The White Rabbit's website promises 'impeccable fine dining without the stuffiness'. This very aptly describes our dining experience there some months ago during the Singapore Restaurant Week - that is the 'stuffiness' bit.
The restaurant is a converted chapel located in the Dempsey Road shopping and dining enclave. The owners have retained the original architecture (smart move) while fitting the cavernous space with generally clean-cut furniture with a splattering of antique pieces. The colour scheme is kept almost monochromatic thus accentuating the beauty of the original stained glass. There is absolutely no clutter.
Similarly, the table setting and food presentation are stylishly modern and simple.
The 3-course set menu comprised a freshly shucked oyster served au naturale with pork sausage on the side for appetizer; Sole Meuniere for the main; and Chocolate Mousse with raspberry sauce for dessert.
The appetizer was really 2 dishes in one. The freshly shucked oyster was served au naturale and because it was very fresh, all it needed was a dash of lemon juice. Accompanying it was a lone sausage which looked rather uninspired and uninspiring. I didn't particularly like the taste of it either as I found it a tad too salty.
Sole Meunière is a classic French dish consisting of sole fish that has been dredged in flour then pan fried in butter and served with the brown butter reduction sauce and a dash of lemon. In classic service, the whole sole is sauteed tableside and boned by the server. However, at White Rabbit, the sole was cooked in the kitchen and served whole on the bone. Perhaps, the fish used was too little to be filleted!
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| Freshly shucked oyster and Sausage |
Sole Meunière is a classic French dish consisting of sole fish that has been dredged in flour then pan fried in butter and served with the brown butter reduction sauce and a dash of lemon. In classic service, the whole sole is sauteed tableside and boned by the server. However, at White Rabbit, the sole was cooked in the kitchen and served whole on the bone. Perhaps, the fish used was too little to be filleted!
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| Sole Meunniere |
My first serving of the sole was rubbery and tough and I had it returned to the chef who promptly replaced it with no questions asked. Points deducted for not ensuring the quality of the ingredients used even though the dish was, overall, quite tasty. Otherwise, I don't have any other complaints as Sole Meuniere is really a straightforward dish to prepare and no self-respecting chef should make a blunder out of it. By the way, the baby potatoes were delicious. And darling wife loves the fish - she didn't get the tough one!
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| Chocolate mousse |
Overall, an enjoyable dining experience mainly because we liked the surrounding and the service. The waiting staff were careful not to be too intrusive when we were eating. But once coffee and dessert were served, they made the effort to come around to exchange pleasantries with us and discuss the restaurant's concept, design and architecture, since they consciously took note that these were topics of interest to us.
The White Rabbit
39C Harding Road
Tanglin
Ambiance: 9.5
Service: 8.5
Pricing: $$$
Food: 7.25
