Savy's Restaurant

JKP and I had lunch at this newish restaurant in town. I think by now, everyone knows where this is located as they finally have a temporary signage put up. For those who don't, look out for the white tiled building opposite the Standard Chartered Bank. Just go up the stairs and it's located on the first floor.

When we walked in, who did we see, giving us big smiles and the warmest welcome? Oggy and Sam, two of our favourite service staff who used to work at the Sheraton Hotel. Both of them led us to our table by the windows, told us how nice we looked, pulled our chairs and sat us down, and neatly placed the napkins on our laps, presented the menu, recited the specials, took our drink orders and left us for a minute while we looked at the menu. (Doesn't that sound so professional? - excellent training from their ex-employer truly pays). A refreshing change from some restaurants where their service staff stare at you resentfully when you walk in.

This is their menu in a plastic folder which I'm sure is just a temporary measure.

Oggy came back with a leaf-shaped wooden boat heaped with warm homemade bread and a dip which is his Chef's special. By the way, he told us that his Chef hails from the Philippines where he was one of the chefs working in the Malacañang Palace for President Arroyo.

We detected some olives/peppers, herbs, and spices and something teeny bit sweet and spicy in the dip. It looks and tastes like harissa. Could it be? This was very nice - JKP and I ate 3 pieces of bread EACH.

Oggy made his recommendations and led us to the salad station so we could inspect the condiments/ingredients and to have a look at the soup of the day which was Potato and Leek Soup.

JKP chose a mixed green salad with vinagrette dressing. She said it was very good.

Here it my Chicken Caesar Salad - I was very pleased to learn and taste that the chicken was freshly grilled on order and NOT pre-grilled and heated up and sliced upon order. So it was still very tender, juicy with a mild marinade. And what a generous portion it was too, and yes, that's Cos and 'real' shaved parmesan.

Oggy told me their dressing is made without eggs yolks. It was very mild and 'dijony' but lacked the distinct taste of garlic and lemon juice. Now I love my Caesar Salad dressing oozing with TASTE so I asked Sam for a teensy bit more anchovies and dressing and heaps of black pepper. Those little touches made it perfect for me.

One thing I think they lacked was the sprinkling of bacon (beef bacon is fine of course to remain halal) on the salad and I think the croutons could be crispier and tastier. Roll the bread cubes in extra virgin olive oil and some garlic/rosemary before toasting and they would be absolute MAGIC!

For desserts, we shared a portion of crepes with apple (they also do pear or banana) which is served with vanilla ice-cream and chocolate sauce. Sounds good? My camera failed me at this point and the ice-cream was starting to melt so we had to start.

The apples were sweet and tender, but JKP and I, being the wonderful food critics we imagine ourselves to be, wished that they could have added a tiny sprinkling of cinnamon or mixed spice to cook the apples with and serve the apples and crepes warm instead of cold. (I had a fantasy of pouring calvados slowly over the crepes and igniting the whole concoction over a flame, creating a syrupy river of apple liqueur - *shivers with excitement*).

Got the camera working after a while. Sorry about the mess!

With 2 diet cokes, our meal came up to B$47 with a 10% service charge included. Slightly pricy for me so I don't think I can indulge everyday. However we were very happy with the quality of our food so it was worth paying the price.

The restaurant certainly is very cosy, with interesting nooks and corners.

Hi Sam, thanks for looking after us. And Oggy too of course. Thank you for introducing us to the owner, Mr Chua, I was quite amazed he did not bat an eyelid at me taking pictures of his restaurant, menu and food, seeing that his was a fairly new restaurant and I could have been a 'competitor' sent in to check his prices, staff, and menu out.

No worries, I am not, JKP and I are just two women who love to lunch together. She never fails to make me laugh and I her. We enjoyed your restaurant ambience, and the food and excellent service will see us back again.

Posted by Eleanor