Here i go again, another round of birthday celebration, with my good friend T. This time, the location was at Absinthe, a restaurant recommended by Lynx for its Lobster Bisque. Absinthe is located at Bukit Pasoh, a stone away from Outram MRT. Absinthe is historically described as a distilled, highly alcoholic (45–74% ABV) beverage. It is an anise-flavoured spirit derived from herbs, including the flowers and leaves of the herb Artemisia absinthium, commonly referred to as "grande wormwood". Absinthe traditionally has a natural green colour and therefore it is commonly referred to the Green Fairy. I suppose if a restaurant named itself after some spirit, it would be famous for that!
We started the night with some beer outside the restaurant. Right after we ordered the beer, I was immediately impressed by the restaurant manager, Mr Philippe Pau, who offered to take my bag and jacket in. The other waiter, a tall & funny malay guy, (Lets call him Funny) recommended that we have some ham to go with the beer, and he brought along some bread too.
After the beer, we proceeded into the restaurant, and we ushered to our table, where my bag was nicely palced at a small leather stool next to our table.
As usual, I left it to T to choose the wine. He is good with that, using feeling to choose that. However with the extensive wine list, he asked the tall waiter to recommend. The waiter was very knowledgable, and knew his wine very well. He recommended a wine, based on the main course that we were having.
I started the night with the Lobster Bisque with cognac, while T had the special appertiser, prawns with almond. Funny recommended a glass of white to go with our appertiser.
Lobster Bisque with Cognac
Prawans with almond
Complimentary Foie Gras, with pancake and raspberry. Foie Gras was pan fried, and the pancake took away the oilness feeling.
Close up:
T's main: Beef Tenderloin, medium rare.
Rack of Lamb medium well.
Wine for the night. I am not an expert in wine, and i like something that is too not dry, while T prefer something dry, full bodied. So we gave Funny the challenge, to choose something in between, and he recommended this. He said that this wine will go very well with the 2 red meats that we have ordered, and after breathing, it should be good to drink. I was very impressed with how dedicated Funny was to his job. He came back to ask if he could try some of the wine during the later part of the dinner, so that he could recommend it to his clients next time.
According to Funny, the wine was a bit "short" such as it did not really remain long in the palate. We assured him that we loved it :-)
I ordered a dessert to share, the Warm Valhrona Chocolate Fondant and Macadamia Nut Ice Cream. (Those on the right of this photo). The rest were complimentary from Absinthe, and they wrote of the plate, Happy Birthday Babe! Hee hee, so my name was Babe! The berries (those on the left) were very very good.
T was telling me the history of Absinthe, and he wanted to verify it with Funny. Funny asked Mr Philippe to tell us the story, as being a french, he knows his history very well. Mr Philippe not only told us the story, he also let us try 2 different type of the Absinthe. I was very intrigued by the set up for the Absinthe.
This was how it looked:
I had the one on the left, thought it looked more greenish and not as strong as the one on the right.
This holds water, to drip on the glass with the metal spoon, with sugar.
The Absinthe I had.
I had a great night, good food, good wine, great service and most importantly, great company. The only slight complain that i had was that some tables with some french men were a little noisy at times, probably due to the Absinthe!
Overall: 10/10
Absinthe
48 Bukit Pasoh Road
Singapore 089858
Tel: (65) 6222 9068
