Great food. Note tho that the beef is braised, not steak-style. Excellent service. Interesting juxtaposition of chic black and white decor with very big glass window to open kitchen.

To celebrate our anniversary, my partner and I went to Sage a few Sunday nights ago. The place was very nice, and not full at all given that it was a Sunday evening. I think it was like our first (sort of) fine dining experience and the food was pretty good.

We had the following-

Appetisers:
Complimentary Amuse bouche - Tuna with tomato gazpacho, pomelo

Scallop - Seared scallop on belgium endive au gratin with avruga caviar, sauce normandy and parmigiano lace

Escargot and prawns - A risotto of burgundy escargot and tiger prawns flambeed with pastis, parmesan crusted poached egg and italian parsleu foam

Mains:
Beef cheek - Caramelized 300 days grain fed black angus beef cheek crusted with hazelnuts and marinated foie gras, duxelle mushrooms and puree of butternut squash

Kurobuta pork - Charcoal grilled kurobuta pork loin with red cherry chutney on slow cooked terrine of pork cheek topped with yellow corn polenta and lavender scented honey glaze

Desserts:
Chocolate souffle with amaretto ice cream and vanilla bean custard

Strawberry cheesecake - Mascarpone ricotta, cream cheese cake with compote of strawberries nougat, caramel sauce and chocolate sorbet

The amuse bouche, as stated was complimentary and was something neither of us had ever had before. It was cold (we don’t eat a lot of cold food) and the tuna unfortunately reminded me of a way upmarket but way smoother version of tuna with mayonnaise you get in cans. It went very well with the tomato gazpacho which formed the base, so it was savoury and refreshingly sourish at the same time. Because of the pomelo, there were bits of bitterness, and while that add a good contrast I think the both of us would have been fine without. (we are clearly and unfortunately not connoisseurs of any sort.)

From their Menu Degustation, I asked for the Scallop to be served as an appetizer, and got the escargot and prawns from the ala carte. The scallop was decently tasty - but seeing how caviar doesn’t rank terribly high up on both our lists (I only have it on planes) I guess the opulence of the dish was kinda lost on us. My partner loves scallops, and I thought it was an okay dish. If I remember correctly, the appetizer portion consists of two scallops.

Our other appetizer was the escargot and prawns, which I mainly ordered because everywhere here people rave about it. I must say when it was served it wasn’t quite what I had in mind. I thought the green parsleu foam looked a little weirdly artificial. And the bubbles also a little unnerving. But it was okay. Ive always thought escargots taste a little garden soil-ish, and this dish did not prove otherwise. This dish was also ordered at the expense of my partner who refuses to eat anything that resides in a garden. But I managed to force a piece of escargot down his throat. Unfortunately he did not find the escargot nice. The prawns were okay, and the risotto formed a rather nice and unique base.

My partner had the beef cheek, which was done medium well (I think), and while I would have only ordered well done for myself had I had the beef, I must say the beef cheek wasn’t like bloody or anything like that. It was tender and I thought the butternut squash was amazing. It was so yummy and complemented the beef well. we normally dont eat things like caviar, pate or foie gras. but whatever foie gras was on this - we didnt find any objectionable taste. in fact it probably complemented the dish without us knowing! (we suck.)

I had the kurobuta pork for my main from the menu degustation and I am convinced (based on the available choices) that I could not have chosen anything better that night. The kurobuta pork was all meat and no fat. Perfectly portioned. Actually I cant go on to specifically describe how each particular item the kurobuta pork was served with made up the entire experience, but what I can say is that it was extremely good. Savoury, subtly sweet - just an extremely good mix of flavours. Loved every bite. My partner had some too and I think he would echo my sentiments.

Apart from the very well done mains, I think the other highlight of the evening were the desserts. God. I loved every bit of the chocolate soufflé - it was fantastic. Everything was good (except the ice cream because it tasted of coffee which I do not drink) the vanilla custard was great. (I am so glad we didn’t go elsewhere for dessert given that I had my eye earlier on the dessert buffet at melt)

We also had the strawberry cheesecake, which did not turn up how I was expecting it to. No hard triangular slab of cake. This was soft and the strawberries and cream combination was just right. The nougat bits on top of the cake (if I remember correctly) gave it a slightly crunchy texture and a different kind of sweetness. It helps if youre cool with caramel. The chocolate sorbet, my partner postulates was a sugar free ice cream - because of the way it tasted towards the end. You get the chocolatey taste but you don’t get the sweetness. Which is a funny taste. But if indeed it was sugarless, I would think the purpose of the chocolate sorbet was to temper the sweetness of everything else that made up this particular dessert.

