Cafe Epicurious

A month or so ago, I received an email from Helena (one of the two ladies managing Epicurious), inviting me to troop down to Cafe Epicurious at Rail Mall to give their Family-Style Dinner Menu. It came as a pleasant surprise to me because I seldom receive emails from restuarants owners/ people in the f&b industry! What's even more surprising is that she generously offered a $70++ dinner voucher, which I can use when I visit Cafe Epicurious! This was really unexpected and I'd like to say a big 'thank you' to Helena and Sharon for this lovely treat, it made my day! (:

And so, on one rainy Saturday evening, my family and I made our way to the nearby Rail Mall for dinner!
We ordered a glass of sprite ($3.50) and a glass of lime juice ($4.50) to share while waiting for the food to arrive.

Because there were 4 of us, we simply ordered the 4 different dinner sets available! We could either choose to have the two-course dinner ($28/pax) or the three-course dinner ($35/pax). Since we were keen on trying their desserts (how can I possibly pass dessert!), we went for the three-course dinner, which consists of an appetiser, a main and a dessert each.

Our platter of 4 appetisers (from left): Ah ma's deep fried curry chicken wings, savoury beef meatballs with tomato-basil sauce, devil shrimp with garlic and chilli, melted cheese and sweet onion quesadilla. All of them had their unique tastes but I would say that our favourite would be the melted cheese and sweet onion quesadilla! It tasted like roti prata with pizza toppings (: Very interesting fusion.

Although Epicurious was pretty packed that night, food didn't take too long to come and we were quite pleased with that! (: Our mains were served soon after our empty starters plate was cleared.

Each main course came with some salad

as well as a little tub of creamy whipped potato (: Absolutely delectable on a cold and rainy night.

Our first main dish was the roasted half chicken! I didn't try this dish but the other three said that the skin was nice but the meat was pretty dry.

The second main course was the lamb shank tangine, which was soft, tender and cooked to perfection! The meat just slid off the bone! It was a joy to eat!

This braised Angus beef short rib definitely tastes better than it looks! Both my sister and Jeffrey liked this and they said that the portion was just right for both of them. If they had to eat one portion each, they would probably not be able to finish because the taste was pretty strong.

Finally, my favourite main course: grilled seafood risotto. The two precious scallops sitting atop the bed of spinach risotto were heavenly! I loved this dish so much that I polished off every single morsel! (:

Finally, we were served our platter of three desserts (from left): lemon and lime tart, devils chocolate cake and sticky date pudding. Out of all the desserts, I think the one that stood out most was the lemon and lime tart! It had a refreshing and zingy taste which contrasted with the richness of its counterparts. I didn't really like the berry sauce on the chocolate cake and the sticky date pudding was a little too hard. I guess I'm used to eating warm and moist sticky date puddings with vanilla icecream so my palette didn't adjust very well to this novel taste! Nevertheless, we savoured the desserts with relish and glee!

Needless to say, we were stuffed at the end of the meal! I think Epicurious' dinner menu didn't fail to impress and it's highly recommended for people who are looking for affordable and good dinner sets! =) Thank you Helena and Sharon again for this wonderful gastronomical treat! (:

Have a good week ahead everyone! (: