Kevin L.
Yelp
Came here to celebrate my friend's birthday. It's a 7pm on Saturday, so I would expect here to be quite busy, even it was a bit out the way (relative to where I live, anyway) on the Upper Station Street.
Little did I know that this restaurant has just been award an one-star by Michelin, not only 2 weeks ago. Well, my friends did know either, so let's say we were super lucky to get a table. (and if anything, I would usually be biased *against* Michelin restaurants, so this restaurant made a good exception.)
If I had to summarize this restaurant in one sentence, then I'd say, it has everything done right. From the moment I entered, the service had been spot on. I hated the over-the-top staff which would ask you if the food's alright every 5mins in some fancy restaurants, and it's good they didn't do it here. Instead they always had someone ready whenever you needed them.
We ordered three a la carte and two mains to share among three of us. Even the bread served from the very beginning was one of the best, and we ended up having three bags of them. The tartare was fresh and well mixed, and the mussels were some of the best. Again the bread came in handy, as I loved them so much I ate a few more together with the tartare and also the soup base from the mussels.
The foie gras mini burgers were top notch. It was the dish I secretly hoped that I didn't have to share with my friends and have all three burgers by myself!
The wood pigeon and foie gras pie was very good too. Usually I wouldn't order two dishes both with foe gras, but it was a wise choice this time. I mean, hey, now I do realize the lack of vocabulary I could use to describe food. But let's move on to the lamb, which was cooked right to the point where it didn't get chewy. You slide your knife on it and it went into half, that's how perfectly done it was.
By the end of the dinner, the birthday girl ordered a crème brûlée. We told the restaurant in advance to have her name tagged on whatever dessert we ordered, and it was done properly (you know, 9 out of 10 restaurants would either spell the name wrong, or spoil the surprise). No fancy birthday songs by staff, which again we really liked it.
We also ordered a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from Bordeaux. Smooth and without crazy amount of tanning like the usual, so it came back to "it has everything done right".