Violet Herbs (Restaurant Week 2015)
Today was our long awaited Restaurant Week 2015 lunch at Violet Herbs! After sampling Arossa Wine & Grill's impressive Restaurant Week lunch menu a year ago, I guess the bar was set pretty high for this one. Today also the marks the first run on our new Sony A5100. We have gone mirrorless ;) Do bear with us while we figure out how this camera works; it's way more complicated than our trusty Galaxy S5. Violet Herbs is conveniently located along Tras Street, past Orchid Hotel -- look for Acclaim House if you somehow ended up on the opposite side of the road.
This sign board is pretty hard to miss though.
We realized we've been only taking photos of the food, but not the signboards. So, here you go!
There's actually two sitting areas, with different themes. The ground floor is purple themed while the 2nd floor is nature themed. We were ushered into the purple area but on hindsight, perhaps we should have requested for the 2nd floor because they use those cool looking black plates that looks great on the Marinated Red Miso Cod.
Oops, slightly blur menu as we were baffled with the auto focus on our camera. Violet Herbs brands itself as semi-formal fine dining, with rather interesting European/Asian offerings themed around herbs. We had a tough time deciding what to order as they all sounded so good. And from the pictures we've seen online, they all looked exquisite too. So in the end, we settled on one of each except the Roasted and Poached Foie Gras (Sher wasn't too keen on eating a mouthful of fat) and Chicken Roulade. This way, we get to sample as much of the menu as we could.
Pre-appetizers! Home-made focaccia with olive oil and balsamic vinegar dip. We weren't too thrilled by the lone bread though. Yes, there was the characteristic chewiness and the exterior had the ever slightest crunch. However, we kind of expected it to taste and smell of fresh herbs and we were sorely disappointed. Furthermore, the balsamic vinegar was rather bland tasting.
Today's amuse-bouche was a cute melon ball, garnished with some caviar and a sprig of coriander. Again, this dish somehow lacked the punch we were hoping for -- it just tasted like melon.
First up, Hokkaido Scallops & Salmon Belly. All this could fit in a tablespoon ): We wish we had more. The puree was silky smooth and tasted luxurious, not bad at all considering it's made from the humble sweet potato. We loved the scallop, which was seared to perfection.
The Mushroom Cappuccino looked great and tasted great. That foam is actually truffle foam and it's reassuring that they exercised restraint on truffle oil usage -- the gasoline-like taste/smell wasn't too overbearing. We could still taste the richness of the mushroom soup. Still can't figure out if that smudge at the side was intentional or accidental though (a bit of OCD going on).
Next up, the signature Marinated Red Miso Cod. But omg, why is it on a white plate. That's when we realized we should have gone upstairs... oh well. We hope we managed to do the dish justice with our shot. As for the cod, it was so tender, it flaked off in layers when you ran a fork through it. Sher, who doesn't usually eat eggplant, even polished the almond topped roasted egg plant. I guess she didn't know it was eggplant.
This shot of the Pan Seared Red Snapper didn't turn out so well ): Likewise, we were not too impressed with this dish as the snapper was tasted slightly fishy and overcooked. We would have preferred if the skin was crispy instead of chewy. The accompanying celeriac puree and the champagne cream sauce were excellent nevertheless.
For desserts, we had the Mascarpone Lemon Tart and the Lavender Creme Brulee. Don't know if it's just us but the tart shell, was rock solid and we had difficulty breaking it apart. For a moment, we were afraid it would go flying off the plate... urgh can't imagine how embarrassing that would have been. The lemon curd itself was delicious -- very tangy and (duh) lemony, although kind of runny; but the rosemary ice cream, like all the other herb-inspired creations before, didn't really stand out. We would have thought it was plain vanilla ice cream if we didn't read the menu beforehand.
The Lavender Creme Brulee was a bit of a let down. We could hardly taste the lavender infused in the custard; the custard was eggy rather than rich, smooth and creamy; and the crackly caramel top you'd expect a creme brulee to have was non-existent.
Overall, Violet Herbs has some hits and misses. The concept is certainly interesting, unfortunately, we found no compelling reason for a re-visit. For a restaurant that has 'herbs' in it's name, the dishes with herbs in them were perhaps too subtle to taste and somewhat lackluster.
Violet Herbs
Address: 81 Tras St, 079020
Opening Hours: Mon-Sat, 11:30-15:00, 18:00-22:00; Closed Sun
Website: http://www.violetherbs.com.sg/
Contact: +65 6221 3988
Damage: $25/pax (restaurant week lunch)
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