B Restaurant

Food Tasting: B Restaurant @ Bellini Grande

oh yes... the meal that cost me my flight.

Looking back, do I think it was worth it?

Without a doubt, yes a million times.

I adored the foccacia served up. Warm and toasty with ribbons of zuchini strewened thru the interior. I relished in this together with the garlic laden pesto sauce on the side.

Our shared appetisers - Beef Carpaccio and the Yellowfin tuna nicoise salad recieved sufficient media attention by the rest of the food tasters before being pleasurably savoured. The former, beautifully presented with delibrate dots of balsamic vinegrette reduction embellishing the plate was fresh and sliced thinly to perfection. The latter on the other hand, paled in comparison despite the invasion of bright colors across the stark white plate. Blame it on the taste buds as my tongue yearned for a little adventure after the delightful savoury bread starters. The fence sitting marinated vegetables on the other hand were ravishing in its glory juices; the baby tomatos bursting with flavor.

Continuing on, I shall plead with you guys to bear with my hyper frenzied moment. I shall not hide my excitement anymore. *WEEeee*.. B Restaurant has the best caesar salad ever! Apparently from what I've heard, this version has descended from the original one from Corduroy and Finch which I totally had a love affair with. Hence, this one, stepped up a notch with giant succulent tiger prawns thrown into the mixture of lucious shaved cheese and cream and crispy bacon strips was an absolute thrill to munch on. I was a happy mad cow.

The boyfriend had his signature cordon bleu crabmeat soup with tarragon. Served in a rather peculiar bowl/ statue. The soup literally popped tiny crabs in your mouth with every silent slurp. I've never seen so many clean bowls on the table so far. But judging from the looks of it, this was a winner all around the table.

Chargrilled 200 days aged ribeye with fries and mesclun lettuce.

Gazing over from my plate of grilled tenderloin hailing from snake river farm, intense thoughts of jealousy overcame me. I imagined sinking my teeth into the succulent flesh of the ribeye steak, calming myself with the sweet burns of the caramelised chargilled flesh. Mmmm..

Not that my grilled tenderloin wasn't any good... it just wasn't comparable to the 200 day aged ribeye that screamed 'boomz' from across the table. Tantalizing and pink thru the middles, the steak was certainly a pleasure to chew on, accompanied by a ratatouille lasagna; the dish fared slighty above average for me.

And as the clock slowly ticked away, the rowdy disposition of the food tasters started to surface. I figured that there was perhaps a tinge of anticipation in the air as the entourage of desserts made its grand entrance. People starting to get the cravings for sweets after a satisfactory round of savoury mains.

Out of all the desserts on the menu that we put to the test, a few of my favourite are the

• Cheese platter, mainly because I love it's value for money spread of cheeses with berry compote, fig puree and biscuits; ideal with a bottle of wine
• the Chocolate chilli tart, sneaky in nature. this innocent chocolate dessert packs quite a punch delivered to the back of the throat. With a explosion of sudden heat, this is one dessert for the adventurous lot.



• Pineapple Ravioli. No strange fusion dessert here... reminisces about the bizzare white chocolate noodle she had at buddha bar in Dubai a week back. A beautifully constructed combination with crispy fried dumplings filled with pineapple pulp and a refreshing pineapple sorbet on the side.

• and finally... the Sticky Date Pudding. not only dazzling in appearance, this was just major comfort to the soul. Every flick of the spoon with it's warm spongy innards just meant an uprising surge of happiness. I kid you not. This was probably one of the best sticky date puddings that I ever had.

Falling into the list of 'desserts not to have' is the Hot liquid chocolate coulant. This dessert did little for me given my higher expectations of the overworked offering. The cake was hollow with the thinest of walls that didn't pack an oomph with each bite. Playing on the sweet and sour contrast, the passion fruit sorbet did add a bit of dimension to the finale but unfortunately wasn't able to pull the lacklustre product out of the catacombs.

On a final note, B Restaurant, as intimidating as it seemd with its whole mafia get up, prices are surprisingly affordable and portions lean towards a brasserie rather than you typical french posh nosh. The spunky Executive Chef Jeffrie Siew, with his accumulated years of experience in the kitchen has definitely acquired a unique sense of style and mastery of particular cuisines under his belt. With most of the dishes hitting the spot, B Restaruant is highly recommended by me for it's tightly executed cuisine it's nonpareil ambience.

B Restaurant

3B River Valley Road
#01-01, 2nd level The Foundry, Clarke Quay
Tel: +65 6270 7676