Braise at Sentosa

had to go sentosa to check in my little girl(14) for her birthday beach and pillow party with her school friends and so need to check on them again in the evening...looked up the degustation at il Lido and though the menu looks attractive on the website, a call quickly decided that it was not for us that evening as the ribeye was not on the menu that day...for a S$100+ degustation it always pay to call & ask the menu first... can't imagine paying top $ if we don't like the main course..

anyway we booked Braise and what a discovery...

took the $98 5-course degustation and the food is really great, true fine dining...

chef's compliment - not much a compliment this is not that good an item to start...
pressed foiu gras (terrine) - not comparable with pan seared foiu gras but still very nice with toasted bread & jelly
lobster bisque - very flavorful silky smooth like the lobster capuccino at Fifth Floor in San Francisco and among the best I tried...only complaint is this is really too small a portion more like 1/3 normal portion
seared scallop with angel hair - this pasta is really tasty but it seems to be not on the ala carte menu
roasted fillet of beef - best taken rare...tenderloin is usually lady's meat tender but tasteless but this one is flavorful...usally i don't take much of the meshed potatoes even if it very good but these ones come with sandwiched minced beef cheeks and i walloped the entire helping...
OR
roasted cod with an usually nice sauteed mushroom sauce - Lisa had that and it is really nice too don't mind having that the next time i want a healthier diet
apple crumble pie dessert - very unique pizza like almost like the chinese red bean pancake, good first time, not sure will like it again next time..

altogether a very satisfying meal for the price...we feel that there are many items which are special like the beef, cod, lobster bisque, angel hair we would try again and the pan seared foiu gras with langoustine (tiny lobster) which we will want to try next time...though Desmond Lim the chef was from Restaurant Ember and Sabestian Ng is certainly famous, we cannot really finger any particular food - appetizer, main course or dessert that we would specially want to go back to at Ember though we been there at least 3 times maybe..through the open kitchen concept we can see bespectacled Desmond busy supervising every concoction and tasting the food before they are served...good to have a young upcoming chef ever eager to please...

however though the $98 degustation is worth trying, we will probably go for ala carte next time...degustation portions are at best 1/2 portions and if we take the pan seared foiu gras ($32), lobster bisque ($28), cod ($38) we can enjoy full portion and it would just come up to $98 anyway (though with tenderloin will set us back $108) if we are not going for dessert...take your pick...