Absurdities Vol 1 - Exciting Dining in Different Worlds

After the awesome experience at Wonderland Upside Down, I’m all eager to experience what Absurdities, another dining concept of ANSOFORTH. This has the same concept of interactive dining, with a huge difference in how Absurdities focuses on the food, exploration of different tastes, while immersing in the different worlds. It feels like dining in six different restaurants in one night, and I love it.

The food here is unique in both taste and the pairing of ingredients, in a very good way. Most importantly, they are delicious.

The host of each world adds vibrancy to the atmosphere of each verse, making the experience here one of a kind and totally worth it. And we have some light games to make the experience even more fun.

First verse of the experience is a quaint cafe, called Asylum Cafe, decked with Muji vibes and European sensibilities:

The first dish of the night absolutely impresses me with how refreshing, flavourful and unique the taste is. And this dish is lovingly made with herbs grown in-house. The herbal vegetal creaminess, with a well-balanced of zest, sweetness, savoury goodness and bitterness, turns the super crispy bread into a light, delightful snack. The special clear broth made with mushrooms and herbs add a nice earthiness to the taste of the bread. This is actually my favourite dish of the dish:

Then it’s time to figure out which of these doors lead to another verse:

We walk through the correct door and what lies before us makes everyone goes, “Wow!” Including me, of course. Before us is a futuristic Kaleidoscope-like hallway, full of dazzling lights of different colours:

Within this fantastical hallway, we need to shout, “Hello!” For the secret door to open, which leads to a secret cavern that speaks of nature and harmony:

The burger is so delicious, in which the patty is meaty sweet super juicy, and the light tangy taste of the thin strips of pickles cut through meaty flavour to balance the richness. I also like the cassava fries, whose earthy sweetness is elevated by vegetable seasoning sprinkled on top:

Then we have a mini game, and I’m the winner 🎉 I get a dragon origami as prize ✌️ 

Then we have to find the secret door in the cavern that brings us to a world that speaks of Arabian Nights. Sand dunes, beautiful Middle-Eastern lamps, bronze tables with motifs, translucent drapes and the mysterious host with a hypnotic voice make me feel like I’m in a secret world hidden in the vast desert:

Whiffs of smoke escape from the dish the moment I lift up the clay cover. It feels so magical: 

The fish is fresh and succulent, and Arabian spices makes the taste exotic and eve better. The accompanying cubed vegetables add the refreshing element that juxtaposes well with the spices. I'm not exactly a fish person,  but this fish dish gets my approval 😉 

After the stay at the Arabian tent, it's time to climb up a ladder to get to the next world:

And through a top cupboard in a kitchen, we step into a whimsical world of the 50s. I love the pastel pink and green walls, kitchen wares scattered at the stove, English crockery and the radio playing songs of the 50s and commercials of the old times:

There are lots of corn flakes boxes lining the shelves, which means that the next dish is packed with corn flakes. And surprisingly, the corn flakes go so well wth the chicken. The crispiness of the corn flakes contrasts so well with the texture of the chicken. This dish actually tastes meaty. The special milk made from cauliflower adds a nice light creaminess to this dish:

Then we need to crawl through the tunnel to get to secret alchemy for magicians. Shelves of books, potions lining the shelves, drawers storing herbs for conjuring magic, the setting here will delight fans of Harry Potter. I'm not a fan but I love it too:

Umami bomb, an additional drink that I have ordered, is full of umami. And the little bottle of herbs is for adding to the risotto to create some magic:

It is so fun to add the special herb and special crystal salt to this bowl of risotto, recite the magic spell together and then stir everything together to see dish turning purplish red, and the briny sweet smell manifest also upon stirring. The risotto is actually made from squid rice, so the texture is slightly bouncy while the taste is milky umami with seaweed flavour. I love this:

After the magic lesson, it is time to rest and relax on board a plane with champagne and dessert:

The jelly tastes so light and refreshing. I like the gold flakes added for a touch of lux.

When the plane is landing at "Jalan Besar airport", we sing a song together before alighting from the plane and going back to the real world 😊

Thoughts: Intriguing, Multifaceted Dining Experience

Brine Restaurant - Contemporary Singaporean Cuisine, Nostalgic and Beautiful Taste

Closed

Upon knowing about Brine, a restaurant helmed by local chef, I immediately note down this place into my Wishlist. I had assumed that the dishes here will be European with a bit of Asian touches, and the dishes totally surprise me regarding this, and in a very good way.

