17 February, 2008

Friends @ Jelita

Having read a few rave reviews about Friends @ Jelita, and armed with their $50 voucher (for every $150 spend), I was looking forward to spend a wonderful evening with a few of my friends. A causal fine dining restaurant, the owner of Friends, Thomas Chiam decided to open a second outlet at Jelita, minutes away from Holland Village after the success of its first outlet at Serangoon Gardens. We were surprised to find the restaurant empty on a Thursday evening when we arrived. After ordering, we were served the complimentary bread, and unlike the dip I had @ Wild Rocket, this one comes with Balsamic Vinaigrette along with olive oil.

However, the food took surprisingly long to arrive considering that there were only 2 other tables that arrived after us. After 40 minutes, the starter of Pan-fried Corn Fed Duck Liver paired with Rhubarb & Apple Coulis finally arrived. The combination created a remarkable and appealing contrast in tang – the slightly sweet and sour sauce counterbalance the creamy well fried duck liver – giving this dish a invigorating twist. This was definitely the best dish for the evening.

The next dish that came along was the Timbale of Salmon Tartare, Guacamole and Caviar. I liked the fact that salmon was not too fine, giving the tartare a bite and the creamy taste of the guacamole also complements well, but somehow the salmon tasted fishy and my friends suspected it wasn’t fresh.

We waited a further more for the mains to arrived and I opted the Grilled 100 Days Grain-Fed Ribeye Steak served with Garlic Waffles, Sautéed Vegetables & Veal Jus. However, when I thought the “medium rare” Ribeye I had at Aston Prime was bad, this was absolutely ridiculous! I did my usual first cut at the side and it was done well – the second cut right in the middle of the steak followed and not a hint of pink was in sight. My right mind would have told me to return the steak back to the kitchen, but considering that we waited so long for the mains, I decided to stuff the piece of tough meat down my throat just to satisfy my hunger.

Dessert was Warm Valrhona Chocolate Cake served with Ice Cream. Even though I was pretty appalled that the strawberries that came with the dessert was more yellow and white rather than red, the chocolate cake on the whole still looks delicious especially when it’s being halved, with the molten chocolate gushing and oozing out. Although the dessert is made fresh upon ordered, the chocolate that was used taste seemingly low grade, leaving a bad aftertaste at the end.

Overall, I was pretty disappointed with this place as I expected the food to be much better. Service wise wasn’t as fantastic, but the only aspect that won me over was the fact that it is a great place to gather for a small group of friends for a nice quiet dinner.

Rating

Food: 2.5/5 (The Foie Gras was good, but steak was extremely bad)
Service: 2/5 (Staff wasn't able to give recommendations for food)
Ambience: 4/5 (Nice quiet place to gather among friends)
Price: 2/5 (Not value for money)
Total: 10.5/20
293 Holland Road,
#02-04 Jelita Shopping Centre
Singapore 278628



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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

hello there,

i also just went to Friends @ Jelita recently, my experience there was not bad.

but its true they really take quite a long time to serve the food. hahaha

His Food Blog said...

Hey there! Thanks for dropping by :)

It would have been great if not for the "well done" steak (pun intended). I was glad there were 6 of us at the dinner chatting away - if not the wait would have been much worse.

Anonymous said...

lol! yeah, i also had a great time chatting with my companion before the meal are served. hahah

Anonymous said...

This place is more like an airconditioned kopitiam with a supply of wine selections. I wouldn't pay to drink wine here. A better place to go for wine would be at the major hotels along orchard road.

WokkingMum said...

Every time I go to Jelita, they are empty and that made me wonder if they are open for business. :P

Did you spend $150 for all these food?!

His Food Blog said...

Hi WM,

Yep. I still remembered we were the first table to arrive and there were only 3-4 tables filled on a weekday night.

Nope. Those seen were the food I ate, others ate by my friends were not featured in this post.

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