A 20122012 birthday

*Warning: Image heavy post, not suitable for vegetarians or those on diet*

**All pictures are taken with a Canon DSLR 600-D, 50mm,1.8 lens, 430 EX-II flash**

Presenting.... 

The awesome Skirt, located at the spanking new W Hotel, tucked in the frontiers of Sentosa Cove.

It was a lovely night for dinner, with the love of my life, a cool sea breeze and starry sky, making this birthday quite unforgettable. Plus it was one day before the apocalyse leh. Lagi unforgettable. 

Entering the place, we were greeted with friendly smiles all around. 

Then a random thought flashed through my mind: 

"Did they know it's my birthday?"

But..... I think too much sometimes. :p

Skirt ages their own beef using the dry method, so the steak turned out really good. 

Did you know there is 2 types of ageing, the dry vs. the wet kind?

Love the open concept kitchen! : D 

 Skirt's very own dry-aged beef waiting to be eaten. YUM.

(Ok... Not so yum yet.)

 An Argentinian Parilla Grill! 

Even the flames produced look beautiful.

 That's our bread grilling there : D 

Again, beautiful flames.

Chef Andrew Nocente looking very serious! 

He also checks all the dishes before they are served. 

Respect.

Then our meal began with a freshly toasted foccacia bread, served with a chili olive oil dip & seaweed dip. 

But the seaweed one was a tad fishy and didn't sit well on our palette.

So cute and fluffy:

We really had a lot of fun playing with the dripper!

 Hot appetiser:

Iberico pork belly and White Bean Cassoulet. 

Shiokness in a bowl.

This ang-moh version of our braised pork was very fragrant, tender and flavorful, 

well married with the light broth, with the latter serving as a palette cleanser after every bite of meat.  

We had many sides, but this was was the clear star:

Sauteed Wild Mushrooms Textures, with thick, juicy pieces of well marinated mushrooms.

After finishing a few fat pieces, we found some black fungus hidden inside, much to our delight!

It certainly wasn't the best looking dish, all orh orh one, but goodness us, were we deceived. 

Coming in 2nd was the Smoked Kipfler potato and Urbani black truffle salad:

Moist, soft potatoes tossed with black truffle, on a bed of truffle cream. 

HOW CAN DON'T LIKE.

Then came the handcut Garlic fries with Saffron mayonnaise.

Then I couldn't decide which was better. 

One bite into the crispy outer skin, aromas of garlic came wafting out and I was weak. 

This beauty of charred Pumpkin with charred sprouts and goat's cheese was sadly unappreciated. 

It was sweet, and had a crunch to it, with good cheese. 

But we were too busy with the above to savour the pumpkin :(

And now, time for the main star to be featured:

The Tajima Australian crossbred Wagyu ribeye, with a fat marbling of 6/10. 

Just look at it, so glorious and magnificent own its own. 

I have never really fancied steak before this, but I was a convert upon my first cut.

Me: "Why so easy to cut one?"

B: "Try it and you will know lor"

MY GOODNESS.

That first bite was filled with an explosion of succulent meat well seasoned with salt & pepper, and a balanced amount of fats that blended nicely, sending us momentarily to foodie paradise. 

It is easy to get gelat after eating fatty meat, but this was done very well, with a good proportion of fats to meat, and the fats do not leave an oily after taste.

The red wine we ordered went well with the meat, and also cleanses the palette after some bites.

However, it would be best to share a portion as I couldn't finish my portion and B had trouble finishing his. 

But he did.

Tajima, glorious medium rare you!

 I am in heaven.  

 And here's the menu for you guys to check out!

Definitely a recommended place, with great ambience and service because.... 

I got a complimentary birthday dessert!

(Much thanks to B)

This is the warm Venezuelan Chocolate Mud, with poached wild strawberry and Tarragon.

An equivalent of the molten choc lava cake, frozen version. 

 A refreshing end to the heavy meal, as it was infused with fruity flavours, and it certainly made me a very happy girl because I am a sucker for cakes.

Birthday cakes that is. :p

Ending off with a chubby me with the golden cushions.

We will be back!

Special feature: Barbacoa restaurant

Lunching at a friend's place, located in the spanking new City Square Mall. Did you know it is the first eco mall in Singapore? But they use too much air conditioning for an eco mall leh, I almost freezed my butt off that day!

Lucky the food at Barbacoa managed to warm us up! It specialises in grills and pasta, which are made to order, where you can mix&match bases and toppings. I must say it was a nice twist to pasta ordering. Shawn (the enterprising owner) was the one behind the concept and said some people make really weird orders. Eg: Cream base pasta with carrot & broccoli. OR tomato base with mushrooms. No offence to vegetarians but..... I'd pass.

I like my meat, sometimes too much, as we had the Duck salad, Aglio Pesto pasta (the only way to eat pasta, btw) with bacon and bell peppers cos there were no shrooms :( AND we had duck slices atop cos we knew shawn. Yay! And also, Grilled Lambchops (to perfection) served with chunky fries.

You can't do much injustice to a salad; for our case the smoked duck slices were soft and tender, with crunchy fresh veg. I found the beetroot too bitter though, but overall pass, as it certainly whet our appetites.

The Pasta was simply divine, done al dente with olive oil drizzled on it, and we found bits of garlic in it, much to our delight. Every bite was filled with either garlic, bacon or duck. Shiokkkkkkk.

Warning: you can get either sodium or meat overload from consuming this dish, so get more complimentary water from the server!

What do you get when you combine Divine with Divine? L.a.m.b.c.h.o.p.s.
Seriously, I did not expect this standard when we ordered. It was chargrilled, leaving the meat slightly charred, and full of juice. It was like a party inside my mouth, where the melting fat danced on the explosion of meat juices before rolling down my throat. Plus, there was no gamey taste, add points somemore!

NO KIDDING, YOU GOTTA TRY IT.

We were served Rum&raisin icecream for desserts, and this sweet ending rounded up our wonderful meal.

Definitely a great place for a weekend, with no GST & Service charge AND free ice cream. HOW TO RESIST. I'm a sucker for free things, so this alone will win me over hahaha. (Don't judge me hor, fellow Singaporeans.)

Thanks baby for the good intro and shawn for being such a great host.
We will be back. Only if you -shawn are there. HAHA.