Remember them for the quirky amuse bouches (imagine strawberry with gorgonzola crostinis), the herby homemade foccacia bread, the full-bodied horlicks ice-cream, their seriously original peach mango tea, the very inviting toilet furnished with a rack of foreign magazines (saying: help yourselves to them when you poo poo). Oh…not to mention Oscar/ Tracy’s? toothbrush on the sink, and the ‘lofty’ tau kwa tower with a crowning glory of dignified greens (hey! I learnt to eat alfalfa sprouts then lol), and my very fruity cod (applaud Oscar for such an imaginative mango sauce for my fish!). Such coveted reputation that witnessed many a gourmand tearing their hair out over not being to get a place in The Restaurant with the Hardest Reservation in Singapore. That place with an eclectic, adventurous cuisine, that is curiously Italian (think porcini mushroom soup), Asian (hey! That mystifying sweet black sauce is kacip manis!) and Japanese (think miso-crusted food) all at the same time.

But sad to say those were the only good memories. I feel the couple come across as quite pretentious. Gourmet food aside, their service really needs some fine tuning. The Man is The Cook with an Attitude. The Woman’s really only chummy to her regulars. Or so I think, Pretending to be friendly. With so many cynical evaluations on their service, I think it really speaks volume for the lack thereof. I mean…what can be so taxing for the couple running a 20-seater restaurant, serving only 8 out of the supposedly 21 meals that a healthy individual is supposed to consume per week? Hello? They don’t even slog to wash the dirty dishes. .They use a dishwasher. Oh…or so I heard The Man’s giving classes in a cooking school during the day, while on their off days crossing legs sipping mochas in the Dempsey area and in the recent times LOL sitting pretty in print ads selling refrigerators (for heaven’s sake!) for a particular electrical brand.

Naturally their motive is not to make money out of this lovey-dovey, small yet roaring enterprise of their union. Thus it must be their penchant for the service industry. Their love for putting good food into happy bellies and smiles (or frowns?) on people’s faces.

Then why all that charade? Why create all that ‘make-yourself-at-home’ make-believe setting? All that pretext exchanging privately between that dynamic east-west duo during the whole course of our meals?

(But it is really NOT THE MONEY!!!) Or is it?...

Or did anyone out there forget that The humble Tau Kwa at the Tanjong Pagar market down the road cost at most just 50 cents per piece?

LOL.