The dishes here are distinctively Singaporean, prepared in European style and elevated with complex flavours. They invoke the nostalgia, yet at the same time manage to be unique in taste. I really love the dishes, they exceed my expectations.

The place, at the first glance, looks more like a nice, modern minimalist cafe. In fact, I asked if it's Brine when I first stepped in 😂. But when I look around the place, I realise that there is a mini art gallery in this! At one side of the place, pottery art pieces and hand made glassware populate the tables and shelves there. This is so cool. All of them were made by the owner and for sale. Needless to say, I take lots of pictures of the art gallery.

The service is very good too. The young lady staff is very friendly and is fast to response to requests.

The second Battered Cauliflower is served, I immediately catch the lovely familiar whiffs of pepper and spices sprinkled over the crispy batter coating each mildly sweet cauliflower. Lots of subtle flavours packed into the cauliflower, and it tastes even more exciting when eaten with the mashed duqqa  for the extra kick in flavour and mashed hummus for the earthy, nutty element. I also love the crunchy roasted brussel sprouts, which is so good to bite on.

Knife Cut Noodles with buttered crab is so delicious. I love the texture of the special knife cut noodles, which is flat, curly and a bit springy. This is different from the usual noodles, and knife cut noodles are not exactly easy to find in Singapore. Hints of spiciness from the chilli and tangy flavour from the lemon juice makes this dish such a delight to savour. And best of all, I find chucks of briny sweet crab among the noodles. Two thumbs-up for the generosity in adding lots of crab meat. Caviar and Ikura are pops of essence of the ocean that add more umami goodness to the dish. A must-try.

Another must-try is Coconut noodles, laksa leaf jelly, kaffir lime meringue. I swoon in pure bliss when tucking into this dessert full of South East Asian flavours. The pungency of laksa leaf actually works beautifully in this dessert, complementing the tart taste of kaffir lim and the mild milky nutty flavour of coconut noddles. And the textures of this dessert is awesome due to the crispy meringue, springy noodles, crunchy sugar-coated peanuts and sorbet+jelly consistency of laksa leaf jelly.

Brine Restaurant is not just any good restaurant, it is a restaurant that serves up very good, unique food that showcases the essence of local food. It is full of passion and vision. I'm so into this place after an outing here. I look forward to come here again.

Thoughts: So Singaporean, So Awesome

This place is no longer in operation

Ginett Restaurant & Wine Bar - Nice Cosmopolitan Place

French food, impressive cosmopolitan decor and value-for-money set lunches at 18 bucks only, with all these factors, Ginett sure attracts quite a crowd during lunch time. The food is actually good. Just that while the service here meets the minimum standard of being quite efficient, I do expect more from the service given that this restaurant is of minimum mid level. Besides the front counter lady who is friendly, the rest look very stressed, to the point that I think I smile more at them more than they do to me.

Setting aside this, this restaurant is good for a nice meal at pretty good price. By the way, one needs to request the service crew to show the set lunch menu since it is written on a blackboard instead of being printed on a paper. 

Despite the attractively priced set lunch, I order Olio Scampi from the ala carte menu instead. And I love my choice. Three huge succulent fresh prawns, smooth, springy house-made linguine tossed with chilli, garlic and bacon, this dish is full of flavours. As mentioned in my posts before, I prefer linguine over spaghetti since smoothness of the surface of linguine is more evident than that of spaghetti. So yes, I like this a lot.

Complimentary bread is pretty okay though not warm and nice. By the way, the staff didn't serve me the bread, which made me wonder at first if the bread is only for set lunch order. So I asked if the bread only comes with the set meal and here it is. Mystery solved. So request for it if it is not served by the time the first dish is up.

Mille-Feuille "Grands Augustins" hits all the right spots in terms of sweetness and texture. The puff pastry is vey crispy and flaky, which is excellent. The Bourdon vanilla cream is light, smooth and creamy. This is one good dessert.

This is a nice place to dine and wine (the wines are of very good price too) on a budget or to have a quick gathering with friends or colleagues. And the good part is water is really complimentary instead of going the still or sparkling water route that lots of restaurants do. The food is good and comes at a pretty good price. Just don't expect stellar service here.

Thoughts: Pretty nice place

200 Middle Road

Nearest MRT: Dhoby Ghaut or Rocher or Bencoolen