I took my wife for our Valentine's dinner to this restaurant.

The reservation system on their website does a good job and the turn around time for a response was fast. The offered timings show a reliable and thought through reservation system.

When we arrived the restaurant was packed and our table was one of the last two available. Nevertheless or may be because of that we enjoyed the atmosphere. I am a 100 kg Ang Mo but never felt cramped or uncomfortable. There chairs are very descent and have a bit of an armchair feeling without giving one an uncomfortable tummy crunch. Nice touch.

The waiters were attentive and polite. As this was our first visit they gave us a short overview of the restaurant concept as well as their recommendations. Service remained enjoyable throughout. I like their way of being available without stalking the table.

Now to the food. We had the following dishes and are happy to provide our (obviously) subjective assessment:






Dish


Notes




Patatas Bravas SGD 8.-


Baked potato with slices of chorizo and great Madeira sauce, good portion, must have again.




Eel and foie gras SGD 26.-


Small portion, attempt at Spanish-Japanese fusion, taste of foie gras lost in the sesame sauce, avoid next time




Baby Spinach Salad SGD 18.-


Quite tasty, portion a bit small for the price but ok, may be again.




Baked Bone Marrow SGD 26.-


The star of the dishes, great varied taste, very acceptable portion, must have again




Crackling Suckling Pig SGD 68.-


Nicely baked skin, very soft interior, fat layers delightful to savour in the mouth, juicy without being oily BUT totally overpriced for portion provided. Should not be more than SGD 32 max, avoid ordering again as overcharged.




Chocolate Fondant SGD 16.-


Positive experience, chocolate cake not to sweet yet not dry either, sauce in the interior nicely combines with cake, nothing earth shattering but neither will rounding of the meal with this dish give rise to regrets




Still Water SGD 10.-


Didn't know that when I ordered but then again not an issue




Huber Riesling Ice Wine SGD 16.-


As for the suckling pig: Quality very decent, quantity not acceptable, avoid next time unless they double the amount while keeping the price.




Mojito SGD 16.-


Dissapointing, almost no alcohol and to little liquid for too much ice, avoid next time






The total bill came to SGD 258.

While not all dishes were value for money none of them was a total miss as far as taste is concerned.

Since the ambience and service in this restaurant is good and so is much of the food I will definitely return.

That said, I think that at the disgruntled chef it is even more important than at other places to know which dishes are worth their price tag and which are not. I hope to discover more of the type of patatas bravas and the baked bone marrow.

The three of us had a four small plates, two set lunches (small plate + big plate) and one additional big plate. We had two (well three if you count the camembert) desserts after. No drinks. A massive and long lunch.

Baked bone marrow. Very good. The taste and texture is finely balanced, when having the lovely buttery marrow, oxtail and persillade with the sourdough toast. Recommend.

Grilled eel and foie gras. Not my favourite, as this was a little too rich for me. My friend did not concur - she loved it. The foie gras, rolled within a layer of grilled eel and then sandwiched by two slices of pear, was an interesting medley of flavour.

Lamb proscuitto. Good stuff, but a little sparse (but it's a small plate anyway). The flavour of the proscuitto contrasted well with the crunch of the hazelnut dressing and the slight bitterness of the spinach leaves.

Coca of spanish sardines. The sardines, marinated veg and olive dressing were perched on sourdough toast. The salty taste of the sardines worked well with the crispy toast - as you'd probably imagine. Recommend.

Pan fried seabass. Not particularly outstanding, but I wanted some fish so yes we ordered it. Lol.

Pot roast of chicken leg. Lovely. The chicken leg was tender and came off the bone easily. Coupled with the sour hints of the Madeira sauce and this is a winner. Recommend.

King prawn fideua. Never tried fideua before, so I cannot make any meaningful comparisons. But I did enjoy this paella-like dish as the seafood was fresh and went well with the vermicelli.

Baked camembert fondue. Gosh I love fondue. That is all.

Roquefort magnum. If you like blue cheese (or strong cheese for that matter), you'd probably love it. I didn't, so I didn't. But even then, it tastes really good. I just couldn't have too much of it. I'd say order it for the novelty and share it.

Sticky toffee pudding. A very good rendition. Order it if you like sticky toffee pudding. :P

Service. Service was attentive, and since one of in our party used to work here, very jovial and lighthearted.

I can see myself coming back with a bunch of friends, ordering up lots of food and cocktails, and racking up a huge bill.

I was looking for lamb shank and did a google for "lamb shank in dempsey" and TDC showed up in the search .... much to my disappointment.

Anyway...

table for 2.

Let's see, we were "introduced", being our first time, that the eating style in this place is sharing - order a plate and share it.

So okay, we ordered 3 of the small plates, and 1 big plate.

1) scallops (crispy for awhile, drowning in some sort of oil dressing?)

2) lamb short ribs (fried and dried.. sigh..)

3) crayfish macaroni and cheese (like the ONLY carbo on the menu? nice, cheesey.. )

big dish was the crackling suckling pig. takes 40mins to prepare (as "forewarned").

Nice, I guess. my friend commented when the dish arrived "haven't they heard of mashed potatoes?" I guess that's what would go nice with it...? or maybe we were craving and short of carbo because we were both looking forward to finding some lamb shank (which usually comes with mashed potatoes! doh...)

Dessert, I ordered the chocolate fondant (soft spot for chocolate...)

now this was interesting, in a nice way. chocolate fondant was filled with warm (if not hot) peanut butter~

the dish comes with a scoop of vanilla ice cream (surrounded by a ring of chopped peanuts) and slightly grilled banana slices. mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

perhaps the only dish I enjoyed? :/

sorry...

my friend had a cappuccino. not bad, he says. alright :P

water choices: still or sparkling.

we took still. wow. water all the way from Wales! heh!

acoustics of the place.. well.. as with most places (in Dempsey), leave much to be desired, but better than some others I've been to (in Dempsey, or maybe because TDC wasn't crowded by the time we got there).

too much hard furniture = echoes.

we could hear pretty clearly the conversations of a couple sitting about 3 tables away (ummm...4 or 5 metres away?). crisp, clear voices.

I guess we were there a little late, there wasn't much crowd (thank God) so friend and I could at least talk with normal tones.

it's nice that they close late. I'm always thankful for place that close late, being a bit of a night bird. last order at 10.30pm, kitchen closes at 11pm, place closes at 11.30pm.

Cool.

oh! and they have icewine! I didn't order though :/ mmm you'll notice I have a sweet tooth. ahaha

riesling icewine. (sadly not Canadian).