Having visited Absolute Haven before, I shall skip the niceties and move on to the food. Do look at my review during my previous visit to find out more about Absolute Haven (AH). I decided on AH for lunch on that particular day since my cousins have budget concerns, and i happened to remember about AH weekly set lunch promotion. A nice fit.

The previous time i had dinner, but being on the mailing list of AH, they sent me regular updates on their current promotions, and now they are having their weekly lunch promotion, $9.90++ for a 3 course meal, available Tuesday to Sunday.

Soup of the day
The soup of the day was grilled vegetables soup, there were green and red pepper, carrot, potato and some other vegetables. Slightly spicy and sour, the grilled-taste was evident in the soup. I ain’t a big fan of soup, o well.

Oatmeal Crusted chicken breast
There’s two main course available for selection from their set lunch menu, and one of which was the Oatmeal crusted chicken breast with miso braised rooted vegetables and pically sauce.

Thinking back now, i didn’t recall tasting any miso flavour in the root vegetables, and just what exactly was pically sauce, i never found out. I reckon it’s the slightly sweet and sourish red sauce which gave the chicken breast an additional zing.

The chicken breast strike out as dry and hard. But never judge a book by it’s cover, or rather in this case, never judge a chicken by it’s look. We were proven wrong by the first taste of the breast meat. Despite the dry look, the inner portion of the meat retained the soft and moist texture. I always dislike eating chicken breast because i found them to be too hard and dry, but this one’s the complete opposite.

Seafood ragout angel hair pasta
The other main course, was the seafood ragout angel hair pasta with tom yam pesto sauce. I was curious about the angel hair, having saw it but never try it before. Like the name implied, angel hair is a very thin variety of Italian pasta, which beared a resemblance to the Chinese rice vermicelli.

The tom yam pesto sauce did gave the pasta a different twist in flavour. It was spicy, sourish all together as one. I didn’t really fancy tom yam flavour, but if you are a tom yam fan then this should do the trick for you.

Dessert of the day
We rounded off our 3 course lunch with a simple triple chocolate ice cream.

Total bill for 4 set lunch was $46.3 which worked out to be $11.50 per person. I was initially skeptical about AH set lunch because at $9.90 per person it’s totally in a different league with its a la carte pricing. How good can a 3 course meal at $9.90 be, when a normal main course for dinner at AH cost around $20.

But like what i found out, there isn’t anything intriguing about the food at AH set lunch, but it does provides value given you can have a soup, a decent main course and a simple dessert all for $11 per person. With western food at some food courts costing around $6-8 bucks, i say this is really a good option for lunch if you want somewhere with a good ambience, but at the same time not hurting your pocket. And one of their main course option changes every other week. So there’s always variation for you.

You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!

I happened to be in the vicinity when I remembered this reataurant from the website, so I popped in for lunch on a Wednesday. The $9.90++ set made it even more compelling.

The 3 courses I had were: carrot soup, chicken ragout with mini croissants, and tiramisu. The servings were small, and the fayre was light on flavours, even the creamy ragout and the dessert.

The soup was a fine, mildly sweet puree. The ragout was very light as mentioned, and also very pale, with the slightest trace of bayleaf. Not much to say about the chicken breastmeat chunks that were a bit chewy but not fibrously so. Croissants - fluffy and buttery. The tiramisu was as described earlier - it doesn't smack you around the mouth with Tia Maria.

It was a pleasant lunch that was unintrusive. Student wallets won't burst and you won't likely doze off after eating here. Just one Nepalese lad was waiting on all the tables. He tried his best but there was little time to rearrange recently vacated tables.

hmm having read so many reviews on this place, so i tot of chking this place out. Must say thta a bit disappointing..

Firstly on the strawberry scented drink.. Tot it was quite wasted tt just the taste of the drinking cool water was strawberry scented. whether it was due to fresh strawberries? Firstly it did nothing to compliment the food tt we'll be eating.. nor was it refreshing, looked more like a promotional gimmick to me.. prob adding some lime or lemon to it together with the strawberry will help to start our meal with a refreshign twang to it.. and also freshen up the taste buds..

