We had my belated birthday dinner on Sunday night at the turquoise room at my suggestion because I’ve seen so many lovely things about it here, but honestly I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. I mean I don’t think it was particularly fantastic, but it was ok.

Before we get to what we ate, let me just say that when we got there, the waitress told us that they were totally out of duck. (which was one of the things people rave about here, and even though i dont eat duck, all my friends do and i told them that this duck confit thing was supposed to be really good) and they had run out completely of fettucine, and only had 3 portions of linguini left. They would get more linguini, apparently by sending someone out to buy and bring back and cook (this is literally what the waitress told me) but if we didn’t chope the linguini now, we would have to wait. So we ordered.
Im just thinking, this cant be a fantastic start.

Anyway, we had:

Cilantro Fish Cakes
Calamari Fritti with Garlic Crème
Grilled Portobello Mushroom
3 Crabmeat linguini cooked with white wine and crab broth and light tomato cream sauce (WE ordered, we didn’t want to wait)
Bacon and Mushroom Carbonara (was supposed to be fettucine, but my partner had to have penne instead, no fettucini, no linguini)
Prosciutto and Porcini with Arugula and shaved parmesan pizza
Sundried tomatoes with feta and peso pizza

Well for starters (the first three items above), I thought the portions were rather small. But then again, I could just be greedy. The fish cakes were okay, very nice refreshing dressing. The Calamari was a little thick and rubbery, and cut up in rather huge slices, but I like my food hard and chewy, so no complaints. The garlic crème was unique and pretty good. The grilled Portobello mushroom was quite perfect, save again for portion size. I like that the fish cakes and mushrooms came with salad on the side, and they didn’t use the normal cheap lettuce kind of vegetables. A lot of nice dark greens - though not that we could see well, we were outside and it was very dark. It was too dark in fact and I think they should try to make it brighter. You cant exactly read the menu by tealight.

I had the crabmeat linguini, as did two of my other friends. They loved it. They thought it was good. I just thought it was okay. Portion wise, it was okay for the price. Anyway you do taste the crab, and while a little on the dry side, its just quite seafoodish tasting, so if you like seafood and pasta, this should be a dish for you.

My partner had the bacon and mushroom carbonara, with penne, of all things. He didn’t really have a good time eating it. My friends thought it looked dry. It was. And it was kinda like oily So he was struggling to finish it. He didn’t feel too good after finishing it though. I had a bite, and I thought it was okay. (but my stomach is conditioned to take a lot of things)

My other friend had the prosciutto and porcini pizza, which was humongous. But it was good, especially if you like things salty, and you like italian ham (sort of like salami but not so intensely salty). They put the arugula in the middle of the pizza so it got a little messy, but overall I thought the combination was pretty ok.

My friends boyfriend had the sundried tomatoes with feta and pesto pizza. Now, I never thought vegetarian pizzas could taste good. But this by far, was like one of the best tasting pizzas ive ever tried. It was moist and flavourful, and not too salty. And it certainly didn’t taste like super vegetarian i.e. if you told me there was some kind of meat in it, I would believe it. But it was really flat, so yup, you know its just tomatoes and cheese.

I had a dessert of their walnut brownie and vanilla gelato - I thought the ice cream was too light. It wasn’t like particularly special, it was normal.

Anyway they did appear short of staff, but I suppose they were doing their best. i Was a little pissed because one of my friends ordered the soup of the day (broccoli) and all our starters and mains were served but soup never came. when queried, the waitress serving us (incidentally the same one who told us that oh you should order your linguini now, i only have 3 portions etc whatever) said OH IM Sorry i forgot. and i was like yeah totally.
Anyhow I cant get over the fact that they ran out of like food though. My friend said that they should plan ahead, and not end up with having to go and buy supplies like that on an adhoc basis - like how hard isit to store pasta?

I would think twice again before asking for outside seating - its too hot and sticky and yucky insecty and smokey (from the mosquito coils or something) for my liking.

Anyhow at the end of the day everybody did enjoy dinner (more for the company than anything) and I will try to come back for their Sunday brunches.

Enivornment :- I like this casual and rustic place. Though the music can be tad loud. I prefer softer music when i am having my meals.

Service : was good, though it could be slightly difficult to get some attention at times.

Food :-

Mushroom soup :- too "watery" for my liking. I always prefer my soup thick and hearty, especially my mushroom soups.

Mushroom Spinach Pasta :- this is one dish I so regret going back for. Instead of a creamy spinach sauce, I had a too-little-dry-,-not-much-of-a-taste-other-than-raw-vegetable pesto stirred into pasta, that was slightly harder than I normally get. It was tough trying to swallow this dish.

slipper lobster pasta :- I do admit that I was recommended this dish, and I was tempted because of the lobster. However I totally regretted it as well. The slipper lobster meat was cooked too long, and it has the chew'iness of a squid rather than a lobster.

Sure, both dishes has their pasta coated with the sauce, however it just didn't hit the right spot.

Halznut gelato with brownie :- one of the worst brownie I ever had. The brownie has a burnt taste to at different parts of it. I gave up on it after a few bites. The Gelato was quite nice though.

Banana crumble with vanila gelato :- I like this. Especially with the banana chunks that were found in the it. NICE!

Have been wanting to go this place forever. Sometimes I do wonder if places like Turquoise Rm and Villa Bali are considered hidden finds or not? Maybe not anymore! On that evening I am there, the Room was almost full. Considering that had been 18 reviews before this, I have been really, really late.

