Good Food = Good Mood

After last Friday's company event, I thought I'd lay off the alcohol over the rest of the weekend. So it was a very restrained, one pint of Heineken and a glass of red over dinner on Saturday. No alcohol on Sunday. Result!

Had dinner with Spooner at Le Pont De Vie at Khandahar Street on Saturday night. I didn't know what to expect so I was pretty blown away with the experience. The both of us were in jeans. Him in flip-flops too, making us the most under-dressed patrons in that place. But in all honesty, the place is NOT that stuffy. You can be casual but don't be sloppy if you decide to head there. It is very small and very intimate. Can't fit more than 15 people in there. There were only 5 tables when we were there and it felt pretty crowded. In other words, please make reservations.

The staff are friendly. Well-trained, not hoity-toity and genuinely happy to stop and chat with you if you want them to. And most importantly, they LOOK at you when they talk. I cannot emphasize how important eye-contact is for people in the service line. Please look at your customers. It's polite. We like to know that you acknowledge our existence instead of just spouting your standard lines at us while staring into mid-air. If there are two people at a table, please don't ignore one regardless of who asked you the question. Similarly, if you're a patron, and they serve your food, be decent and say thank you while looking at the person who just presented your plate and don't mumble your thanks into your plate. Like most things, this too works both ways.

Apart from the staff, the food was excellent. We had two appetisers. I had - Pan seared queen sea scallops with a confit of lime, crisp mesclun, and spicy oriental sambuca salsa.
Kudos for the freshness of the scallops and the fact that they didn't over cook them. Scallops are often rubbery because they get overcooked. These were excellent. Cooked but they weren't tough and they were moist. Alas, the accompanying dressing was disappointing. It was tasty BUT overpowering. I think they went a wee bit overboard with the garlic because combined with the lime, my taste buds went loco and all I could taste was the garlic and lime after the first mouthful. :(

Spooner went for the Le Pont De Vie smoked duck salad which is essentially house smoked Margret duck, crisp greens and grapefruit dressing. I had a taste or rather I picked off his plate because he wouldn't leave mine alone and I will say that his appetiser was something out of heaven. The duck was rich, moist and smoked enough to obviously not kill people with Salmonella but the smoky after-taste did not overpower the original taste of the meat. The grapefruit dressing with the rocket and other green bits were a good complement.

We both had the same mains - grilled Kurobuta pork cheeks with roasted potatoes, roasted caramelized Fuji apple and truffle reduction. If you're wondering which part of the animal pork cheeks come from, it is pretty much what it is; a facial muscle. (No it's not part of the ass!)

It was my first time eating pork cheeks and I was hesitant about how good it would be. Seriously, if you've spent your whole life chewing shit, that muscle would be pretty tough no? Alas, my fears were unwarranted because the meat was perfectly tender. I suppose grilling it did suck some its moisture out but it wasn't dry like a twig. In fact, it was very tasty because there was no weird marinade inhibiting the flavour of the meat. The potatoes were a good complement but not as impressive as the Fuji apples which with the pork, exploded in your mouth. The meat was accompanied with a small bunch of rocket. Spooner set his greens aside because he felt they didn't go with the dish. On the other hand, I ate everything because I felt that the bitterness of the rocket pitted against the sweetness of the apple worked well together. Then again, he had ordered a side of chips (okay fries, if you insist), and was busy stuffing his face with them with the reasoning that, "It's the weekend and I want my chips because all I eat during the week is healthy crap."
And to be fair, the chips were gooooooooood. :)

Total bill came up to about $182 bucks for the both of us. That, given the amount of food and drink (1 beer, 2 glasses of red, 1 bottle of water) we had is a VERY reasonable amount. They charge 10% service fee but NOT GST. I say that's a bloody good deal. In my books, Le Pont De Vie, is highly recommended. :)

What did we do the rest of the night? Well we sat on the kerb and had a cigarette and then decided we needed to work off some of the food we had just stuffed ourselves with, so we went dancing. Actually we went bopping. But hey, it was a good night out and I have nothing to complain about.