Kick Back and Relax at Bather's

Bather’s Café and Restaurant
41 Sunset Way #01-02/03
Clementi Arcade
Tel: 64631767

Dinner at Bathers was a great no fuss night out. When we arrived and stepped through the front door and gave them our name for our reservation, we were led into the next room which was already humming with human activity. The cozy lit room was invited and very homely that will put you at ease in an instant. The server quickly appeared and gave us menus and asked if we would like iced or warm water which I thought was thoroughly considerate. Nothing stuffy about the restaurant, on the first page of the menu, you are introduced to the chef – Kelvin Cheong or more affectionately known as Kel to his regulars and this place as it seems has its regular followings. Judging from the diners in the table next to me who were more than happy allow Kel his free hand in serving whatever he wanted to them, I was feeling confident of a good meal. Service is prompt, the place is small and they run it efficiently with your water consistently being topped up, but our server seemed relatively knew and had to make constant shuttles to and fro from the kitchen with our numerous questions about the menu. Despite that, it is a great place to just kick back for dinner with a few friends and a few bottles of wine because as with the Australian bistro inspired food menu, it follows the common BYO practice in Australia.


Tenderloin

Nosh: An eclectic mix of items are on the menu, for appetizers, soups, escargots, Portobello mushrooms, soft shell crabs and others are on offer. For main courses, lamb, cod, sea bass, chicken, tenderloins and fish and meat specials or if that doesn’t fancy you, there is also a selection of comforting pasta that you can have. The fish special for the day was salmon, but what really surprised me was that the meat special was a wagyu tenderloin dish that seemed a little out of place in the restaurant since it seemed a little out of the price range of everything else. Desserts are simple, apple crumble, brownies, ice creams are various choices for you to end off your meal.

From the appetizers, we had the Portobello mushroom which was served on a bed of salad with a wonderful balsamic vinaigrette, the escargots which seemed to have a hint of cheese in the herbed butter which was moped up with our complimentary serving of garlic bread and potato salad and the tofu with gooseliver mousse. The tofu with gooseliver mousse left me feeling a little puzzled. It was served with some diced up mango and hoisin sauce, but I didn’t really taste a hint gooseliver in anything, in addition to that, since the tofu and the mousse were both a little soft in texture, it was a little hard to distinguish which was which although it tasted interesting together with the sauce.

The main courses looked impressive, the tenderloin was probably the best dish at our table. The steamed cooked stuffed sole fillets and the grilled sea bass with root vegetables and Asian sauce weren’t bad, but nothing much to shout about and I would have preferred a lighter sauces with the fish dishes as they seemed a little too robust for the gentle fishes.

Dessert was simple, we shared an apple crumble and a scoop of cappuccino ice cream, which was simple and nothing too complex.

All in all, the food is slightly above average, and I think I would stick to the meat mains the next time I’m here.

Pay: S$40 a person for 3 courses.

Raves: A great BYO place is hard to find in Singapore and since chef Kel can knock out rather tasty tucker, it is worth coming here to kick back in this cozy room.

Gripes: Our appetizers came in a series and hence we were watching each other eat which was terrible timing on the part of the kitchen. However, I’m wondering if they timed it in that manner because they expected us to share our appetizers since they always placed the appetizers in the center of the table and they seemed rather surprised when I said I’m not sharing my appetizer as a cue for them to place it in front of me.