Realisation dawns

It was our 3rd wedding anniversary. Hubby and I went to this "atas" (high-class) restaurant, Pierside Kitchen & Bar at One Fullerton for dinner.

One Fullerton was one of our favourite "paktor" (dating) venues before we got married. And I had always been on the outside of the floor-to-ceiling glass panels that fronted the restaurant, looking in, admiring the decor (and dim lighting that accentuated the ambience, making it seem like a good venue for a romantic dinner for two), wondering whether the food was as good as what the restaurant looked but never entering it because at the back of my mind, I knew that a meal there will rip my pocket.

While planning for our anniversary dinner, we considered several restaurants - Stuart Anderson Black Angus (where we celebrated Hubby's birthday several years ago), Lawry's Prime Rib (highly recommended by Sis-in-law), Pierside Kitchen & Bar (listed as one of the top SG restaurants in Life, Sunday Times) and another restaurant (of which its name we forgot) at National Stadium where we went on the day that the X.x-carat diamond ring was placed on my fourth finger.

Finally, after much consideration, we decided to go to Pierside as I had the 1-for-1 dinner main course dining voucher from Women's Weekly Dining Chequebook (haha... how cheapskate!) plus it was nearer to Cineleisure Orchard (as compared to National Stadium) where I wanted to catch a movie before heading to dinner. Besides, the menu looked pretty unique to me.

The service was pretty good, I must say. The wait staff were very attentive to details and polite. They even acceded to my request to change our table as the original seat that I was in faced this intense illumination from a ship and I couldn't avoid the blinding light no matter which direction I tried to turn to. It was just smack in my face.

Upon taking our order, the waiter offered wine and sparkling water which we turned down as (1) both of us do not take alcohol and (2) we get bloated easily so we didn't want any fizzy drinks. So we settled for plain iced water and ordered a small mixed appetizer to share ($28), a whole pan roasted trout with garlic, scallions & baked bean crust with steamed asparagus ($30) for myself and a highly recommended (by the newspaper) snapper pie with smoked tomato and white truffle oil ($29) for Hubby.

While waiting for the food to arrive, we entertained ourselves by "eavesdropping" on and observing other diners. They were people who were distinctly not in our league. I would (rather not?) label them as poseurs - 30, 40-somethings clad in what looked like designer labels, hugging and blowing kisses as they greeted one another, speaking English in a cannot-be-fooled Singaporean accent which they tried to cover with the American one. Common people pretending to be "atas"???

"You'd better not take any photographs in here," Hubby reminded (warned?).

Yeah, too "atas" a place. Those poseurs might think we came from the "kampong" (rural village).

I was feeling uncomfortable in my seat. Somehow, I suddenly seemed to regret the choice of restaurant. I should have gone to Black Angus where I think I would be more at ease - brighter lights, more down-to-earth people who truly are there to enjoy the food.

Nevertheless, I hung on to the edge of my seat and braced myself for the food that was to arrive.
The food was quite palatable, though not the usual kind that we are used to and the bill came up to $101.xx (for one appetizer that had only 2 slices of 3 types and two main course)!

We didn't exactly like the food. Fortunately, our dining voucher slashed the bill to $67.xx. Hubby and I vowed that we would never go back to the restaurant again. We are better off chomping on pizzas and chicken wings. Haha!

I would give the restaurant 5 stars for service (the hermaphrodite-looking guy at the table next to ours made quite a fuss about the restaurant not having the two or three types of juices that they wanted and the manager served them a small plate of appetizer and one round of cocktail for the 5 people at the table - FOC!), food presentation, choice and exquisiteness of ingredients used, 4 stars for taste and ambience and 2 stars for cost.

In conclusion, to quote Hubby, "things that mattered in the past when we were single don't matter anymore now".