May 5, 2012

Dining on Mother’s Day at The Halia Restaurant

Dominique Parenting and Kids, Reviews Food Review, FoodNews, Halia

Earlier on this week I was invited by Food News and  The Halia Restaurant  to try out their new Mother’s Day Dinner Menu.

This year they will be offering the following set dinner is only available on 11-13 May.

Priced at $140++ per person with the  with the beef main course, and $150++ per person with the seabass main
course. This menu is also available as ala carte instead of a set.

I started off the food tasting session with a lovely refreshing drink.

The freshly squeezed ginger juice, juice and wild honey in this drink was really refreshing. It quenched my thirst and tasted really good on my palette.

There was a serving of freshly baked bread and two different dips as a side dish.  I can’t remember off hand what type of bread it was but the texture was soft and chewy.

There were 2 different dips for the bread. I preferred the one on the right as it was more tasty  and less spicy.

The  4 course meal started off with the starter- Capsicum Veloute with pan-seared lobster and truffle oil.

The soup was light and tasty.  The capsicum pieces added crunchiness to soup and it wasn’t overpowering.  It gave a nice texture to the dish.

 

 

For the Entrée we were served Tian of crab in garlic aioli, egg white, beetroot petal and chive with mille feuille of buttered brioche and passionfruit puree. I found the dish appetizing and it surely stirred my appetite for the main course.

Char-grilled Rangers Valley beef tenderloin with puree of butternut squash, cranberry beef jus, soft herb salad in green lime vinaigrette and edible flowers was one of the two choices available as the main course.  I gave a pass on the red meat and selected the fish instead.

The pan-fried line caught sea bass fillet with yuzu orange reduction, siphon of truffle mash potato and lait de soja did not taste as good as I expected. Even though the freshest ingredients were used I felt that the sea bass fillet was a tad dry and wasn’t too into the taste of the truffle mash potato. I preferred a more creamy texture to my mash potatoes and more “juicy” tasting fish.

After the main course was served it was time for Dessert.

I chose the Milk chocolate bar, orange caramel ice-cream and blood orange gelee as I love the combination of chocolate and ice-cream.  The Milk chocolate bar tasted heavenly. It was certainly the highlight of the meal for me. It’s something which I am thinking of learning how to bake next after I complete my current baking class.  The freshly made orange caramel ice-cream complemented the taste of the cake.

If the milk bar dessert is not for you there is the   Strawberry gazpacho, cocoa streusel, basil sorbet, black peppercorn snap which you can savor.

If you are bringing your child along for Mother’s Day Dinner at the Halia there do provide kids meals for your child.

I brought my 20 month old Tiger girl to the food tasting and she got to taste the kids meal.

Tiger girl had spaghetti bolognese and a shot of watermelon juice.

Tiger girl enjoying her food. The portion was a bit big for her to finish and she only took half of the bowl of spaghetti.

She got bored after awhile and the restaurant gave her some colour pencils and paper to doodle on while we were having our meal.

Tiger girl got her own fruit yogurt dessert specially made for her. Unfortunately she didn’t fancy eating any of it and passed it over to me to eat. I love how visually attractive the dessert looked. It tasted yummy too with sweetness from the fruits which were added to the yogurt.

If dinner is not for you  The Halia also has Mother’s Day Weekday Brunch on the 12th and 13th of May from 10am-4pm.

We sampled some of the dishes which were served during brunch.

 If you like tempura you should try  the Parmesan and basil fregola, tempura of green asparagus and baby nasu, vine-ripened tomato and morel emulsion ($34) This dish was specially created for the Mother’s Day brunch.

The Granny Smith apple salad, grape, yuzu walnut, raisin, parmesan & candied orange twist in honey mustard dressing was really appetizing.  It is a great choice if you are watching your weight like I am.

If adding on the calories is not an issue for you do try out their Poached eggs on brioche ($25), dill hollandaise, roasted brown mushroom, spinach & tomato with crisp back bacon. It was absolutely yummy and something which I would consider sharing with the kids for brunch.

If you are into seafood you should try out their Half dozen seasonal baked oysters ($30) ~ spicy sweet pepper, onion, baby radish, parmesan gratin ~ sautéed baby spinach & garlic, Pernod deglaze, nutmeg, parmesan gratin.

If you are looking for a place to bring your mom or your wife this Mother’s Day then The Halia maybe your on your list.

THE HALIA RESTAURANT
1 Cluny Road, Ginger Garden
(enter via Tyersall Avenue)
Singapore Botanic Gardens
Singapore 259569

The Mother’s Day set dinner is only available on 11-13 May, and you can enjoy the brunch on 12-13 May from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

 

Disclaimer: Tiger girl and I were invited by Food News and The Halia for food tasting. All opinions are 100% my own.