Instead of our weekly jaunt to Vivocity for lunch, my colleagues decided to be "adventurous" and venture out of the 3km radius around our office. One of them recommended that we take a drive to Portsdown Road as there were a couple of nice places which has since opened. I thought, why not, seeing how I have been stuffing my face with food court fare for the past couple of weeks. Economic crisis mah...

Took a drive and ended up at Cicada because.... well, for no particular reason although I suspect the carpark outside Pietrasanta was more crowded may have helped in our decision.

We all set inside as it was one of sweltering hot days. Although, I would imagine, in the evening, this would be a cool place to hang out. The 3 course set lunch was $24++. All of us started with the rocket salad.I am not a fan of vegetables (although I am still on a food intake management programme :-p) but I must say, the combination of melted cheese, charred corn and rocket leaves sure is delish! The ribeye sandwich is a teenie weenie bit disappointing because the bread was good, the mesclun side salad was good, the wedges were good, the caramelised onions were good BUT the actual steak was a wee bit tough. But dessert saved the day. We had the assorted French pastries and the mango (what I think is a variaton of the cream puff) with vanilla ice-cream. Superb. Absolutely superb. A cup of Illy's coffee (which is part of the set) was the cherry on the proverbial icing on the cake.

Service was great and all in all, a pretty satisfying lunch.

All we need to do now is open a chain in Brunei :-p

was there for x'mas eve, had their x'mas eve set menu, and i would say that both my girlfriend and i truely enjoyed our dinner there. food was really good and the staff there was equally great. will definitely see us going back for more meals.
to all working at the restaurant, keep up the good work!

Sits within the lush of its own thousand square foot garden, surrounded by trees and foliage, one can either choose to dine al fresco at Cicada’s charming outdoor patio and enjoy the serenity of its garden setting, or a spacious indoor dining area amid candle-lit, soft music environment for a more cooling dining experience.

Situated just a stone’s throw away from Pietrasanta, The Italian Restaurant and the iconic Colbar Eating House, this marketed and positioned as a French-Californian restaurant is another lovechild of nightclub boss-turned restaurateur Mr Michel Lu, after alfresco bars Hacienda at Dempsey, and Superfamous in Boat Quay. 1-for-1 Happy Hours are from 12pm to 9pm; as such ½ pint of Heineken Draft Beer at $10 is essentially $5 each.

Appetiser was Pan Seared Blue Fin Tuna Salad ($15.90). Considered the prized-catch among tunas, the fish was seared adeptly and came with a nice firm bite but otherwise, it was lacklustre in taste and balsamic vinaigrette seeks to engulf the flavour all the more.

Personally, HFB thought the Sautéed Organic Mushrooms ($6.90) was probably the best dish for that night. Infused with the aromatic flavours of White Cooking Wine and a tint of sweetness from the Cherry Tomatoes, the mushrooms topped with fresh herbs was palatable and produced a nice texture for nibble. However a question looms – HFB wonders there is any different in taste and texture between normal or organic mushrooms?

If you have yet to know, Cicada is famously known to serve a wicked burger dish, which goes by the name of “The Infamous Cicada Burger” priced at $28.90. Served with thick-cut fries, which was slightly dry for me – sandwiched in between two pieces of bread are lip-smacking ingredients consisting of Caramelised Onions, Mushrooms, Gorgonzola & Gruyere Cheese and none other than the marbled Wagyu Beef as patty.

However, joy soon dissipated in frustration as my requested doneness of medium-rare for the beef came well done (again!). A request for change was pretty redundant as the patty was just slightly better – done medium well perhaps. Tired of waiting (and be disappointed yet again), HFB grudgingly finished his food and paid his bill without ordering desserts.

Overall, HFB wasn’t impressed by the food – which seemingly reminded him of PS Café at Dempsey – cosy ambience suitable for couples on first date, but no depth in terms of the fare served.

You can view the all photos here.

SM took me here for a little dinner for two on Saturday night. We love the Wessex Estate area and like other reviewers here hope that it does not turn into another Dempsey where we used to frequent but have stopped going to in the past year for obvious reasons.

They make good appetizers here and I thoroughly enjoyed by rare tuna salad. The caesar was also done well. The mains show good potential although need a bit more work as my penne pasta had a bit too much of a local chili sauce taste and SM's scallop pizza had a bit too much cheese (although there are some people who would not complain too much about this).

Ambience was very nice, especially for those sitting outdoors. The whole area takes you away from the world for a short while at least.

BTW, if you pay by Amex its 20% off so an added bonus we found out when we got the bill

I am a 'Westerner' and like some of the reviewers here, I'm very excited about the recent developments. Looking West is the way to go!

It's a Monday night, and the scene was balmy and quiet. As the night wore on, the tables started filling up. What I really liked was that there was a lot of comfortable green space between each table so that even when dining alfresco, there was an illusion of privacy. I also love the cream-coloured cushions on rattan settees which are all the rage now. There's especially a chill-out lawn cosiness with the cream/brown against the lush green.

Happy hour is 12pm to 9pm with Heineken and Archipelago at 1-for-1. Other drinks are 25% off the usual price.

We had the oven-baked spatch-cock... No, it's not pigeon... I think it's some kind of small bird with white meat. The skin was crispy and infused with rosemary. The meat, was plump juicy and tender. Not at all dried and barbied to death. The side salad was a tasty treat - every leaf was adequately coated with a thin layer of dressing which was not too oily or sour, but just right.

The stud had the Cicada burger which was also delicious. The meat was tasty, not too oily, flavourful, and the sauteed onions and special sauce with cheese just sealed it! The side of fries reminded me of those at Mos burger - large chunks of fluffy soft potato with seared crisp edges. Portion was small though. Hungry men, order more food!

We rounded off the meal with the peanut butter brownie crunch cake - be forewarned - the portion is huge! Soft moist dark chocolate cake with a thin layer of chocolate icing... sandwiching a middle layer of crunchie peanut buttery biscuit; accompanied by a vanilla-based soft serve which only had a hint of sweetness so that the whole dessert was not too cloyingly sweet. Well-balanced...

Service was attentive - dropped serviettes were immediately replaced without having to ask for them.

Our overall experience was better than expected, and we'd be bringing friends back for more!