Aria, once in a life time?

 

I have been dying to try Aria. Finally had the chance to try it out on the 14th of December 2012 as a surprise dinner treat! I want to see if the high price is proportional on the taste buds!  

 

First, we had a complimentary cold soup. This is a tomato based cold soup, tasted like tomato and onions blended together with a drop of olive oil and croutons. Nothing special. 

 

Next, came the complimentary breads. The butter was delicious and vclvety. It was very subtle in flavour and saltiness and went well with the breads. We did run out of the butter though because we enjoyed it so much.

There were two types of breads, the first one we chose was baguette. It was deliciously crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside.

The second option was rye bread. This one is more burnt on the outside, a very robust and starchy bread.

We shared the Scallops entree, seared and served with smoked pork, watercress and almond gazpacho. The scallops were well cooked, no shrinkage apparent and melted in the mouth. The pork tasted like a less salty version of bacon.

I chose Chicken as my main, roast breast and leg with mushroom croquette, pearl onions and cos slaw. The breast was tender and that's all I can say about it. The sauce bathing it was nothing special. It tasted like condensed chicken stock. The mushroom croquette was nice and creamy with a crispy exterior. There was no cos slaw as stated on the menu! The drops of orange sauce was spicy and tastewise I regard it has a more decoration purpose than anything.

 

The other main tried was Scotch fillet. I really wonder why, in these kind of fine dining restaurants, why are they always so stingy with the sides? Where is my salad, bread, potato and etc? Why do we always have to pay extra for the sides when the meat itself already costs a fortune? If the piece of meat is to die for then I can probably understand. But more often than not, it is not! I love my Morrison and Norman Hotel, where I can get my meat, bread, salad, chips all together in one plate, making me a happy diner. This meat is only above average. Like I said before, the above mentioned restaurants have better value. 

 

 

We ordered Truffle mash as the side for the steak. It tasted fine but I can not taste any trace of truffle and this is really just an potato mash with lots and lots of butter. The consistency is quite runny. Do not want to think about the effects on my arteries.

 

There were a few different sauces available. We tried a bit of everything. I thought they were all better accompaniments for breads then steak. I just want my mushroom sauce!
 

 

By now, I felt this restaurant is really, really overated. But we ventured on to desserts.

I ordered the raspberry soufflé with white chocolate mousse and a raspberry salad. It states please allow 20 mins wait, but my soufflé came out soon after I have ordered burning hot.

The waitress dug a hole into the soufflé and poured the raspberry sauce into it. I enjoyed this dessert very much, this was the highlight of the meal! The soufflé was slightly crispy on the baked exterior and pudding-like on the inside. I enjoyed the raspberry sauce as it is not too sweet and balanced the soufflé well. The raspberry salad was like a cream based mousse with dried raspberry on top. The dried raspberry was crunchy and interesting to eat, like raspberry biscuits. When I dug to the bottom of the soufflé, I tasted the chocolate mousse, which was delicious and bought the dessert to another level.

 

Black forest, chocolate délice with cherry sorbet, mascarpone and chocolate jelly. The chocolate délice was just chocolate pieces with burnt chocolate cake pieces cooked flat for decoration purpose once again. The sorbet I can't recall anything special and the jelly tasted like jelly. You can give this one a miss.

 

 

Overall, I enjoyed the ambience and service. But food wise, I thought it was really overated. The only thing stood out to me was the complimentary bread and butter, and the raspberry soufflé.