Saturday, April 13, 2013

Birthday Dinner at Alexis Bistro, The Gardens

Yesterday my dearest life partner turned 34 years old :) Happy birthday my man! When we first met, he was 25 years old and it has been 9 years since then. How time flies.

Anyway, I decided to have a special dinner celebration for him - just the four of us. Of course it would be fab to celebrate with friends as well just like what I organised a few years ago (surprise makan-makan at Bagan Lalang) but we would have to make do with a small-scale celebration since I'm not working and earning any income this year :p Besides Mr Hubs actually rather not have any celebration like he always does, but come on, how often does one turn 34, right? Besides it gives me perfect reason to get out of the house occasionally.

I've been reading a few blogs that raved about Alexis' menu especially its dessert (Pavlova, tiramisu, fruit meringue among others). Plus, many seems to think it has the classy yet cozy ambience so I decided to give it a try.

We arrived at Alexis around 9pm and were immediately ushered to a table with comfortable cushion seats. I have a good first impression of the service at Alexis mainly because when we arrived with a tandem stroller, one of the waiters helped us to lift the stroller as the dining section was slightly elevated.

We were also given the menu immediately after we settled ourselves at the table. By the way, Khayla could not stay still and kept wanting to climb the seat armrest and leaned over the divider!

For starter, we ordered their seared scallops and button mushrooms (we forgot to take a photo of the button mushrooms though):

Seared scallops and asparagus

The seared scallops flavour was nicely-balanced and the chilli condiment goes perfectly with it. I ate most of it because halfway, Khayla insisted to go to the restroom and Mr Hubs has to bring her! LOL

The baked button mushrooms were served with toasted garlic roll. The mushrooms itself were soaked in creamy sauce and sprinkled with parmesan cheese (I think). It was also quite nice but a bit salty for me.

For main course, I decided to try their Carbonara pasta while Mr Hubs ordered his favourite, a lamb dish:

Carbonara pasta with beef bacon bits (right) and Moroccan style lamb rack with roasted aubergine and pomegranate salad (left)

There is nothing special to shout about the pasta - it's creamy, slightly salty (again) and quite filling (I didn't manage to finish mine). When I asked Mr Hubs about his lamb, he could not say whether it is delicious or the opposite. He cut a piece and fed it to me and I understood why. Suffice to say, it's not your ordinary Western lamb dish because obviously, it's Moroccan-style! :p The Mediterranean spices really overpowers your palate when you try this dish.

We also ordered mashed potato for Khayla, but it never arrived (thank goodness!). We were so full by then that we wondered whether we would have room for dessert. Luckily, it was just a slice of Pavlova and Pavlova is light enough, right?

Since it was Mr Hubs' birthday celebration, I asked them to serve the cake with a lit candle to mark the celebration. While waiting for the cake, Khayla had climbed the cushion seat and suddenly fell backward and bumped her head on the table! She cried loudly, of course. Hish, budak kecik ni…

So she sat sulking in the stroller, but when the cake arrived complete with a lit candle, she forgot her misery (and painful 'benjol'!) and wanted to blow the candle, of course! Hehe.

Me and equally-active Khadeeja

Budak jatuh pastu benjol kepala with Mr Hubs

I have to say the cake presentation was quite pretty even though it arrived with half of the cake falling! I had high expectations (and anticipation) of the much-raved cake, but it turned out quite disappointing. This was not my first Pavlova, but it could not compete with the Pavlovas that I had before. The creamy filling was too thick and rather bland, thank goodness for the white egg outer crust. Even the black berries were tasteless! Hmmph.

Overall, we had a pleasant dinner, but the meal was really quite ordinary. The service was fast, and the waiters were helpful.

On the other hand, perhaps you might want to repeat the orders with the waiter who take it because like I said, we did not get our mashed potato (which luckily did not appear in our bill). Also, when the bill arrives, it's good for you to check carefully. When I checked mine before signing it, I noted that they included hot water in the bill even though we did not order it. Since it's FOC, I did not bother to raise it to the waiter.

My rating would be 7/10.

Happy Birthday, Hubster! Love you and hope you enjoyed my treat ^_^