Thursday, July 17, 2008

Epicurious

We actually wanted to try Brown Sugar (cos of the consistently good reviews, and on Julie's recommendation) but then unfortunately, it was fully booked the day before. So next in line was Epicurious. Fortunately, or I'd wouldn't have the opportunity to try affordable and good food.

It's a pretty hard to find (for 1st timers) location, but it's wedged between 2 japanese restaurants, along the river, and quite near to butter factory. Soup of the day - Mushroom Soup $5. Though the soup wasn't the memorable kind, the best part of it was the cheesy garlic bread. The delicious freshly baked bubbly cheese smell made everyone salivate. The mushroom soup itself was pretty creamy, with lots of mushroom bits and onions, worth the $5 since it's a good sized portion.
Beef Carpaccio with Truffle Oil, Rocket and Shaved Parmesan, whcih was an affordable $12.50.Vietnamese Bolognaise ($16), spaghetti with minced chicken, chillies and lemongrass. It's a pretty refreshing change for normal spaghetti, the lemongrass, chillies and fish sauce (? not sure if it's fish sauce since fish sauce is thai?) went really well with shaved parmesan. At $16, it's a good sized portion with lots of minced chicken. The famed Epicurious Beef Burger ($18) whcih comes with a special house made beef patty, sauteed onions, mushrooms and fries. It was an unanimous agreement (amongst the 4 people who ate it) that it was very delicious and completely worth the price. You can also top up the burger with cheese, bacon or egg for $2 each or $4 for all 3. It's highly recommended that you top up your burger with cheese. French Country-style beef stew ($18) was the next hot favourite - tender cubes of beef simmered with herbs, vegetables in a robust red wine sauce.
This is the grilled king salmon fillet ($20) which comes with a choice of side (sauteed potatoes, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, french fries, garlic bread, creamed spinach, sauteed mushrooms, grilled vegetables, ratatouille or garden salad) Out of these mind-boggling choices, we ended up with the ratatouilee (since nearly everyone watched the show and wanted to try it) but it was not really to our liking cos it was pretty soggy. The salmon didn't dissappoint - it was juicy and tender, and completely not dry ( I hate having dry salmon fillets).
Apple Crumble, topped with a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream. It's a steal at $7, and the portion will put other dessert stores to shame. Though the crumble layer is pretty thin, the whole bowl is full of delicious chopped green apples, for a refreshing finish to the meal.
Chocolate mousse ($7)

This is intensely chocolatey, and has a slightly powdery/grainy texture. It's very delicious - and it's like eating a whole bar of delicious cold chocolate, but minus the sore throat after that, since it doesn't leave that sticky, gross sensation you get after eating too much chocolate bars.

I will definitely return for more chocolate mousse - I suppose I can use this as my dessert substitute for the Chocolate Factory.

Epicurious is a good place if you're looking for above average food with decent and affordable prices. It proves that good food doesn't have to come with a hefty price tag. The restaurant has a relaxed environment and the service is good - the staff are knowledgable and willing to help you if you can't decide what to eat. If you want to sit in the aircon area (the kitchen is an open concept so do note that you'll have a food smell after eating inside) the seats are pretty limited. The al fresco area is much bigger. They serve water too. Last orders are 93opm, and they will try to close the restaurant by 10pm.

After Epicurious, I've decided to try cheaper places which has good and affordable food. There's so many new restaurants and cafes around to try, AND julie has such a long list of new things to eat I doubt I'll be able to try even half of those on her list.


Epicurious
#01-02 The Quayside,
60 Robertson Quay
Singapore 238252
t 65 67347720
Opening Hours:
Tuesday - Friday 11.30am - 2.30pm , 5.30pm - 9.30pm
Saturday & Sunday 9.00am - 9.30pm

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hahah! epicurious's my fav place! wow, looks like Julie got very long list eh? my list also very long. haha