Graze @ 4 Rochster Park

its our first time at Rochester Park. we have heard of this place but haven't been here before. with some luck and right timing, from last school year's parents, i was presented a voucher to one of the restaurant in that area . We planned this dinner on friday to mark a day gx had with me for my falls hols. i have been alone this whole hols. he has been busy and me lazy and sadly, yes fall hols is ending this sunday.

after i did a little shopping, gx came from work to pick me up from vivo. when we got there i was very hungry! the small carpark was full... then we drove in to look for the black and white house #4. gx decided to valet park... we decided to sit indoors, thou i was ready with mosqi patch! i immediately ask where the soup page was and i was surprised when i was told they have only one kind of soup. Cauliflower soup with prawns and double-cooked hens egg... too hungry to say no so i ordered. when it came i was alittle paiseh to take photo as we were sitting in the centre of the restaurant... so no flash....

the very first picture is when it was taken with no flash! the restaurant atmosphere is soft lights, dim and very comfortable but when it came to taking photos... it just turned out black! using photoshop i brighten the dark photos taken. the cauliflower soup ($18) turned out to be not bad. i liked it! prawns were fresh. but i did not liked the fried ball of breadcrumb thats in the soup. i forgot that there was suppose to be an hen's egg so i cut into it and out came on my spoon, runny yolk. never fancy sunny-side up eggs cos i am scared of the wobbly yolk! and the raw taste of it. gx liked it so he had the rest of the soup with it. as for the bread dipped in black vinegar and olive oil... the one i had with dap at portsdown italian restaurant was much better. the vinegar was much nicer and stronger in taste. here we got more oil on our bread than vinegar.

for starter we ordered ($29) 6 bbq scallops served with ginger in XO butter! these were nice! loved the fresh scallops on shells, we didnt even need the lime and lemon. i like the way they wrapped the citrus fruits so that when its squeshed only the juice sip through without the seeds and pulp. clever and neat.

see my tired-looking gx with his main course... he's been working hard and partying hard the nite before! company had dinner at no-sign board followed by short partying at st james. i like the photo-wall behind me. i love the decor of the place but i didnt take picture other then our area. we took pics with flash cos when i spotted people taking with flash, i was less hesistant to do so!

gx's main course - pork hock. ($33) bbq? prob till it was so crispy but soft inside! it was tasty. i had entree-sized mushroom risotto. ($18) glad i didnt order the main course size cos this was enough to fill me. too much risotto and i wot be able to swallow. this is nice just not too much cos its creamy. if u are wondering that's enough? wait till u see our dessert choice!

we were told that we have to wait for 25mins for our dessert. so gx ordered a cappucino. as for choosing the dessert, i was looking through the list and came to one that got me very interested. Dessert Tasting Plate ($35). i asked whats included in this dessert and i was thrilled to be told all of the above items stated before Dessert Tasting plate will be served in a smaller portion for 2!

thats like the most exciting dessert item i have ever ordered! when u can't decide which to ordered and have a chance to try all of them, why not! esp when we mit not come back here again... so with that we chatted while waiting for the dessert but both of us felt sleepy cos with a filled tummy and dim atmosphere with soft music... its hard to keep awake!

when the dessert tasting plate came, its huge! i was so ready to ... take pics bcos everything look so nice and cute! the lady who brought the dessert to us, link the names of the dessert and describe to us the contents individually.

in all 10 items! we had #1-kiwi sorbet which was the ice-cream of the day. fruity sour but refreshing! next to it was #2-classic afrigado. this was something new to us. we were suppose to pour the espresso and we were advised to pour only half of it into the dessert cup which was filled with a liquor jello, biscotti, vanilla ice-cream and toasted hazelnut.

wooo... bitter! i like the jellied frangelico liquor thou, gx like this dessert as its very coffeebased. one of my favourite would be the #3-chocolate creme brulee. it was very rich,, thick chocolate based topped with honeycomb ice-cream. behind #3 is #4-green apple, roasted pineapple and sour cherry crumble. this was pretty sour for us cos the rest of the dessert was so sweet. we didnt touch much of this dessert.

#5-australian trifle which is the one, far back on the left topped with strawberry, sad to say i did try it but didnt have any special impression of it. gx seriuosly was so full when he tried most of them and was saying thats too much dessert!!! infront of #5 is #6-homemade honeycomb ice-cream and strawberry ice-cream with chocolate sauce. i liked the honey coated nuts and the home-made strawberry sorbet. next to #6 is #7-palova. the base is a meringue and topped with passionfruit sorbet. gx freaked out with the passionfruit sourness and i personally dun like merigue cos its too sweet! the only goodthing from this dessert was the sweet peanuts that was served with it.

#8-Graze black & white pudding plate was the other dessert that we enjoyed. we actually ate this first cos it better to have it while its hot! its the first time i have a "white" lava cake thou! this was served with ice-cream. white pudding with choc ice-cream and black pudding with vanilla ice-cream. i was looking forward to eat the #9-sundae with deep fried banana. yes goreng pisang but it was nice and crispy served with chocolate ice-cream. My favourite of all the dessert is #10- warm Michel Cluizel bittersweet chocolate tart with banana. i love banana with chocolate! the chocolate was very soothing! while gx had the tart at the very start , i kept mine to the end!

they have an outdoor sitting where they play oldies black and white film on the wall. while waiting for our valet that cost us $8, we took some last shots.

the total bill for this dinner for 2 was $141 before gst and service charge. After presenting the $100 gift voucher, we paid $65.96 for the dinner at Graze. the food is nice and for the first time we were unable to finish all the desserts. we finished mostly the chocolate desserts and left the rest as were really filled! it was a nice experience but with the price tag, i was glad i was given a voucher to try it out.

