Sage, Robertson Walk

I've been eyeing this place that's sequestered in the second story of Frasier Place's inner courtyard for some time now. Never got about to coming down. Fatpig suggested lunch here. Quite glad I didn't wait any further to visit. Sage came about sometime in the middle of 2005. They've gotten a bit of renown with some of the local food bloggers. I heard that their annual dinner this year was held in this restaurant. That had stirred my curiosity. In retrospect, it would seem that this was one of those places where the experience was as good as the hype made it out to be.

Sage does an executive lunch at $25++ for a 3 course and $28++ for the 4 course. The lunches include a starter, soup, a choice of main and a dessert. The difference in the 3 course lunch is that one gets to choose to opt out of any of the courses. This made the 4 course much more attractive. The food was very enjoyable, albeit small in portions.

The menu for lunch I was told is rotated every fortnight. The appetizer we had for today was a seared yellow fin tuna topped with avocado mousseline, lumpfish roe and an aged balsamic glaze.

It was a very nicely seared tuna topped with what tasted like a fresh avocado puree. The dark sauce  I tasted, was the balsamic glaze. But the server claimed to be barbecue sauce (so who's wrong about it?). The lumpfish roe was more of a texture contrast to the avocado mousseline because I couldn't really taste it. It was on the whole pretty light. And I liked it.

Soup on the menu was a cappucino of cauliflower veloute.

I couldn't think of a better term to describe this but cappuccino of cauliflower cream. The soup was served piping hot with the foam that tasted like hot cream. Definitely a milky cauliflower. Brought a very nice warmth and perfect for a rainy afternoon like today. I was quite impressed with this.

The mains that we got for today were the pastilla of braised lamb shank with mascarpone cheese, Provencal ratatouille and cassoulet of summer beans and the braised beef short ribs topped with marinated shallots, puree of butternut pumpkin and brunoise root vegetables.

The braised lamb shank was wrapped in a thin pastry. Like a fried spring roll. It was delicious. Braised beef was nicely done and very tender. What got me was the butternut pumpkin puree which I thought was fabulous. It tasted exactly as was described. Buttery and slightly nutty smooth pumpkin which was very similar to the soup at Aerin's.

The meal ended with a very delicious dessert of vanilla panna cotta with Granny Smith apples and its own sorbet. The smooth and creamy vanilla panna cotta tasted like coconut to me. Not complaining here. Paired very well with the very fresh tasting and chilled apple sorbet which was nice like nothing I've ever had before.