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| Jar of Duck |
A for Arbite
is the second restaurant / bistro opened by Chef Marc Wee and his
team. A for Arbite featured a Western-Asian fusion menu which will be
rotated every quarter to introduce new ingredients and showcase the
creativity of the team in Arbite.
Located in
Aliwal Arts Centre in Aliwal Street, this bistro provide a very
casual atmosphere dining environment. Diners will have a choice of
communal table for group dining or couple table for intimate setting
with the special someone.
For the
dinner menu, A for Arbite introduce a new concept. Each dish is
designed in a small bites (or entrée) size portions. Diners are
encourage try different variety of dishes in the menu paired with
their unusual Belgian Craft Beers, on the tap or by the bottles. On
the menu, every dish has a suggested pairing of beer, cocktails or
tea. However like any other food pairing, everyone taste buds is
different, so feel free to decide on your own. Based on my judgement,
4 to 5 small bites is equivalent in size to a 3-course meal.
As Chubby
Botak Koala is abstaining from alcohol due to medical reasons, he
brought his friend M as the beer tester. From 10 small bites that we
tried, our top picks are:
Jar of Duck
(duck rillettes, black truffle, foie gras, smoked duck breast,
roasted grapes and crackers) – $19.50. The most of expensive dish
on the menu, however the most yummyy dish in the menu. Explosion of
flavour in your mouth, purely on taste base on the wonderful
ingredients especially the truffle and foie gras. The most amazing
thing is when you add the grape into the bite, it just turn to
something different and sweet. Two thumbs up !!!
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| Jar of Duck |
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| Jar of Duck (assembled) |
Tri Pepper
Spaghettini (Green, pink, and black pepper pasta with swimmer crab
meat, chilli, spring onion and tempura battered soft shell crab) -
$10.50. A tasty, springy and chewy pasta. The pepper is very subtle.
If you want me compare, the texture is similar to Kolo Mee noodle.
The batter on the crab is thin and light, so it is crunchy and juicy.
Watch out for the shuddered chilli that gave the kick in the dish.
Delicious!!
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| Tri Pepper Spaghettini |
Beef Onglet
Tataki (Beef Onglet or Hanger Steak, shoyu, sesame oil, onion soil
and shiso) - $6. Using the not so popular cut of the beef, it is
grilled to rare. The beef is tender, well seasoned but light. The
mushroom flavour is quite strong, however combines well with the
beef.
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| Beef Onglet Tataki |
Lobster
Thermidor (Maine lobster, crabmeat, mushrooms, cream, mustard, brandy
and parmesan cheese) - $12. The closest thing that you can get to a
soup here. It is robust, think, creamy and you can feel the dash of
brandy. A couple of crispy bread to give a contrasting texture to the
dish.
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| Lobster Thermidor |
During the
tasting, M had Palm ($12 / glass) at the start and Steenbrugge Triple
($14/glass). Palm is a light version of a beer and easy to drink.
Good with something light tasting small bites. Steenbrugge Triple has
a stronger flavour, it has a dark gold colour and tasted similar to
stout. Goes well with more meaty small bites or those with strong
flavour.
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| Palm |
Moving on to
the sweet stuff, Cookies and Cream Cheese Cake is our pick. To put it
nicely, it is a de-constructed or blended version of the cake. The
cream cheese mascapone and milk espuma mix is quite light, it is the
opposite of the normally condensed cheese cake. The dark chocolate on
it create a contrasting flavour to the mix. Seriously, you can finish
up the desserts without feeling guilty.
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| Cookies and Cream Cheese Cake |
Another
dessert that I need to mention specially is the Ginseng Panna Cotta
(cooked cream pudding, ginseng, wolf berries, chrysanthemum sorbet) -
$7. This is either you love it or you hate it desserts. For me, it
fall under the weird categories. I just can't get used to the ginseng
with Panna Cotta flavour. However, I applaud their creativity.
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| Ginseng Panna Cotta |
The beer of
choice for the desserts are Lindemans Pecheresse (Peach) Beer. It is
sweet and light. When we first heard of the name Lindemans, we
thought it was brewed by the renowned Lindemans winery in Australia.
After doing a little research, apparently this come from a Belgium
brewery named Lindemans. Wow, this really surprised me. The beer
itself is suitable for desserts, as it is light at 2.5% alcohol and
fresh and sweet. Totally compatible for desserts or someone that like
a sweet beer.
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| Lindemans Pecheresse (Peach) Beer |
The service
here is good. The service staff are attentive and knowledgeable, and
don't hesitate to ask them if you are not sure what beer you want to
order.
Overall, we
personally like the new dining concept by A for Arbite. The modern
presentation of the food is just refreshing and we definitely enjoy
the different variety of small bites they served. The price is very
attractive, as it is really a value for money. We'll definitely be
back for more. Cheers!!
Thank you to
Chef Marc Wee and A for Arbite team for the invitation to this food
tasting.
Food
& Drink: 8.5/10
Value:
N/A
Service:
7.5/10
Ambiance:
7.5/10
A for Arbite
28 Aliwal
Street
#01-01 Aliwal
Arts Centre
Singapore
199918
Tel: 8321
2252
Op Hours:
Tue – Fri:
11.30 – 14.30, 18.00 – 23.00
Sat: 11.00 –
23.00
Sun: 09.00 –
21.00
Closed on
Monday
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In case you
are curious on what other small bites we tasted:
Braised
Smoked Pork Bell (Thirty six hours braised streaky bacon, kimchi and
leaf bun) - $7. A for Arbite take on the popular hokkien dish of Kong
Ba Pao. The pork belly is not as tender as I imagine after 36 hours
of braising, however it is tasty. The kimchi helps overcome the
fattiness of the pork belly. For those who like the original version
of Kong Ba Pao like myself, you miss the gravy in this dish.
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| Braised Smoked Pork Bell |
Salad Nicoise
(Tuna loin tataki, shaved egg, potato confit, tomato and olive agar,
and Cabernet Sauvignon dressing) - $6. Unlike the regular Salad
Nicoise which can be very rustic, the presentation is beautiful and
you can see a lot of effort was put in to create this dish. The taste
is fresh, but slightly different.
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| Salad Nicoise |
Green Tea
Spaghettini (homemade Green tea pasta , smoked duck breast, wasabi
tabiko and lapsang souchong broth) - $7. The homemade green tea pasta
is thick and springy, more soba like. The smoke duck give a different
texture to accompany the subtle broth.
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| Green Tea Spaghettini |
Squid Ink
Risotto (Prawn, Squid, mussels, crabmeat, chilli, aborio rice and
deep fried halibut) - $16.50. The risotto is al dente and full of
flavour. The prawns are fresh and the halibut also has a thin and
light batter. A good choice for carbo if you are not filled at the
end of the meal.
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| Green Tea Spaghettini |
French Toast
with G.M. Mascarpone (Brioche, coffee, brandy, gula melaka,
mascarpone cream cheese and chocolate). Lightly coated wonderful
brioche, topped with chocolate, almond flakes and strawberry. The
mascarpone is just creamy with complex texture. The brioche is just
absorb everything on it, but it just seems a bit heavy to for
desserts.
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| French Toast with G.M. Mascarpone |
*** Cheers & Bottoms Up Mate!!! ***