Our 3rd wedding anniversary!

Thursday 18th September 2008 = Our 3rd Wedding Anniversary!

after school on wednesday, hurried to buy ingredients to make mango panacotta. i decided to skip pilates to stay at home to do this. gx was meeting my cousins for coffee. wanted to make a heart shaped pannacotta but instead of getting a big heart jelly mould, i spotted 12 Wilton heart-shaped silicon cups. loved it so i bot it! once home i started making the mango pannacotta for the 1st time. thanks to Chef Nan who is so kind to share her recipe with me!

at 12mn, Gx who set his hp alarm to alert him that its 18th, ran to wish me but i surprised him with the little heart-shaped mango pannacottas! his verdict is that the berry pannacotta and mango pannacotta each has different flavours. he like both!

after school, i went home to prepare for the dinner at M hotel. Gx cleverly arranged with bro when they go scout for D&D venue, to make M hotel the last stop. met him at Cafe 2000. this is our 3rd year here for dinner. not much change to the place. but it was super crowded! past 2 years was quieter... we were placed near a group of loud ladies...

we had the Semi Buffet Dinner, featuring over 30 starters and desserts including fresh seafood on ice, and a choice of main course. the spread is not bad cos with the main course we usually will be very full at the end of dinner. this year we didnt order my favourite mushroom soup cos that will burst our tummy... lesson learnt from past 2 years experiences!

in conjunction with the F1 race, they names their main courses as:

Britain - Roasted Strip loin of Beef with Seasonal Vegetables and Mashed Potato

Brazil – Bahian Slipper Lobster Stew

Finland - Pan-fried Salmon with Dill Sauce

Poland – Polish Meat Balls with Braised Cabbage

Germany – Bratwurst Sausage with Sauerkraut

Italy – Grilled Chicken in Red Wine Reduction and Fettuccine

i had a creamy pumkin soup while gx opt for the jap veg soup. we had bread with fresh pesto sauce that had alot of pine nuts in it! also the salmon and the bacon cheese spread was good with the soft buns. we had a platter of smoked salmon and cheese with crackers. out of 4 cheeses, i loved the soft chives cheese best! i had seconds of chives cheese and crackers!

out of the starters we had above, i like only the thai duck salad. there was sashimi and sushi which we didnt eat any. i had 5 fresh oysters myself! gx ate only 2. i love the oysters, they were very fresh! there was this shell seafood that was really nice, dun know the name but it tasted like xipabang.

Our main course : Britain Lewis - Roasted Strip loin of Beef in Merlot reduction with Seasonal Vegetables and Mashed Potato and Finland Kimi- Pan-fried Salmon with Dill Sauce topped with black caviar. the beef was ok. my salmon was not bad. loved the nicely fried skin of the salmon, the dill sauce was great and of cos the nice touch was the black caviar, that really made the difference! they even have wine pairing for the main course at $10.

after a short rest, the surprise cheesecake came. when i call to make the reservation this year, i make it a point to inform them i need the cheesecake for my 3rd wedding anniversary. the operator is so curious that she asked if we got married at M hotel. gx said that he didnt expect me to arrange it... haha wonder if thats the truth but he insist he didnt know i would arrange it again.
For the 1st time we got the Happy Anniversary tag!

for the 1st year, it was just the cheesecake. 2nd year, they kitchen was kind to pipe happy bdae without knowing its was our anniversary. with the early reservation, we got the right tag on the cake. but sadly, the cheesecake lost its attraction... i chose the cheesecake cos we had it for our ROM party at J bar in M hotel... it was sooooo good! so everytime we come here, i gota have it. i had alot of expectation cos i only have this cake once a year!

it was a disapointment cos the layer of strawberry was so thin... it used to be a good height of strawberry topping... the cheesecake texture was not as firm and soft, melting in the mouth... i am not being picky! cos they really used to have it so good! and gx was the first to show his disapointment... we had 2nd glasses of wine to have with our desserts...

the hotel-made strawberry ice-cream was very nice. the dark choc one was not bad but i like the pink one better. the durian pengat was nice to have. the almond jelly was not the usually white cubes we have, instead it was like almond flavoured ice-jelly served with peached flavoured aloe vera cubes. this was simple and refreshing.

gx went to get some mashmellow and played with the huge chocolate fondue fountain. i didnt have any of that, instead i ended my day at m hotel with another small scoop of strawberry ice-cream. then it was tea to mark the end of our dinner.

gave gx a small present, this was meant to share with me... haha ... warned him not to open the present but instead take a peak... when he saw it, he made a very cute snarl like STITCH! of cos this is not what i gave him for the anniversary... from the start of sept, i have been giving him little gifts! as for him, the dinner was on him and tommorrow he's bringing me to shop! lucky me, school's closed on friday! he was lucky to be able to take a day off from work!

our classic couple shots... I LOVE YOU LOTS MR TAN!!!