As a sure sign of stress at work and just thinking too much about life in general, Slumbering Girl commented last night over dinner that she had never seen my eyes this small and that puffed up. She said I looked as if I had just cried. Oh no, I really need some concealer now!!!
Slumbering Girl, Monomonia and I had dinner at this Indian restaurant (oops, can't remember the name now, but it's at the Peninsula Excelsior) last night which is run by volunteers. Serving North Indian vegetarian food, the unique part about the restaurant is that you pay whatever you want at the end of the day. It's left up to the integrity of the customer. Proceeds go to supporting Indian arts and cultural groups and also to scholarships for young people wanting to further their studies in Indian arts and culture.
However service was extremely slow because there were many customers (Bizarrely so, 'cos it was a Monday night!) and too few waiters and waitresses. And there weren't enough menus to go around! But since it's run by volunteers, I guess it's forgiveable. Well, somewhat.
The vegetable curries were pretty good. The samosas passable. The naans were ok too. The paratha I ordered took ages to come. And in the end I told them not to bother as by then we had already finished all the curries.
We then headed off to Menotti where we figured all the waiters there are trained to sweettalk the ladies who patronise the place...calling us "beautiful ladies" and all. Anyway, we ordered the Favorti which was the bittersweet chocolate tart and the Messina which was really three scoops of gelato (mandarin, pistachio and vanilla) served together with a huge brioche and some whipped cream.
The two desserts looked very lovely. We couldn't wait to dig into it. The Favorti was a tad disappointing though. Not enough chocolate (therefore not enough kick to give that chocolate adrenalin rush) and too much raspberry. I think the chef must have gotten the proportion of ingredients wrong. For a really good chocolate tart, I suggest going to Marmalade Pantry at Palais Renaissance. As for the Messina, the mandarin gelato was probably the best. Loved the tanginess. The brioche was huge (a little too big I think) and made the whole dessert very filling.
Overall though, a 6.5/10 for the dining experience at the Indian restaurant and 7/10 for the one at Menotti.
Posted by DSD at February 22, 2005 9:58 AMit was a pity about the service! i did like the curries and that it was a vege place. it's called annalakshimi.
and i was so disappointed with the pistachio gelato! it had a very artificial taste. the one at tangs basement is tons better.
Posted by: olduvai at February 22, 2005 6:24 PMi love the mandarin gelato too. yummy yum. uhm, yes, to whoever visits Menotti next, watch out for non-chinese-looking waiters who keep spouting mandarin, even though you speak to them in english. bleah. trying to impress girls or what?
Posted by: slumbering girl at February 23, 2005 2:16 PMErrr, sorry but what is a paratha?
Posted by: roblee7 at February 24, 2005 12:30 AMolduvai: Yeah, the pistachio and vanilla weren't very good.
slumbering girl: I know! That waiter was just bizarre.
roblee7: It's a kind of Indian bread. Flat, like a pancake. It's different from the roti prata that we usually find at hawker centres.
Posted by: dsd at February 24, 2005 8:34 AM