The Tastings Room
6 Raffles Boulevard
Marina Square #01-08
Singapore 039594
PRICE: $$$
RATING: ????-

I’d (incorrectly) thought The Tastings Room was fine-dining, so told Chris to “change into pants” (instead of the shorts he was wearing). But then we found out it was more casual-dining, whoops! The ambiance is much like a bistro, with attentive and friendly service and the soft din of chitter chatter from the diners.

We were here to celebrate Chris’ birthday. It was a pretty quiet one since we don’t really do blow-out birthday celebrations, we never have in our 12-13 years together! Apart from our epic 30th birthday presents to each other, we rare do presents, and it’s good that way way because most of the time, we aren’t really majorly coveting anything and prefer to have a nice meal or a little holiday away instead. Chris is always eager to spend more time together as a family with Hunter, so we spent the day with him instead, and Chris was happy 🙂

The Tastings Room is actually quite a small restaurant, and it was full, probably due to Restaurant Week that was on at the same time. That said, they were very accommodating to us with a baby, and even remembered that I mentioned it was Chris’ birthday when I made the celebration and stuck a candle in his dessert 😉

The Truffle wild mushroom puree soup was very well received. It wasn’t heavy on the cream, and the soup was chockfull with chunks of mushrooms. The wine was refreshing light, and a great accompaniment to the soup.

Their Rose Sauce Linguini with Salmon was a stunner! I am a sucker for cream-based sauces, so I may be biased. But this one was rich without being too thick, and with a generous helping of salmon chunks. Fortunately, it didn’t give the dish a fishy taste, which can happen with salmon pastas and is a huge turn off.  Only gripe? Could’ve done with 50% more of it 😉

The wine was LUSCIOUS – not too strong a red wine, but very mild and smooth. Pinot Noirs always hit the spot 🙂

The Confit of French duck leg was beautifully flavoured (love the rich gravy reduction) but could have been even more meltingly tender. There was a sizable amount of meat, though I think not enough for adult males that have large appetites. Would’ve been better/more satisfying served with a large dollop of mashed potatoes or something.

I eyed my Tiramisu suspiciously when it arrived because it was in a slice, and I like my tiramisu in a ramekin because they’re usually more moist that way. But I was relieved that theirs was excellent – moist with delicious layers of cream through it. Wish the slice was double the size 😉

This was paired with a stunning Moscato, which was sweet but not too sugary, and a lovely way to end our meal 🙂

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the love of my life, the best husband I could ever dream of having, and one freakin’ fantastic father 🙂