SML and Robuchon

No no, we didn't go to any fancy restaurant on Friday night (that's another story!) but had a good weekend filled with good food.

We worked till late and had to buy a present for a 1 year old. Dol (the first birthday) is a huge thing for Korean families and we were invited to attend the Dol Jan Chi on Saturday. As unprepared as we always are, we rushed to Times Square to buy a present in the last minute for the birthday girl. When we were done, it was 9pm and thought we would stop by somewhere for a quick bite.

The restaurants in the Times Square building weren't exactly on our A-list. The Thai/Vietnamese restaurants are alright but I wouldn't pay the price for their food as I know I can pay 1/3 the price for tastier dishes in Kowloon City. We have never heard of the Japanese ones there and weren't sure if we wanted to try the unknown (where dishes could be localized). Then, I remember Peech's post on SML and decided to give it a try.

The place was packed but there was a table out on the terrace. Even though it's self service out there, it was not that hot in the evening and we figured why not. The waiters weren't there to wait but to usher people to pick up their orders at the bar. We picked a number of dishes and waited eagerly for our tapas size (S) dishes.

We were quite happy with the Meatball in spicy tomato sauce. The oxtail risotto was al dente (even though I don't mind the taste be a tad stronger). I liked the foie gras and chicken confit and we wiped out the dish in minutes. The beetroot salad with feta cheese, deep fried polenta were not bad and so was the penne arrabiata (I am confident that my version is better though!) The spicy calamari was a disappointment. It didn't have the kick at all. The pork belly with cole slaw didn't meet my expectation. It wasn't bad but just didn't wow me (I cannot forget about the one I had at Amber during one of our lunch club outings. It melted in my mouth and I had that wonderful taste in my mouth the entire afternoon). It was pleasant overall and I was quite pleased with the bill. They definitely scored high in the value for money department.

We went home with two cakes from Robuchon (Peech, thank you very much for that! It was a very nice of you to get that for us!) and.... : the cake fell off the backseat onto the floor when we made a sharp turn when we were 5 minutes from home....

I have to say whilst it is nice to have both form and substance, substance is still very important. When we had the cakes the next day, no one even asked why one cake was not in recognizable shape. No one said anything other than grandpa saying "best cake I have ever had" three times when we were all busy digging in. Changunnie wouldn't let anyone touch her hazelnut chocolate cake. Yes, she ate a quarter of it all by herself!