Wild Rocket
Wild Rocket
Hangout Hotel
10a Upper Wilkie Road
Tel: 6339448
www.wildrocket.com.sg
laksa pesto linguine with tiger prawns and quail's egg
It has been about a year since Wild Rocket, its lawyer-turn-chef and its laksa pesto has made headlines, so I scaled mount Emily and made my first trip to Wild Rocket.
First impressions were good. The décor was modern chic, kinda hip kinda cool, instantly winning approvals. The service, however, was rather wild, they were friendly, but very curiously answered our question of “are there any daily specials” with a blabbering of their house specials. Then came the issue of how it almost felt that they did not encourage you to linger over your meal, but rather, please eat and vacate, we need your space! With every course, the food arrived quickly and as soon as you finished and placed your fork on the plate it was whizzed away. Not that I mind it so much, but I do when I deliberately left my fork and spoon apart so that I could taste the laksa pesto again, leaving me with no second tasting! The service seemed to have taken efficiency to an extreme that it did not seem to make any sense. One of my dining companions had ordered 2 appetisers and a main and the second appetiser arrived when he was not even done with the first!
braised veal cheek au vin and green peppercorns
The pastas really shone that night. The three plates that we ordered: the signature laksa pesto linguine with tiger prawns and quail's egg was a bright burst of fresh flavour, the penne in braised veal cheek au vin and green peppercorns was rich and hearty and the crab linguine with chilli tomato cream was comforting. They were all equally delicious in their own right.
pan seared tuna with wild rocket
Some of the appetisers struggled a little bit. The deep fried cod cakes had a lemongrass flavour that lifted it and the pan seared tuna with wild rocket was good, but felt a little like a run-of-the-mill way to start the meal. The black pepper soft shell crab with granny smith apples were interesting, but I think I would have preferred the crabs to have been coated with the sauce, much like how our black pepper crabs are fried rather than the black pepper as a sauce. The last of the appetisers, which was the most problematic, was the purée of mushrooms with white truffle oil. The only saving grace was the wonderful scent of truffle oil upon its arrival, but the soup really tasted like nothing except for a strange non-mushroom like after taste. I’m not sure if the problem was the type of mushrooms that were used or that it was in dire need of a good salting.
The mains were very sparse. It has no accompanying salad or starch, but sides are available for order. The grilled lamb rack in marsala marinade was disappointing. Flavour wise, it was powerful but the lamb rack did not seemed to be trimmed down properly and hence was too fatty.
After our plates were all rapidly cleared away, they quickly arrived with the menu for our dessert orders, but we were more or less ready the meal. We were in and out of there in about 30 minutes, and each of us had 2 courses. Some of us had reduced pasta portions for appetisers (good suggestion), and dinner cost about $30ish a person, which is not too expensive, but to scale the hill for another potential hit-and-miss situation, in all honestly, I don't think I would go back.
Hangout Hotel
10a Upper Wilkie Road
Tel: 6339448
www.wildrocket.com.sg
laksa pesto linguine with tiger prawns and quail's egg
It has been about a year since Wild Rocket, its lawyer-turn-chef and its laksa pesto has made headlines, so I scaled mount Emily and made my first trip to Wild Rocket.
First impressions were good. The décor was modern chic, kinda hip kinda cool, instantly winning approvals. The service, however, was rather wild, they were friendly, but very curiously answered our question of “are there any daily specials” with a blabbering of their house specials. Then came the issue of how it almost felt that they did not encourage you to linger over your meal, but rather, please eat and vacate, we need your space! With every course, the food arrived quickly and as soon as you finished and placed your fork on the plate it was whizzed away. Not that I mind it so much, but I do when I deliberately left my fork and spoon apart so that I could taste the laksa pesto again, leaving me with no second tasting! The service seemed to have taken efficiency to an extreme that it did not seem to make any sense. One of my dining companions had ordered 2 appetisers and a main and the second appetiser arrived when he was not even done with the first!
braised veal cheek au vin and green peppercorns
The pastas really shone that night. The three plates that we ordered: the signature laksa pesto linguine with tiger prawns and quail's egg was a bright burst of fresh flavour, the penne in braised veal cheek au vin and green peppercorns was rich and hearty and the crab linguine with chilli tomato cream was comforting. They were all equally delicious in their own right.
pan seared tuna with wild rocket
Some of the appetisers struggled a little bit. The deep fried cod cakes had a lemongrass flavour that lifted it and the pan seared tuna with wild rocket was good, but felt a little like a run-of-the-mill way to start the meal. The black pepper soft shell crab with granny smith apples were interesting, but I think I would have preferred the crabs to have been coated with the sauce, much like how our black pepper crabs are fried rather than the black pepper as a sauce. The last of the appetisers, which was the most problematic, was the purée of mushrooms with white truffle oil. The only saving grace was the wonderful scent of truffle oil upon its arrival, but the soup really tasted like nothing except for a strange non-mushroom like after taste. I’m not sure if the problem was the type of mushrooms that were used or that it was in dire need of a good salting.
The mains were very sparse. It has no accompanying salad or starch, but sides are available for order. The grilled lamb rack in marsala marinade was disappointing. Flavour wise, it was powerful but the lamb rack did not seemed to be trimmed down properly and hence was too fatty.
After our plates were all rapidly cleared away, they quickly arrived with the menu for our dessert orders, but we were more or less ready the meal. We were in and out of there in about 30 minutes, and each of us had 2 courses. Some of us had reduced pasta portions for appetisers (good suggestion), and dinner cost about $30ish a person, which is not too expensive, but to scale the hill for another potential hit-and-miss situation, in all honestly, I don't think I would go back.
posted by joone! at
8:35 PM
2 Comments:
Was it crowded?
Next time stick your fork into the hand that attempts to remove your plate prematurely. ;)
Interesting to read the latest review on your blog especially when I only recently went back to Wild Rocket (it's been while since my first visit in December'05). The food's good and i didn't mind the brisk service since the restaurant was not quite a 'hang out' type of place given the close proximity of the tables and the crowd waiting at the door.
One thing I pointed out to the guys running the show that night was I really appreciated the upsized portions compared to the portions they dished out when they first opened. I remember 4 of us ordered everything on the menu because we found the portions a tad small. This time round, everything was just right. Good value -- i would go back again fairly soon.
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