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2014-08-03
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I couldn’t think of a place for dinner. looked at the palate outlets & decided to try praelum wine bistro at Duxton Hill. A slight put-off though thinking of the traffic & parking. Anyway we decided to park at Craig Place Carpark which charges hourly. It came to S$4.50 for parking but at least no hassle.It was actually a great watering hole, a great place for a drink. Praelum is latin for wine press for crushing grapes & extracting juice. but I don’t drink so that was wasted on me. Haha! General
It was actually a great watering hole, a great place for a drink. Praelum is latin for wine press for crushing grapes & extracting juice. but I don’t drink so that was wasted on me. Haha!
Generally, there was a nice ambience & crowd. It was 8pm on a friday night & all the tables were taken up so we sat at the counter. To their credit this place served & did not charge for water. My wife ordered one full pint of Hoegaarden. It tasted great, I agree.
The baguette was nice & warm! I guess we were hungry but this was good with the butter. We ordered mostly their recommendations. The young server was very helpful. The crispy crust tarte flambe was the french answer to Italian pizza? Very crispy dough. The onions gave it sweetness & the egg some texture. My wife felt the cheese was not “pang” aka flavourful enough. Overall, quite edible maybe average or above cannot really c/w a good pizza.
The herb escargot was the best of the lot. It’s like a dozo cheese gratin escargot combined with a usual herb seasoning. Quite excellent, and the bread went very well with the remaining sauces.
The portobello was a little strange. I liked both blue cheese & portobello but they didn’t seem to combine very well. Grilled portobello with simple olive oil & sea salt is very nice & easy to do at home & someone the added blue cheese masked or reduced rather than enhanced the flavours. I was okay with the ribs. I was expecting the sweet sticky version, not my favourite but an ok dish. Wife though it was below average c/w say Tony Roma’s.
After amex palate 50% discounts for 2pax, the bill came to S$36++ for the 4 dishes. The beer was another S$14 no discounts. While the food was not quite what I would crave for, it was competent & pretty okay for the price, after palate discount that is. I can see that many (young & old) would enjoy the ambience, crowd & drinking here.
Must say something about the truly excellent service. The young partner is a wine specialist – he said he was in the trade from 16. All the young servers were very very friendly and helpful. One lady asked if we would like to shift to a vacated table but we were quite happy to sit at the counter & let others have the table.
See my full reviews & photos at = http://chefquak.com/2014/08/03/average-food-very-good-service-praelum-wine-bistro-on-1aug2014/
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