The Wifey's Birthday Dinner at Pollen

Last month was my lovely wife's birthday, I arranged a surprise dinner for her at Pollen in Gardens by The Bay.  The restaurant specializes in modern European cuisine.

Inside Pollen - we were quite early

Before appetizer was served, we tasted some hors d'oeuvres that looked very interesting; charcoal crackers with chili paste, bread with garlic butter (I forgot the element in that butter), choux with some sauce smeared on top (which I also forgot what that sauce was) and then an interesting dim sum (which I unfortunately also forgot what was inside)...  I think I gotta do something about my failing memory...

An array of interesting hors d'oeuvres to whet our appetite

The appetizer followed soon.  I had never tried foei gras before so I decided to order one for sharing.  The foei gras is extremely rich and flavourful.  As soon as my teeth sank into one of the foei gras pieces I could feel the fat oozing out and there was an immediate blast of savoury flavours inside the mouth.  This rich flavour was offset (note that I said "offset", not "neutralized") by the pickles which provided some acidity.

Appetizer - foei gras with pop corn and some pickles

The appetizer was finished quite fast.  The mains followed after.  I ordered a kurobuta pork collar for myself (as I don't eat beef) and an A5 grade wagyu for my wife.

Kurobuta pork collar on top and A5 wagyu below

As you can see from the photos, the restaurant put great emphasis on plating as well.  Each dish looks like a work of art, carefully plated and presented.

While my pork collar was tasty, I didn't really enjoy the fat in the meat which provided some "crunch" as I chewed.  I'll remember not to order pork collar in the future.  My wife said that her wagyu steak was very tender and tasty as well.

After we finished the mains, we thought we'd take a walk inside the flower dome as well.  And for a change of scenery, we moved up to the terrace to have our dessert.

Dessert was a decadent baba au rum and poached peach with ricota and sorbet.  The baba au rum was the better of the two.  The ice cream that came with that cake is incredibly smooth and sweet with rich flavour. The cake itself was very delicious.  My peach and sorbet was "fresh" as the taste was mainly sweet and acidic.  But I very much prefer the taste profile of the baba au rum as compared to the peach and sorbet.

A pity I didn't get a chance to try their petit fours which are quite famous as well.

Baba au rum on top and peach with ricota at the bottom

I'd really love to return to Pollen again to try their brunch menu.  Hopefully the kids will be big enough by then to join us.

~ Photos taken with Sony RX100 Mk 3 ~