I feel very happy looking at all my yummy food picts! This is a pretty outdated post (as usual) - lunching with ice are always gastronomic treats and definitely something I look foward to. For a more succint review, go here.
The bread is one of the nicest restaurant breads I've tried - crispy and crumbly on the outside, and fluffy on the insde, and infused with delicious herbs. 
There are 10 choices of appetisers and 4 choices of foie gras (add $6 for foie gras). There I had the pan seared foie gras with mirin and shoyu and shitake (left). It was pretty salty (definitely no problem tasting the shoyu) and the mushrooms were all drenched in the sauce. 
I hope my liver doesn't look like that :/ But I'm so glad the duck's one does cos it's so yummy. The foie gras itself was well executed, with the outside being lightly seared and the insides slightly wobbly. It also oozed lots of the delicious fatty oils (though this isn't healthy like the fish oils).
The pan seared foie gras with caramelized apple and clove port and raspberry glaze. I prefered this especially since they were generous with the diced apples and the sweetness of the apples went very well with foie gras. I'll definitely get it the next time.
Cold Angel Hair Pasta with konbu and shaved abalone ($28++)
This was an extra appetiser we ordered from the ala carte menu. Looks a bit like dragon beard. I liked how the pasta was nicely coated with sauce (even though I really don't like sauce, this one was extraordinarily nice). The sauce wasn't overly salty, just enough to infuse the pasta with flavour, and it's served chilled - very refreshing.
Pan roasted lambloin with ratatouille and rosemary jus (done pink only)
It looked comparatively tiny (it was a very big plate) and actually, the portion isn't as small as I initially thought it was. The lamb was tender, just cooked and juicy. Each piece was well marinated and went well with the rosemary jus.
I thought my lamb wasn't that fantastic, maybe cos I was dissappointed by the size (though size shouldn't matter and it's just an optical illusion anyway). But the next time I come here (hopefully soon!) I will definitely eat the seabass. 
My second time having ratatouille - much better than my first, though I definitely won't be going around looking for more ratatouille. It somehow disagrees with my palate - probably cos it's all mushy and soft. 
Pan seared Chilean seabass with mushroom and smoked bacon ragout, truffle yuzu butter sauce. This was definitely a hot favourite in the restaurant - most of the diners around our table had either this or the cod. The seabass was moist and flaky, and went incredibly well with the butter sauce. The butter sauce is really very delicious, and definitely deserves to be mopped up by the restaurant bread.
For desserts, there was yet another exciting variety of a whopping 10 desserts.
Warm banana tart with homemade lavander ice cream
Warm valrhona chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream
Glossy, molten chocolate oooozing out. Though I still haven't found one that can rival Senso's Cioccolata.
The sumptuous meal was washed down by a cup of peppermint tea, which came with a tiny muffin which had a strawberry jam swirl. Very cute!
We were pretty amused at the little cubed sugar dish that came with the English tea.
Somehow, during the whole meal, I kept smelling truffle sauce, even while we were eating the bread. Must be something wrong with my nose - or too much methylmethacrylate (which also leaves the same kind of feeling truffle leaves in the back of your nose).
Ember is located in the boutique hotel 1929. The glass panels give the dining area lots of natural lighting (great for taking food photos) and also for checking if the parking attendant has arrived (though it's really not worth the stress - especially since the meal is so delicious). 
The restaurant gets very packed during lunch, so be sure to call to make a reservation.
Lunch sets cost $38++ (and an additional $6 if you order foie gras).
Restaurant Ember
50 Keong Saik Road
Hotel 1929
Tel: 6347 1928
Closed on Sundays
What I like about cafe oliv is that they're really flexible about the set menus. I wanted to try the salmon linguine with pink sauce, but it wasn't available as a standard set. I was pleasantly suprised to be told that every main course in the menu could be made into a set meal by topping up $6. Set dinner consists of a drink, soup and dessert (choice of brownie with ice cream or creme brulee)
This was the soup of the day - we were told it was mushroom soup, but I think it's chicken soup cos there were little bits of chicken and no mushrooms at all. Nevertheless, it tasted very homely and the presentation was nice.
Overall, I quite liked the restaurant - food was good and reasonably priced, very value for money and the place was clean and brightly lit and very conducive for dining (and phototaking). Service was quick and efficient too.
Cafe Oliv
We (meaning my brother and I) wanted to go to 
I tried the Linguine with Bug and Tomato 
The Duck Mousse with Morsels was a delightful smooth little scoop of duck blended so well, and there's apparently truffles inside. But I couldn't taste any truffle. Maybe it's a truffle which doesn't have much taste??
Of course, no beef-eater can give up the Wagyu rump - even I picked a little piece to try. The mushroom sauce is fantastic, complementing the delicious beefy flavour of the Wagyu.
Look at all these exotic grilled vegetables - the yellow UFO like squash thing, and some funny cucumber-like thing.
Cherry Parfait - with cherry sauce. Lots of cochinal beetles died for this... (a little interesting fact that I learnt for bio). The cherry parfait tasted vaguely coconutty to me, but I don't think there's really coconut inside. Nevertheless, the cherry taste in the parfait was good, and the texture ofwhole thing was an in between a mousse and a ice cream. Strange texture.
Culina 
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