Service was excellent - it’s the first time I was offered a chair first thing for my bag (see, no fine dining experience) and always polite.

Others-
We had a ton of fun eating the bread - its white (boohoo) but its totally worth whatever useless carbohydrate calories. Its so soft and moist inside but the crust is so thinly crisp. I wonder how they do it.

I did also see someone at the next table have the mushroom soup (which my partner has had before) and I need to say that I find all that use of foam rather odd. Its soup! Not a drink like whatever we get at coffeebean. But I do appreciate the creativity in display. Its all good.

My partner felt that the restaurant was rather noisy even though there were only like 4 or 5 tables filled. We could hear people from afar and I am sure the converse applies. Sage is not a big restaurant, but this is why it is intimate.

please note also that we did not have any wine. (we're not big on that as well, and again, no connoisseurs of any sort) so the price per head is literally just for the food.

I look forward to going back. Especially for the desserts!

Brought my girlfriend there for her birthday over the weekend and we throughly enjoyed ourselves.

The place was originally fully booked but the manager, Kimberly, took the time to help me check with there were any last minute cancellations. Thankfully she personally called me to let me know about the availability the day before the dinner.

We ordered 3 appetizers, 2 soups, 2 mains, 2 glasses of red wine and had 3 deserts. Total damage amount to about $250 but it was worth every single cent.

The food was very rich and leaves you satisfied without feeling stuffed.

Do make reservations early and the place might be a little hard to find. It's actually opposite the Bah Kut Teh coffe shop people go to after clubbing at Mohamed Sultan Road.

There’s only one thing worse than being talked about, and that’s not being talked about
Wilde, A Picture of Dorian Gray.

Two opinions, both alike in dignity. In Sage the Restaurant where we lay our scene.
Sage is a place that I am quite ambivalent about. I loved the food but I hated the dining experience. Jusman’s creations are So fantastic (could not resist the pun, and the food for that matter), but it was somewhat marred by the fact that certain elements about the dining affair as a whole was not more tightly bound. Oh well. Let’s get the bad out of the way shall we?

5 Things I did NOT like about sage

1. No Valet
Call me a spoilt brat but I need my valet parking service. I hate having to look for lots and trudge 200 meters on foot when I am clad in shoes that palpably are not made for walking (yes I hear myself, I know I sound stupid and whiny). I docked my ride at the UE Square basement carpark which was characterized by a narrow spiraling entrance made for go-karts and the collection of scratch marks left on the barriers by its victims ascertained my observation. The subsequent marathon to the pearly gates of the restaurant should not be reserve for mere mortals. So maybe, just maybe, the management should consider valet services, that or allow sports shoes as part of the dress code.

2. Noise Noise Noise
Tip for guys thinking of Sage as a date place - Learn to read lips. It was loud in there. Sometimes attempting to converse felt like talking in a rock concert. Maybe a few of the diners had one too many bottles of wine or something but generally it seemed like the place trapped sound. I am puzzled to whether this is a common occurrence, me being paranoid or catching the place on a night with too many drunkards but when conversation becomes inaudible, there definitely is a problem somewhere. The acoustics combined with the dim lighting left me feeling like a character in the Gods Must be Crazy. There was plenty of gesturing going on, tons of smiling, and two people on opposite ends of the table mostly clueless to what the other was saying.

3. Table not Set
We made a reservation for 9pm and came in at about 915pm. The lady who greeted us at the door politely smiled and said “your table is not set, I am not sure why but maybe you can wait outside for a bit while we set your table”. OUTSIDE? Outside is along the sidewalk of Mohammad Sultan Road with no chairs and a plethora of underage kids clandestinely plotting their foray at fooling the bouncers. No I do not want to be outside thank you. We ended up requesting to sit at the table while they did the setting around us. We were not walk in customers and it is a 35-seater restaurant for heaven sake, how can our table not be set and be told to wait outside? Tardy.

4. Seating Arrangement
Our table was tucked in a secluded corner of the restaurant so it was no surprised that we were often forgotten. I reckon they took the unobtrusive approach one step too far. We were left to play games like: Who can get the attention of the waiter first, If we hid the menus below the platform would anyone realize and Can we leave without paying and not be stopped. The arrangement of the table left me staring at a blank backdrop and my dining partner all night (not as if that is the worst thing in the world). Open kitchen? What open kitchen? My back was to the open kitchen all night long and the only time I turned around was to try to draw the attention of the servers so ostensibly I was not really in the mood to admire the restaurant layout.

