsley. But the white wine sauce was disappointingly bland. Then again, with an array of more exciting dishes (I assumed, from the descriptions) to choose from, I (me, me) would have skipped the Vongole. I hope the Js are not reading this. Hehehe.

Now, my choice. The Seafood Risotto (S$17.50). With a rich tomato cream sauce (and parmesan cheese), it was the most flavoursome amongst the rest. Dense, tangy and slightly sweet, it was good. Perhaps too good (or rich) as I almost withdrew halfway doing the rice. The selection of seafood, including squid and prawn was fresh while the rice was cooked to perfection.

No desserts for us as we believed the tasty luck was not on our side that night, tenths of meters above sea-level, despite the attentive service. Adjourning to the nearby, topographically lower Coffee Club for their invincible mudpie proved to be a bad decision as well. The pie fell short of expectation with its shape and size and taste. But let’s keep that for another day, ok? It is afterall, the beginning of the weekend.

Despite the food, I guess the evening turned out to be a rather fun one. For what’s important besides mouth-watering food is a good company, a wise sage-like (as in an herb) individual enlightened me yesterday.

As for the roof/garden, I’m serious. Definitely a nice place to chill out or date (yes, yes, yes) or spend some quality time alone.

Really one!

Roof Terrace Café
211 Holland Avenue
#04-01 Holland Road Shopping Centre
Tel: (+65) 6462 6194

17 comments:

Kenny Mah said...

GREAT company trumps lacklustre food any day! You can take my word on that, sir! :)

Live2Talk said...

My opinion is that romanticism doesn't need to come hand-in-hand with orgasm, what you need is passion! You flex your err toy well with nice shots as usual (taste is besides the point) :D

backStreetGluttons said...

you will need a 6 sense to get real alone again quality time , in this crowded metrapolis we are sure.

In this ambienic place all your 5 senses must be pretty fully loaded, unless unless

choi yen said...

The risotto so rich & thick~~But I can't see any seafood ler...

fatboybakes said...

so disappointing to have beautiful food taste bad hor. some more the tomato one looks so gloriously sanguine, you'd swear they were the finest roma tomatoes. i have become a pesto convert in recent years. (for that reason lor, the tomatoes this part of the world lack taste). however, i rarely eat pasta in restaurants, coz i find it generally to be overpriced noodles.

well, at least you had good company. that, my friend, money cant buy. well, it can la, to a certain degree, but it doesnt leave you with that lingering warmth of heart.......so i've been told....

Ciki said...

hehe .. so cute.. salad that was built like lego! dunno bout sing, but nero vivo in KL does a pretty alrite marinara:D

Camemberu said...

Not tasty ar? Looks delicious though. Well, good-looking mediocre food is still better than good-looking company that disappoints!

Jun said...

funny how the barf-like risotto turned out to be the most decent, whereas the nicer-looking ones turned out bland.

and wat the heck is wrong with duplo anyway??! i love duplo, they're cute! ;p

fatboybakes said...

buahahaha, barf like risotto!!! spot on la jun.

Kenny Mah said...

Heh. I have this sudden urge to run out and buy me some Duplo and Lego blocks to play with...

fatboybakes said...

kenny mah, i think i got duplos... u want ah?

HairyBerry said...

kenny, agree! agree! of course, with good food will be better lar, right? hehehe...

live2talk, woah, passion is really a powerful thing, isn't it? a tsunami, at times. ;D glad you liked what my toy did! ;D

backstreetgluttons, indeed! perhaps with the sixth sense, will come the good food that has been lacking in recent times. perhaps, the 5 senses are up to something. i'm sure you'll agree! yes, unless, unless.

mimi, hehe, i thought of that as well when it was served. then, i had to dig into the dish to find prawns, squids etc...tasty but ya lor, so rich!

fatboybakes, ohhhh, pesto! i've been trying to figure out a recipe with pesto sauce. but always end up with bacon crisps (as with all other pasta dishes i make)..haha! gloriously sanguine! so much better than red... ;D

i ABSOLUTELY agree on the good company part. woah, "lingering warmth of heart"...so true, so true.

cumi & ciki, oh, thanks for the tip! ;D i've always wanted to try out nero vivo. or nero teca, for that matter. looks like the time is here! ohhh...someone's going delhi soon, hor? ;D

camemberu, WOAH! another good point there! good-looking company that disappoints is really darn disappointing, isn't it? i prefer a humourous, laugh til we drop bunch, anytime! hehehe...

jun, aiyoh, where got barf-like. it looked yummy! hehehe...love at first sight, i'll say..hehehe...

nothing wrong with duplo..i lurve them as a kid. especially the animal figurines. but imagine a salad liddat..sigh...

fatboybakes, where got? where got? just like porridge with tomato sauce only mah...hehehe...where's joe, the risotto lover when you need him ar? hahaha!

kenny, i wish i could build an aeroplane again from the lego blocks. used to be so bad at it! argghh!!!

fatboybakes, lego got ar? hehehe...or technics also can...oh, the days of being wild...sigh...

J2Kfm said...

glad that risotto fared well. just went to an Italian restaurant in Lumut, and there's risotto in the menu. though doubtful they can cook it right. so, the usual pizza and pasta again ... :)
predictable.

Big Boys Oven said...

Sounds like a place I would take my date to this december!

ling239 said...

the risotto is so so orangy....
but no seafood sighted leh, mana pigi ? :p

Unknown said...

your vongole that day was not nice? it usually is nice.

cook's bad day? or he was not in his handsome self, so could not make a nice dish. :-)

HairyBerry said...

j2kfm, well, i think pasta dishes are really classics. if a marinara or bolognaise is done well, it's darn shiok!!! i love red color food! haha!

bigboysoven, ohhh, you are coming over to singapore? let me know lar! we'll meet up. but i wont kacau you during dinner with your date lar..hehehe

ling239, ya, when they first serve the risotto, i was a little shocked as well..hehehe...seafood ada lar..di dalam itu nasi..hehehe ;D

keropokman, oh, i didnt know the vongole here is famous. well, it certainly tasted bland lar.

maybe i should sing that daniel powter song d...hehe...