Dinner dates with the husband are few and far between. While we often have the best intentions, in recent months, we just haven’t managed to fix anything up. And then recently, the stars aligned. I had a dinner appointment that was cancelled at the last minute and the husband unexpectedly got off work early. Since I had the night off, we decided it was as good an opportunity for a date as any.
We had headed to Purvis Street to eat at Yingthai Palace, only to be turned away at the door as they had a full house for the night. I was really disappointed but we had no choice but to find an alternative. We walked over to Saveur across the road, a place I’d been meaning to try for a while, and half-heartedly asked if they had a table. I’d fully expected them to tell me they were full but to my surprise, they had a table for two available! I perked up immediately.
On entering, I was struck by the… noise. Haha. The restaurant was pretty packed so you can imagine the din. Not exactly somewhere for a quiet tête-à-tête.
But when we got the menu, we got excited. The prices were, as promised, very reasonable. “That means we can order a lot!” said my husband gleefully.
Well, we certainly did!
The specials of the day.For starters, we got their signature Saveur’s Pasta, Duck Salad, Velouté (Pea Soup), and Summer Crab. The Saveur’s Pasta looked like a popular order – I was seated facing the open kitchen and I saw the chef dishing up lots of orders of this throughout our time there. A coil of pasta with a minced meat sauce and topped with “Japanese konbu and sakura ebi” (which looked a lot like scallions and hae bee to me), this dish was refreshingly fusion, and pretty tasty. I didn’t really taste the chilli oil despite it being described in the menu. Both DD and I gave this one the thumbs up.
Saveur’s Pasta
A signature of Saveur’s, pasta tossed with chilli oil, fine-chopped Japanese konbu & sakura ebi with minced pork sauce
$4.90
The Duck Salad was my order. No way DD was going to waste time and stomach space on a salad! Tossed with a light lemon vinaigrette, this was good but not particularly memorable. We both agreed that the duck probably came from the duck confit. I did like the quails eggs, which were soft with runny centres. That was a nice touch.
Duck Salad
Shredded duck confit mesclun tossed with homemade lemon vinaigrette, quail egg, orange segments & cherry tomatoes
$4.90
The Velouté was a Pea Soup so there’s not much for me to say about it since I detest peas. I took a spoonful and yup, it tasted of peas. I didn’t have any more of it but the husband quite enjoyed it.
Velouté
Pea soup with parma ham croquette
$6.90
The best starter I unfortunately didn’t photograph, and that was the Summer Crab. We were served with a leek roll tightly packed with cold shredded crab on a small piece of toast, and some citrus salsa on the said. The husband and I are crab fans and it was really delicious. I hope they put it on the menu as a regular item!
The Duck Confit was DD’s choice of main. This was recommended and we could see why: it really was a a good duck confit, with tender meat you could tear with a fork and crispy skin. The mashed potato that it was served deserves a mention as it was really good too.
Duck
Duck leg confit, homemade mashed potato, sauteed shitake mushroom, orange segments & orange infused natural jus
$12.90
I ordered the pan-seared sea bass. It was good — as good as any I’ve had at fancy restaurants — with juicy meat under a crisp skin. But as you can see, the portion size wasn’t large. It was enough for me (especially since we had so many starters!) but maybe not for someone with a bigger appetite.
Fish
Pan-seared sea bass, saute potato with crabmeat, french beans & caper vinagrette
$14.90
Desserts! We don’t always have dessert, but this time, I thought we ought to go the whole hog. I got the chocolate mousse, which I enjoyed. I especially loved the little as berry bits which were sprinkled over the mousse. They added that nice sour punch to balance off the sweetness of the chocolate. The rice puffs also added a nice unexpected crunch to bites. Really yummy. Probably my favourite dish after the Summer Crab.
Chocolate and Hazelnut
Chocolate mousse with crushed hazelnuts, broken raspberries, roasted rice puffs, chocolate tuile & praline
$7.90
DD ordered the cookies and milk and was served a rather unappetising looking plate of white foam. It turned out to be frothed milk with a cookie submerged inside. Cookies and milk is a winning combination, if any, though I did think that the cookie was a bit overly salty. The husband pronounced it good nonetheless.
Cookies & Milk
Cookie dough ice cream, milk soil, honey cloud, cherries kirsch & peanut butter
$9.90
The only hiccup in our meal was the fact that due to a mix-up in our orders, our mains came before our appetisers. When this was pointed out to our server, they quickly rushed out our appetisers for us too. Which meant that our tiny table was laden with food, and our gluttony was out there for all to see. Oops. But otherwise, we had a great meal, made even better when the bill came and we realised that all that food plus two drinks came up to under $100 for the two of us. Wow. We’ll definitely be back!
I was actually a bit grouchy when we didn’t manage to get that table at Yingthai Palace, but I was very grateful to have gotten a table unexpectedly at relative ease at Saveur instead. Maybe God knew I needed a treat. It was a lovely night with the husband, just being me, and not Mummy. Here’s to more dates, impromptu or otherwise.
Saveur
5 Purvis Street,
Talib Court #01-04,
Singapore 188584
Tel: 6333 3121 (No reservations)
Hey If you head to Cafe Pal behind at Middle Road. They actually serve food from YingThai, the waiters bring it there. Though not the full menu. It's a cosy little spot.
Oo, I didn't know that! Thanks for sharing babe! That sounds like a great alternative.
I like Saveur too, their pasta is tops! Though, all their portion sizes are SO woefully tiny that after I have to order two mains, I end up paying the same price as any other other restaurant… doh…
Do you bring your kids there? Wondering if it's kid friendly… didn't see any that night when I was there. I guess the good thing is that you'll get more variety with two mains? 😛
A duck confit for $12.90? Wow, the prices here are reasonable indeed! Yay to more couple dates! 🙂
looks really good! if the portions are tiny, maybe they ARE kid friendly after all.. hawhawhaw