5. Bad Bread
Call me antediluvian but in my opinion the humble, complementary bread is a key component in western fine-dining restaurants. Often the quality of the bread is a good determinant of the quality of the establishment’s food. In this case it was antithetical. The bread served was slices of plain Gardenia-like white bread while the butter was unsalted and rough, both presented at room temperature. Where was the comforting feel of warmed bread juxtaposed with chilled creamy, melt-in-your-mouth French butter which would warm any tummy on a cold, rainy night? Where was the crunch, varying texture and shape that would transform mere flour and water into food fit for kings? All we had was plain white bread with what seemed like margarine. Healthier choice of course but fine-dining is about decadence and hedonism and that was sorely lacking in the bread and butter.


Food===>

I decided that it was quite pointless writing about the food or putting up pictures considering the myriad of reviews which heaped praise upon the creations of Jusman So. I entirely concur with the general consensus in terms of the food. It was divine. So brief I shall be in describing what I had.

Starters

Escargot and Prawn Risotto
This was such a beautiful dish that it hurt to see the portion dwindling after every mouthful. Arborio rice flavored with chunks of crunchy prawns complimented with tender escargots bounded with a frothy green emulsion. I could eat this as a main, or a dessert, for breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper, you get the point. It was a masterpiece.

Foie Gras
I reckon anyone would fall in love with liver after you had Jusman’s foie gras. Nice thick slab of creamy liver crusted to perfection. Simply sublime.

Mains

Beef Cheek
The tenderness of the beef cheek was accentuated by the concoction of thick sauces that topped the piece of meat. Comfort food with a twist.

Duck Confit
Done the way it should be. A leg of tender and succulent duck meat enveloped with rich ,tasty fats underlying a crispy skin. Duck innards wrapped in cabbage completes the dish and leaves one in duck heaven.

Desserts

Chocolate Fondant
Rich chocolate cake laced with grand marnier served with a side of vanilla ice cream. Not for the faint hearted, or artery-clogged hearted rather. Sweet way to end the meal.

Value==>

I paid in the region of 180 excluding the alcohol. It was quite a steal in my opinion. I mean honestly French food in Singapore can get quite pricey and we are talking about a guy who worked with Michelin star chefs during his stint in Hilton and one of the top rising chefs according to WGC. The stuff he produced was quite magical and I have no qualms about paying double what I did to have that meal again (I certainly hope no one from the management is reading this).

Final Words:
A glooming peace this night with it brings. The moon for culinary glee decided to peak her head.
There was a poetic calmness that the meal brought. Maybe a full stomach of great food produces that effect. As I took the long hike back to my car, the criticisms churned but the food gently laid them to rest. And all I could think about was my reunion with this mystical place they call Sage.

I have always been meaning to try Sage The Restaurant for the longest time. However, I put it on hold for so long that they actually moved across the street. Since then, I attempted to go to Sage twice. Once it was closed for a corporate function and the second time it was closed for some maintenance work. Finally, after all that wait, I managed to get a lunch seat on a Friday and decided to make my maiden visit here.

The decor is a darkish fine dining atmosphere but it becomes light the moment Kimberly, who runs the restaurant, greets you. The atmosphere is light and I did not have the formal feeling of fine dining.

Down to the food, I went for the four course lunch set which is a really good deal for one to try out various items on thier menus. I started with the Smoked Salmon with Caviar. The smoked salmon was not too chewy and was paired well with the light green pea dressing. I then tried the Cappucino of Mushroom Soup which was served in a cup and did look like a cuppa. The soup tasted pleasant and not too creamy.

I then tried the Duck Confit, a recommendation of reviewer Panerai. Interestingly, the duck was not very too salty and the crisp of the duck skin which melted well with the duck meat in my mouth. Just thinking of that makes me hungry.

I then tried the Prawn Pasta, which I found to be very strong in taste with a tad too much sodium.

Finally, I ended the meal with the Chocolate Fondant, which was a little disappointing as it did not have the ooze of the warm chocolate flowing in the insides. The vanilla ice cream was pleasnt though.

All in all, I did enjoy my meal and look forward to returning to try more of Sage's delights. One should however be warned that the sauces tend to be on the potent side and you may leave from lunch feeling the real need of a siesta to recover from the meal.