Brown Sugar, Stardus Clubhouse

The food here (Stardus Clubhouse #01-04, 277 River Valley Road S238318, tel:3336612) turned out to be pretty good in spite of the apprehension when I first arrived. Their clean and modern looking decor gave me the impression that there was more polish than substance but clearly, this restaurant was a lot better than what my preemptive judgment had determine. That being said, the gripe that I had were that some of the portions of the food were a little too small and the disorganized looking service crew reeked with an air of arrogance. I wonder if I'm the only person that felt that way about some of those wait staff.


The food could probably be described as European. What I found agreeable were the layered salad of deconstructed apple, walnuts, brie cheese drizzled with an apple balsamic dressing which had very clean and refreshing taste. I had the impression that these "deconstructed" dishes tend to be gimmick-y but this one was delicious gimmicky. The choice of ingredients here struck a good balance. 

The foie gras was not bad. Liver was done with a nice char. Also came in more generous portions than something else that I had recently which was rather expensive and what I felt to be a waste of money. The oils that settled at the bottom of the plate, I mopped up with bread. 

Was tempted by the wagyu burger but I ended up going with the tenderloin with cheese spinach ravioli, roasted baby carrots and blueberry infused jus. Turned out to be a good choice. The steak while small was done a very good medium rare and juicy. The only other flavour apart from the almost subtle tasting blueberry infused jus were just salt and pepper. Which was the way I like steak. The accompanying vegetables were lightly roasted and I actually liked those crunchy carrot. The other dish deserving mention was the pan roasted cod with squid ink pasta tossed with baby clams, asparagus and tomato beurre blanc. The fish came in pretty generous portions, was half cooked, firm and filled with it's own flavour. The sauce tasted like a creamy tomato with a subdued tang which I found likeable. The squid ink pasta below was just that - what didn't the picture didn't show was that the noodles were on small bed of little clams.


Desserts weren't bad. The ubiquitous chocolate fondant cake was rich while the butter bread pudding in butterscotch was pretty good with a nice crispy top. If only it were served hot rather than lukewarm.

I wouldn't mind returning given the opportunity.