Saturday, June 23, 2007

Esmirada, Orchard Hotel


The lingering impression of this place from the last time almost 3 years back was that the food was pricey and quite forgettable. Three years later today, the experience at Esmirada (442 Orchard Road, #01-29, Orchard Hotel) turned out similar and service in this place really needs work. A service that could be described as wildly inconsistent. I've only discovered that they're the same group that manages Brasserie Wolf down at Robertson Quay.

This place is spoken of for their grills which I thought was quite decent, but really nothing to rave over. The price of the grills goes a little on the high side and portions aren't exactly generous. Esmirada does paella and the noodle option of that dish actually comes with penne instead of noodles that I thought would be. What doesn't feel right is that there isn't chorizos in the platter and the description of chicken from the menu really just involves a couple of mid wings. Really, a couple means just two if you still remember the actual definition of the word. That is certainly astounding generosity.

The rabo del toro is described by the menu to be a Spanish ox tail stew that is served with saffron rice. I really do not know what's so distinctively Spanish about the ox tail stew but it wasn't too too bad with four chunky pieces of the tail and served with boiled root vegetables. A signature dessert from the place known as Melting Moments probably has outlived it's moments. The unromantic description of it, is two tiny molten chocolate cakes with a scoop of walnut ice cream and cherries. There are places that does equally good or better renditions these days which also comes in larger portions.

No comments: