Vis-à-vis

This must be one of the best meals I had in 2010. Serious. And it was in a restaurant less than ten minutes away from my place. I've been staying in my area for like ever (since I was a toddler really), and that's almost twenty years, and it's the first time we dined at the place. Like, seriously, seriously? Why did we wait so long?

Vis a Vis at Chun Tin Road

Christmas mood

We dined there mid December 2010 on a Saturday afternoon, that explains all the festive decorations adorning the establishment. 

Bread basket; a glass of Favourite Summer Drink

The bread basket was served shortly after we had made our orders, and the waiters were attentive enough to refill it again without us asking when our soups arrived. Thumbs up! Dadddy saw the drinks menu and couldn't resist ordering a cold drink on the hot afternoon. The Favourite summer drink is essentially a mix of cranberry and lime juice, topped with a lychee puree. It tasted quite nice, citrus sourish stuff always appeal to me.

Wild mushroom and truffle soup

Daddy ordered the mushroom soup, and it was good! Well, the soup can be thicker - Sis thought that it was just a tad too watery. But overall, the truffle flavour was apparant. And within the creamy soup, there was a piece of raviolis filled with cep and foie gras. How truly indulgent.

Duck; Chilean seabass

The duck plate was a combination of two duck dishes. One, the roast duck with orange sauce, and two, a kind of crispy roll filled with duck. Nice. I'm not a major duck fan, but really, nothing in Vis a Vis disappointed me. Heh. The fish was grilled I reckon, and topped with tons of prawn roe. The fish was really moist and tender, and tasted slightly sweet. Again, nice.

Meltique sirloin

One of the highlights of our meal - the sirloin. Sis and I shared the sirloin and kurobuta. Sis even said that this is one of the best sirloin (possibly, the best?) she has had in Singapore yet. Three pieces of sirloin grilled to the perfect medium rareness lay atop a bed of pureed cauliflower (this I only knew after perusing the menu online, I had initially thought that it was mashed potatoes). There were two sauces accompanying the steak - the morels in white truffle cream sauce and cep mushrooms in black truffle sauce. Truly truly a work of art. Especially the white truffle cream sauce. Simply divine. I swear it's the best sirloin accompaniment ever. No wonder people wax lyrical about the white truffle, really, after tasting this, I think the aroma was super super heady. Powerful stuff.

Kurobuta pork

The Kurobuta pork was also, not surprisingly, good. The meat was tender and the meat juices were still intact, so really, the chef knows his stuff. No overcooked or dry meat here! The pork was drenched in an apply cider sauce that complemented it, and the few pieces of apple cubes given were delicious when eaten together the pork.

Dessert time

Desserts take thirty minutes of preparation (stated on the menu) so we ordered a chocolate torte when we were ordering our mains. After the clearing of our mains platters. We decided that we still had enough space for two desserts instead. Sis wanted to try the baked alaska, so we summoned the waiter to our table. We were quite apprehensive that ordering another dessert will take a long time, but the waiter was quick to reply that the baked alaska was a snap to prepare and does not require the thirty minutes stated. Yay. 

I had my camera ready on standby when I saw the waiter approaching with the plate. I knew that it will take  just a few mere seconds and I really wanted to capture the flames. So the instant he plonked the plate on the table, my camera was already switched on and raring to go! Ha.

Flaming up

Baked alaska

I've never tried a baked alaska before, and it is basically ice cream (in this case, vanilla) covered with a thick meringue, which is then torched and flambéd with an alcohol (in this case, grand marnier). Vis a Vis's rendition included fresh strawberry slices and a strawberry sauce. I must say, this isn't one of my favourite desserts. No offence to Vis a Vis, this isn't badly done, just that I'm not a fan of torched meringue in the first place, I always find it a tad...foamy(?) for my liking.

Chocolate torte

The warm chocolate torte, more like a molten chocolate cake actually, had melty gooey chocolatey innards, and was served with rum and raisin ice-cream and caramelised banana. Swoons. They had me at...er, wait, was it molten chocolate, or was it caramelised banana? It's a tie really. ;)

This sounds super like an advertisement for them, but really, nothing pleases me more than having a really good meal. And that's with the added bonus that I did not have any prior expectations of the place, and that every dish was a winner. Truly truly rare, and that's why I felt the need to bombard the post with tons of pictures and words, describing every possible moment of the delightful that I had consumed.

And can you believe that my photos above were all taken using my Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM Lens? Yeah. I made a major mistake bringing my camera out without first checking which lens was on the camera body. Aargh. Then again, I made do. Phew.

I end this long post with the words that Vis a Vis probably ranks number one as my restaurant of the year 2010. I'll definitely be back again...erm, with my Daddy again most probably cos well, French dining isn't cheap baby. Heh.