7Adam

We came across this fine dining restaurant in Groupon, with a deal of 5 course fine dining menu at either $88 per pax, or $170 for 2 pax. Seriously, who will go to this kind of restaurant alone? The one pax option is pretty dumb. It was kind of expensive, but we thought that it was a decent deal considering the menu includes foie gras as it's appetizer, and eye of ribeye or cod fish with hokkaido scallops as it's main.

The decision to go 7Adam the day we did was an impromptu one. I had a sudden steak craving, and asked Lynn out for lunch at Mariner's Corner. However, their steak failed to satisfy my craving, so I needed better, more flavorfully grilled steaks. We sort through our three Groupons waiting for our visits, and decided that the description in 7Adam may get me what I want. So reservation was made for that evening, even as we were having lunch. This restaurant is pretty out of the way, at 7 Adam Park. We could have changed three buses or mrt to get there, but we took the lazy way out and took a cab. 

The restaurant was very quiet, with probably only about 2 to 3 tables of patrons other than us. We were served French rolls upon settling down. The rolls tasted great, especially with butter melting on their warmth. However, the crust were a little too hard, and the bread was poking into the roof of my mouth. We were hungry though, and liked the taste, and asked for a second helping. Helping two were somehow even harder than the first, so we finished that and didn't ask for a third helping.

French rolls with butter

This was followed by the soup - a Duck Consomme with Ravioli of Duck. The soup was delightfully light and fragrant, and I was joking that I could do with a few strands of Chinese noodle floating in it. The ravioli got conflicting feedbacks from us. I found it too salty and thought the stuffing tasted like salted fish. Lynn found it nice and said the stuffing tasted like roasted duck. Ravioli aside, I gave this soup 8 stars. The waiter came by and asked how things are when he collected our plates. Lynn gave the feedback that the bread was too hard. He was surprised, and assured us that he'll get us another serving, and will make sure he get us the softer ones.

Duck Consomme

Ravioli of Duck

So we somehow ended up with a third serving of bread alongside our appetizer - Pan Seared Foie Gras with Pear reduction. This time round the bread were hotter, so appeared softer. The Foie Gras was the star of the night. It was the oh-so-melty, and oh-so-livery type that we both loved so much. The pear reduction tasted exactly like caramelized apples. I'm not sure if they really taste alike, or the restaurant had tweaked the menu that appeared on Groupon a little. But this scored a 10.

Pan Seared Foie Gras with pear reduction

With such promising starters, we were quite looking forward to their main courses. The dish to be served was the 'pasta' - Sauteed Soba in Sze Chuan Sauce with Tiny Shrimp, Tobiko and Seaweed. It sounded all wrong, but tasted alright. Wasn't fantastic. Just alright. I'm not even sure why they categorized it as pasta.

Sauteed Soba in Sze Chuan Sauce with Tiny Shrimp, Tobiko and Seaweed

There were two options for main course, so we got one of each. First was the Eye of Ribeye with Teriyaki Sauce, Yam Mash (oh, that's what that was...) and Fried Lotus. Second was the Pan Seared Cod Fish with Hokkaido Scallops and Pilaf Rice. The waiter was so confident that when he set the plates down, he told us that once we have tried these dishes, we will definitely be back. I took a bite at the fried lotus from the ribeye first. It was good! Thinly sliced, fried to crispy perfection. A very interesting texture on an otherwise uncrispy plate. I had wondered why the mashed potatoes tasted a little like yam paste  Chinese dessert. Now that I look back at the item list on Groupon, I finally understood why. LOL... The meat was a little disappointing though. It was tender, as was expected of a eye of ribeye. BUT, it was a little bland (ok, very. Lynn said it tasted like plain water boiled beef.), and it wasn't grilled. So it failed to satisfy my grilled steak craving.

Eye of Ribeye with Teriyaki Sauce, Yam Mash and Fried Lotus

The meat

The cod fish was... uh... disappointing. It had a very strong fishy taste, masking the natural oils of the fish. It reminded me of the strong fishy smell I detected from the table behind me much earlier in the meal, and Lynn had assured me that guy wasn't eating cod fish when I gave her the horrified look. That kind of fishiness is simply unacceptable in a fine dining restaurant. The scallop wasn't as sweet as I had expected it to be, and turned out to be a very normal scallop. The nicest thing on the plate? The rice. It was surprisingly fragrant and yummy. Lynn was mumbling that she wouldn't know what to say if the servers come by to ask us how's things. I said that we could point out that we liked the rice here, and the fried lotus there, and not say anything about the rest. What if they returned with two more plates of food like the bread?? How was I supposed to stuff them all into my stomach??!! I wondered out loud to Lynn whether the server was overestimating the restaurant, or underestimating our taste buds, when he said we will definitely return after tasting these. She concluded he was underestimating us.

Cod Fish with Hokkaido Scallops and Pilaf Rice

The disappointing fish and scallops

By now we were pretty stuffed, especially since we had three bread rolls each. So when dessert was served, we were playing with it a little. The server was confident again and told us that we will definitely be back after trying these desserts. Chocolate Fondant and Chunky Peanut. While I can figure out what Chocolate Fondant is by looking at the name, Chunky Peanut means nothing to me. I couldn't even reconcile it to the unidentified object on my plate. It was a square of chocolaty something, with peanut mixed into a hard chocolate base. The chocolaty something was described by Lynn as 'have... and don't have..." I was laughing so hard at her useless and weird description, until I tried it myself. 'Have' was because you obviously have to cut it with a fair bit of force. 'Don't have' was because when you put it into your mouth, it just melted immediately and sort of disappeared into nothing. I think it's a real mousse foam made with an aerator - airy, light and almost weightless feel (as opposed to those dense chocolate pudding-like things people here called mousse). The chocolate fondant was a little over the top sweet, and we both couldn't finish our desserts.

Chocolate Fondant and Chunky Peanut

Dessert was so sweet that we had to order tea to balance out our tongues. We ordered an additional rose green tea. It smelled really really good, something pretty special which we haven't tried before. This we really liked. The likelihood of returning to 7Adam is pretty weak, since the steep original price and the not-too-good quality of the food didn't exactly give a very inviting result.