Service for the main course was also painfully long.. and the mushroom soup which I had was nothing special.. although it was true tt I could taste tt there were lots of mushroom in it.. but really mushroom soup either than having plenty of mushrooms think the soup base tt it is cooked is of high importance. Prob can chk out Marcus Waring cookbook on "how to cook the perfect". tt's wad I call the prefect mushroom soup. The mushroom soup served at Abdolute haven is really only so so .. seems like the herbs used did not complement the mushroom or just simply tt the soup base was not good.

Next on the bruschetta.. hmm other than piling on the veg which also lacked in taste.. there was no taste of the french loaf.. to show tt it has been flavoured adequately. prob the toppings were better off on its own.. and also more flavouring is required.. mayb can try to brush with olive oil and garlic/lemon or even some good green pesto.. Quite a disappointment.

On the aglio olio, at least this was better.. quite enjoyed it. priced at $16.90 so tot it was pretty ok for a pasta of tt sort. pasta was al dente. Thumbs up. hmm but cant say the same for my friend's seafood rissotto.. the rice seriously smelled of some thick dense squid smell tt wasn't very appetising. for tt price.. it wasn't even filling.. plus the chicken roulade.. it was ok.. but for the price not worthit.

Anw we went away feeling disappointed and din even fill like having dessert.. too overpriced..

New to blogging, I thought I expand my first time on Absolute Haven... hubba hubba hubba ... :P

Anyways, my first encounter with Absolute Haven started when I attended a wine appreciation event organised by Absolute Haven and Wine Affiniti. Since then, I've eaten there a number of times (including just last week) and whilst the culinary standard and quality of the food has been quite well described by many who have reviewed it before me, it is the ambience; hospitality of the owner (Phyllis); and their continuous efforts in making the experience new and interesting that seems to add to the appeal of the place ... or well, at least to me :).

Case in point, come 4th October 2008 (Sat), Absolute Haven is organising a Comedy Hi-Tea Event which I thought was something rather unusual yet intriguing. [hmmmm.. Whose Line is it Anyway? ... kewl!]

Wouldn’t it be cool if more restaurants in Singapore could be as creative to come up with other interesting – albeit whacky - pairings? :P So even if the food ain’t to die for, at least you would be well entertained. This would probably raise the concept of "fun food" to a whole new level. [pun intended..hee]

Best part, wines are supposedly free flow at the up-coming Comedy Hi-Tea. Will definitely check out this event and will blog about it after... this ought to be fun. :P

ps: Try the set lunches. At $10 for 3 courses, it's a real steal... [salivate]

Round two.. FIGHT! Oops.. lets not bring the taekwondo sparring i've been looking at onto the table alright?

Moving on to the second food review of the week. Again, visited on occasion of my the twins birthdays. The destination, Absolute Haven along princep street. Frankly, this isn't my first visit to the eatery having had lunch there before whilst serving my 6 months Industrial attachment along Orchard. The food as I recalled it was undeniably good, with reasonable prices and not too meagre portions. So when my mum asked me to make a reservation (for the second time) to spring a surprise on my unsuspecting auntie; it was my first choice.

Upon arriving at the resturant on a saturday night. I was surprised to find the entire resturant filled to the brim with customers; apart from our booked table of course. The customers range from mostly the early 20s to early 30s; a considerably younger crowd than what we had observed over the last dinner. I attribute it to the price range of the menu and the more accessible location. But between the two, it was a tough fight with both emerging tops in different categories.

The courses were served up quickly. And to not bog down the whole event of describing the food, i shall jump to the star attractions. For starters, it was the Soft Shell Crab with Beetroot puree sauce that shone thru.. But still it was nothing in comparison to the excellent appetisers we had at Brown Sugar. As for mains, the stars were the pork and the fish dishes. I loved my oven roasted seabass topped with poached egg. The fish, both succulent and flavorful was indeed a delight on the palette. It's a MUST try if you ever visit the eatery.

The finale to the meal was sadly a disappointment. With the Tiramisu being slightly mediocre, passing off as just a normal tiramisu glamed up in a long stemmed glass. The victorian creme brulee was oh wel.. just creme brulee. I'm biased i guess. never did like the dessert to begin with. Then again, the flavor of rose extract was no where to be found!!! The crepe suzette on the other hand, I had a bad experience with the last time hence I avoided it like a plague. At least the fire lighting ritual was mastered this time around.

In the end, the final verdict... BROWN SUGAR wins hands down!!!

*claps*.. So if you guys looking to bringing that special someone to impress without the expense of bursting your wallet.. do give brown sugar a try.

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