Sunday, March 8, 2009

Aerin's ~ The ambience, the sounds, the food...

Named after a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, this restaurant has a wonderful ambience which is worth mentioning.

Aerin's

Similarly to Out of the Pan, Aerin's occupies a nice location at the basement of Raffles City Shopping Centre. With a central fountainscape, this resturant is furnished with a warm, earthy wood finishing and leather seats. On top of that, the open glass ceiling coupled with a man-made canopy provides a casual yet very chic atmosphere.

Interior of Aerin's II
Interior of Aerin's I

Influenced by one of my most-read blog, I had brought along not one nor two but three dining companions so please don't have a misconception that Yuan and I have reached to a stage of having 4 main courses and 4 desserts. We eat moderately, in our own definition.

Interior of Aerin's III

On a common chord, we thought that Beef au gratin ($19) was the best amongst the main courses served. The beef ragu (or rather the bolognese sauce) is sufficiently seasoned, though I personally thought that the minced beef is alittle dry. With the aubergine (brinjal) grainated with the creamy cheese sauce, it does feel like a mild lasagna.

Beef au gratin

Took two recommended dishes (stated in the menu), namely Fillet of snapper and Fish and chips. The former is a generous thick slice of pan-seared snapper fillet served with french beans, fork-mashed potato in tomato coulis ($20). This was second to the Beef au gratin where its meat is thick, juicy and flaky.

Fillet of snapper
Fish & Chips

On the other hand, the lightly battered snapper fillets with shoestring fries and chipotle aioli ($18) didn't impress us. I presume it being one of their house specials lies in its unique batter which is similar to what a goreng pisang will have. In short, light, crispier and slightly oily.

Tagliatelle Carbonara

Tagliatelle Carbonara ($19) needs no introduction nor elaboration. Pretty ordinary.

Display of Aerin's creations

The four desserts (click on the name of the desserts for more description) we had were
Double chocolate fudge cake - rich dark chocolate cake sandwiched with chewy chocolate fudge ($5.80)

Warm chocolate pudding - oven baked valrjona manjari (64%) chocolate pudding with raspberry swirl ice cream ($8.50)

Baked Apple and Rhubarb Pie (signature) - pot of oven baked granny smith apples, rhubard and raisins. All covered in an oven-baked puff pastry served with vanilla bean ice-cream ($12)

Lemon Meringue Tart - tangy homemade lemon curd covered with not-so-sweet meringue ($4.50)

There is only one out of this four desserts that impress me. So all in all, the main courses were average and that the desserts were so-so... I would say drop by a visit if you want a place with nice ambience. For good food at better value, this is definitely one that is not on my list.

Aerin's
252 North Bridge Road
Raffles City Shopping Centre
#B1-11/12
Singapore 179103
Tel: 63372231

Operating hours - 11:30am to 10pm daily
(Not sure why they were closed before 8pm on the day of our visit)
http://www.aerins.com.sg/

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

hahahah evan happy or not? "one of my most read blogs" :D

I never try Aerin's, nor out of the pan. somehow they dont appeal to me, despite the convenient location. looks like you guys had an average meal eh?

bossacafez said...

brad : huh?

fen : the pasta's pretty ex and looks like a really small portion to me! so which one is the dessert that impressed? i did like their lemon meringue tart and the tiramisu was quite good too.

bossacafez said...

oh that! i saw but i didn't click on the link so i didn't know it was me. thank u fen. yours is one of my most-read (and commented) blog too haha! works both ways :D

Anonymous said...

I guess what impressed Fen was the lemon meringue. I found the chocolate fudge cake the most impressive

Fen said...

LIC: Hmm... Aerin's don't appeal to you... That is surprising to hear... In fact, Evan highly recommends Aerin's desserts while Elaine likes the carrot cake there...

Evan: Yea, comparing to what I had from B Bakery, I thought the pasta is expensive... Haven't try the tiramisu but lemon meringue tart is indeed good... Ahh... wondering what dessert impress me, you never stroll down enough...

Yuan: Surfing the net in the gym huh?

Elaine Ng. said...

yupp i used to like the carrot cake here long ago, but recently realised they changed the recipe and its not that good anymore ):

but the place is still nice, with the small water fountain and all~

oh and i rmbed the chocolate fudge cake was featured as one of MYpaper's top chocolate slices chart~

lic: out of the pan is nice!

Fen said...

Hmm... I wanted to try the carrot cake and lemon meringue tart that day but my sisters wanted the chocolate pudding and apple pie... Yuan on the other hand, wanted the fudge cake so I could only pick one...

Actually thought of take-away the carrot cake to try... hmm... change of recipe... guess I will give that a miss then...

As for chocolate fudge cake, I recalled reading on the web too but I personally felt that it was no where near my favourite few...

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