If you still dunno where the Room is at, it is along the Depot Road where CMPB is (yah, where u guys go there for med review for PES status before enlistment). Still accessible by bus. Alight along Depot Rd and walk into Lock Rd. Its a quite a walk, maybe about 10 min stroll time. Now this Lock Rd looks a little like Old Dempsey, the Dempsey that I love. A little rugged, rustic old houses transformed, the greenery still exist and most important of all, there is NO VALET PARKING!!!

So we went down to the Room for dinner after a busy week of schoolwork and projects. Got the alfresco side of the Room. Not too bad juz a little dark, wans't helped by the flickering candle light on the middle of the table. Wisps of burning mosquito coils gave a little assurance that mozzies may not feed on you while you are feeding. I dun mind a bite or two, but dun give me dengue!! The only bad thing about sitting alfresco is that rock music from Handle bar will 'thrill' your ears while you are emersed it the Room's soulful jazz. A bit of fusion music here.

To start off, we had the caesar's salad with grilled chicken. This is one good ol' caesar. sufficient dressing (not dry), interesting pieces of bacon chips and lastly 3 succulent pieces of grilled chicken breasts. Yes, chicken breasts. But they are as smooth as the thighs (kekeke...). For mains, I got the duck confit pasta. A little al dente, the pasta was not overpowering. I am totally taken in by the pieces of crispy prosciutto. I lurve them. Fren had the pock rack with greens and sweet potato chunks. Have been noticing that some places have been serving sweet potatoes rather than normal potatoes as fries or side. I applaud this move. The pig was tender and wasn't dry at all, infused with a nice herbal tinge and not strong pig smell. lastly dessert followed. a little disappointing choice. There were only 3 to choose from: banana crumble, brownie and tiramisu. The Italian was definitely not up to mark. served in a see thru cup, it was quite a small portion. taste wise, let's just say that the de parma ones beat this one hands down.

We had a bottle of the house red ($59). Apparently now the wine list looked better than in the past, at least about 10 different varieties for whites and reds each. Service was satisfactory, but be prepared to have lesser attention if you are seated at al fresco if the inside was crowded.

Went there for dinner last week to celebrate my friend's birthday. I love the simplicity yet refreshing feel of the decor. Turquoise with white is one of my favourite color combinations, and I absolutely love simple but stylish decors. Music is great.

Moving on to the FOOD. Three of us shared a calamari side dish. I had the crab meat pasta while my two friends had the duck confit pasta and slipper lobster pasta respectively. Would have liked to tried the pizza but my friends are not big eaters thus I shall save it for my next visit perhaps with my bf. For dessert, we shared the brownie and requested the waiter to put a candle on it for my friend =) . Pleasnt service. The whole meal totals to a few dollars more than $100 (can't remember the exact price). I rated the food 7.4 as I have yet to try the pizza which I have high hopes on as I had (eye)witnessed the cheesiness (I love cheese).

The calamari is nice and tender lightly battered on the outside. They used the whole squid instead of the normal squid rings.

My crab pasta was not bad but a bit too dry for my preference. Quality is fresh though.

The slipper lobster pasta had a bit of ''fishy'' taste according to my friend and she did not really like it. It may be due to personal preferences.

The duck confit pasta is tasted really fragrant but a tad too oily and my friend only managed to finish half of it.

Dessert was heavenly. The brownie was moist and warm and rich tasting. I could have easily had one for my own.

Despite the average ratings I give for the food, I am charmed by this place. I will definitely return again to try the pizza and some other dishes.

Saw the constant running pics on Turquoise Room on the HGW front page and after reading the good reviews, decided oh what the heck, I will go give it a try.

All I can say is that I'm glad I found this hidden gem - tuck in a sleepy corner of Gillman village, I would not have found this place myself really. But after finding it, I realised its not as far to the main road that I first assumed it would be when I saw the map. Ok, I digress......

The food was wonderful and robust. What I really liked a lot was the Duck Confit with crispy prosciutto and sage! It was priced around $24 I think, but what great value it was. Firstly, there was a lot of well marinated duck meat which I find many places sting on, and the crispy prosciutto to die for! Must thank the earlier reviewers that alerted me to this dish. All in all, it was a robust dish that filled me up really well...if I did not share, I would not have been able to partake in the other dish

That dish is the Mushroom and Ambergine with garlic mascarpone. That was around $17. Its unique to me cos it was not tomato based and therefore, did not have the jelat feeling after a while when you eat too many tomato based pizzas. And it had a light feeling to it, in that it did not feel you up excessively. I think its because the pizza crust was thin and real tasty....just the way I used to eat my pizzas in Italy really. The mushrooms were fresh and I enjoyed the every mouthful of it.

So far so good....and then I discovered something interesting. Remember, I'm not a coffee drinker but after reading about their latte in the earlier review, decided to have a go. And sure enough, it was very interesting. The form that was on top....well, I have tried one or two Starbucks coffee in the past, but I don't recall their form being done so well. Not quite sure how to place it, but it made me want to drink more and more. Haha....I really wonder how they did it. Decently priced too at $5

All in all, a wonderful experience at this nice chill out place. A very calm and peaceful place, great for unwinding after a hard day's work really. Service is attentive yet unobtrusive. And it helps that the food is good. =)

I will definitely be back to try the other dishes.