« Recipe: Midnight Brownies | Main | Recipe: Not Very Swedish Meatballs »
Review: ABOF Restaurant & Tea Lounge
By daniel | March 20, 2007
Esther isn’t really a fan of Scandinavian food and hence took a little pursuading to enter ABOF Restaurant & Tea Lounge. She only relented after perusing the menu outside the door for a good ten minutes or so…
ABOF’s Scandinavian roots are immediately evident. The stark whitewashed walls, and the sleek, if simple, lines of its furniture and decor oozed Scandinavian minimalism. The clinical look is only broken by a multi-hued backdrop where the bar is, the dark wood of the furniture as well as some extremely pretty lights hanging from the ceiling. We know this style, thanks largely to IKEA. In fact, Esther swears the candleholders on the table we were ushered to came from the furniture giant.
The friendly waitress, who patiently waited at the door as we pondered on whether to patronise her establishment, handed us menus with typical Scandinavian efficiency and proceeded to introduce some popular items to two seemingly confused Asians. (We have to pretend a bit, you know.)
As usual Esther decided for the both of us that we shouldn’t overeat, so we picked only mains - she ordered the Shooting Star (S$18), and she allowed me to indulge in the highly-rated Scandinavian Roast Pork with Crackling Skin (also S$18). Woot!
As we patiently waited for our mains to arrive, we discussed the virtues of ABOF’s extremely eclectic menu. Local Curry Chicken and Sambal Prawn, and Italian Spaghetti Carbonara, what gives? Our consternation was only tempered when a complimentary bread basket arrived. The dinner rolls were piping hot, and salty Danish butter provided a fabulous contrast. Excellent. ABOF’s approval rating went up yet another notch as we were regularly plied with iced water (not the tap kind, and with a touch of lemon too). We like little touches like this, really.
It wasn’t long before our mains arrived. As usual, Esther’s arrived first.
Her Shooting Star - we’re not sure how the name came about - was prettily plated up. A nicely breaded dory fillet sat on a piece of rye bread (Esther had asked for rye in place of the normal high-GI white bread) and topped with remoulade sauce and a swarm of pink Scandinavian shrimp, accompanied by a side salad of greens and sliced hard-boiled eggs. Hmmm… the menu listed poached dory fillet as well in the dish but it wasn’t on the plate. Oh well. The breaded dory was fresh and Esther spared not a single shrimp. The rich and creamy remoulade sauce was tangy and worked well with the seafood. The rye bread was interesting, but its density and flavour wasn’t quite suited to our Asian palate.
When my Roast Pork arrived it looked like the Scandinavian version of the German pork knuckle with its crackling skin. But I guess the northerners had a far more modest appetite since the dish had three disappointingly thin slices of pork instead of a whole leg. It did also come with a trio of pan-roasted new potatoes, a piece of roast apple, some greens, pitted prunes and cabbage that was braised in red wine.
The pork had received rave reviews before so I was looking forward to it. Hmmm… it was good, but not earth-shatteringly so. I think the Cantonese do roast pork better, but us Chinese do have exacting standards when it comes to cooking and eating pig. What I believe set this dish apart were its accompaniments - the wine-braised cabbage was fabulous, and the sweet apple and prunes provided a pleasurable taste and texture contrast to the salty pork. Even the cucumber relish - pickled in apple cider, I think - was mouthwatering. And oddly enough, despite the thin slices of pork, I was satiated.
We didn’t try the desserts, although we really should have. We didn’t try any tea either, this being a tea lounge after all. Which is ok - this joint is worth another visit.
Oh, and ABOF is pronounced “above”. In case you wanted to know.
ABOF Restaurant & Tea Lounge is located at Millenia Walk, #01-109/113, 9 Raffles Boulevard S(039596), Tel: 63387113.
Topics: Restaurant, Reviews, Scandinavian, Western |