Restaurant Ember

Excerpt taken from the non-makan blog:

"The birthday was an uneventful one, I would say we got off pretty lucky that the restaurant that we were at managed to squeeze us in an hour and 20 minutes before their next reservation. I blame it on Lackey's lack of preparation. Then again ... whatever is he prepared for. Not wanting to go into full fledge tantrum mode I had a hard time disguising my disappointment. Having put to a time limit on dinner didn't help either. I would say the fault was again entirely my own. I would say I encountered EXCEPTIONAL service staff who managed to pick up the bad vibe and turn my sour face into somewhat one of embarassed smile and lightened the mood.
The food was really actually quite good. My selection at least, I thought the choice was alot like the game of Russian roulette. It had its fair share of hits and misses. ... Get the complete scoop on the food blog."

The 411 on RE : Restaurant Ember.
Also, look at Colin's (from Only Slightly Pretentious food) take on the place here

I started the meal with an open mind, since Colin's reviewed it. For a relatively small place, I thought that it was really done up nicely. It didn't start to nicely as it should have had I not been cheesed off by the fact that the other half hadn't made any prior reservation.

Before we were even seated, we were forewarned that we had till 8.30 till the people who had reserved the table turn up. I was seriously cheesed off before I had started my meal. While waiting to be seated I could see that they were frantically manning the phone lines for reservation which I highly recommend due to limited seating space.

For starters, I had soft shell crab, he had foie gras with shitake and enoki mushrooms (not pictured) The crab is stacked up in 2 halves and served with wasabi mayonaise sauce. Warning: Do not order this when you're on a diet. I thought the crab was rather well done. It wasn't soggy or dripping in oil. It could do better if it was served with more greens.

On his side, the foie gras was done splendidly, the liver was melt in your mouth with a wonderful caramalized top and finished off with sauteed mushrooms with sake reduction.

Mains:















Seafood pasta - -Pasta, prawns, clams and squid served in spicy seafood broth.















Pan seared garoupa served with creamy bacon sauce.

Dessert: Lava chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream.

Seems that going with the fish was a good choice, I think their grills would to but I was feeling rather prissy that day and didn't want to fuss over my doners. I'd pay more attention to the meats somehow.

The pasta however was a little disappointing, it tasted rather "gelak" and I told the other half I was better off with a plate of $3 fried hokkien prawn mee which has almost all the same ingredients. Carb dishes are generally more tricky I think the recipe itself calls for a little more fine turning.

I wasn't totally wow-ed by the dessert as well. The chocolate had a bit of an overcooked taste. The kind where you heat it a little too long and there's a hint of burnt taste. I'm not too sure if it was intentional, only a 2nd visit can confirm that.

Props to the wait staff, ok-lah for the food, drinks are too expensive. Seems that their customers only drink wine by bottle and cocktail menu was too barren. If the place IS a popular place for hen nights as the other half says where are the cocktails? Think sex in the city and you'll understand what I mean.

Makan Indonesia Effort: Hardcore Indo Food

Upon learning of my departure, the Indo's decided the Sinka HAS to try different types of AUTHENTIC Indonesian cuisine before I left, else, I wouldn't have really said that I ate well there. So ... the following was taken at Payon some really atas place at Kemang.
















Le menu: Don't even think of trying to steal this baby it weighs a ton.
















Rey: Looking at the menu trying to look at cool.
















Sambal tempeh, greens, botok-botok and fried chicken















Beef satay: The different indigenous groups of the Indonesian islands have various ways in peparing this somewhat similar barbecued-scewered-meat-on-stick-dish for a lack of description ;)

This one is like no other that I've tried as it was prepared with a crust of desiccated coconut, and seasoned with a wonderful medley of spices one which I could most strongly tell was of lemon grass. Its served with sweet dark sauce and topped with a crunchy spicy peanut sauce.

Overall I thought the place was a tourist trap. It has really nice ambiance to it great if you want to impress a first date or for business. Food wise, I've just had better for so much cheaper. Also, its a feeding ground for mosquitoes because of its open air concept.