Graze

To some people, Wednesday is known as the 'hump day' because once you get past Wednesday, the weekend comes into sight and you start to feel slightly better. For me, my 'hump day' is Thursday because it is the longest day of my week. Unfortunately, my birthday fell on a Thursday so I had to get through a long day of lessons before celebrating my birthday proper. However, my last lesson of the day was cancelled because my facilitator wasn't feeling well so I managed to get out of school before sunset! =)

Initially, we wanted to go to Mietta's for dinner but we were told that they no longer have dine-in and they only do catering! =S We sourced for another restaurant that we thought would be nice to have a relaxing and chillax birthday celebration and ended up making a reservation for Graze.

It was my first time visiting Rochester Park and I didn't expect to see a row of old-colonial-houses-turned-restaurants. It reminded me of a quieter and more private version of the Dempsey area.
We had the option of sitting outdoors (where movies are screened silently) or indoors. As it was pretty warm, we chose to sit indoors. Apparently we were the only ones who opted to sit indoors because the rest of their diners sat outdoors! The good thing is that we had the entire indoor area to ourselves.
Their interior of Graze gives off a very homely feeling, probably because of the woody furniture and warm lighting. If you notice, you'll see that they deliberately placed at least three different kinds of chair at each table! I thought it was an interesting idea but I pity the person who has to sit on the steel-y chair as it looks quite uncomfortable.

The table setting's pretty normal but their knives are pretty unique because they naturally point downwards! I think all knives should be designed this way because it's easier to hold.

I've no idea how we ended up with sparkling water ($9) instead of the usual iced water but I'm glad we were given this because it tastes pretty nice! (: It's like tasteless sprite.

Complimentary bread. Nothing to rave about as it was only average.

Caesar salad ($11) for starters. They were very generous with the caesar sauce and leaves but bacon pieces were a little too overcooked and hard. We found this dish very palatable.

As I'm a big fan of pumpkins, I was thrilled to see pumpkin ravioli ($27) on the menu! (: To be frank, I expected to see a few pieces of normal sized ravioli pieces but instead, I was served two big pieces of ravioli stacked on top of each other! Each ravioli was stuffed with pumpkin cubes and other vegetables and these ingredients literally spilled out when I cut the ravioli open. Despite the abundance of ingredients, I found the ravioli slightly lacking in taste. Perhaps I will go for something more 'Australian' in future if and when I return to Graze.

Jeffrey ordered a spring chicken ($29), which he said was the best fried chicken that he has had. He liked it so much that he named it "high class KFC chicken", which is actually a compliment because Jeffrey adores KFC.

The best course of this meal is undoubtedly dessert! (: I wanted to order their dessert platter, which consists of a small portion of every single dessert on their menu but I figured that the both of us wouldn't be able to finish all of it so the sensible part of me decided to forgo that option. We chose to have Black and White ($18), otherwise known as the pudding plate. Apart from the two tiny globs of vanilla and chocolate icecream, we had chocolate lava cake (black) and flowy custard pudding (white). Seriously, this was nothing short of awesome and everyone should try it! Upon eating it, you'll feel instantaneously happier and the world will seem like a finer and dandier place to live in. You MUST try it!

Graze is definitely a good place to go if you want to unwind after a long day. The ambience is lovely and the staff are attentive but non-intrusive. I'm glad I celebrated my birthday there!Thanks Jeffrey for celebrating my birthday with me (: (: (: