Sage The Restaurant

Sage the restaurant, recently relocated to one of Mohamed Sultan’shistorical conservation shophouse, just across the street from theirprevious place at a rather obscure location on the second front ofRobertson Walk. Sage is one of the widely hype restaurant in our localfood scene who has won acclaims from many foodies.

Sage the restaurant has just started their set lunch menuwhich offers 3 course at $38++, and 4 course meal at $45++. Given thatthe main course for their dinner menu ranges from 30s to the 40sindividually, i’ll say that the set lunch do seems rather value. Andnote that lunch is only served from Wednesday to Friday.

The husband and wife combination works very wellfor Sage, with Chef-owner Jusman So helming the kitchen while hisfriendly wife, Kimberly taking charge of the service aspect. ChefJusman So also recently won the choice title of rising chef of the yearin the World Gourmet Summit (WGS).

The interior of the newly furnished restaurant speaks contemporary chic.With Black and grey being theme colour, the white simplistic tablesstrikes out bringing the simple-yet-elegant feel of the place. There isjust a single picture frame to adorn the black wall, with the back ofthe room leading to the open kitchen

The open kitchen concept provides a insight ofthe chefs hard at work to provide a satisfactory meal for us. I dobelieve that having an open kitchen concept is a rather importantaspect of a restaurant, for one, diners can have a look at the chefs atwork, and also by doing an open concept, it shows that the restauranthas nothing to hide, and it does build a bridge linking the dinersstomach and the chefs heart for their effort.

I applaused the fact that Sage chose to retain its seating capacity at38, when they can actually have no problem expanding the place andfilling it up every night. That for me, is a true sign of Sage’sintention, not to compromise the standards of the food quality with anyincrease in capacity.

Complimentary bread
The complimentary bread was very good, soft and fluffy, with the cheesespread that comes along together, i’ll have asked for second helpingsif not for the fact that we still have a four course meal ($38++) tofinish.

Smoked Salmon ($12)
Scottish smoked salmon loin on cucumber relish with avruga caviar.Cauliflower couscous salad and dill infused leek & potatovichyssoise. The smoked salmon loin was tasty although i found it to be slightly salty. I didn't like the cauliflower couscous salad as i felt that its rather heavy for a salad but my friend thought that it was all right.

The avruga caviar, pearlescent black in colour,is a more sustainable alternative to its more expensive relative,Beluga caviar, completes the salmon loin.

Crab & tomato ($12)
Marinated crab salad topped with oven dried tomatoes and avocadomousseline, taggiasca olive tapenade and vine ripe tomato gazpacho. Theoven dried tomatoes and the vine ripe tomato gazpacho, enhances the flavor of the crab meat. I couldn't quite make out the taggiasca olive tapenade, but it tastes nice to me. Same goes for the avocado mousseline, but then again i am not really a fan of avocado.

Overall a simple dish (maybe not that simple in cooking it) that packsa lot of different flavors into one. The cooking method do seems to bethe trademark of Chef Jusman who use many different type of ingredientsto blend into one.

Mushrooms soup ($12)
Cappuccino of wild mushrooms. My friend and i had no words to describethe soup after having a spoonful. The plain-looking mushroom soup has amake-over and the interpretation comes in the form of a cappuccino, not quite what you will picture for a soup.

Nevertheless, the mushrooms soup was nothingshort of excellence. Like what i mentioned before, mushrooms are alwaysa tricky task, cook it for too long and the mushroom becomesover-cooked, while finishing it too early the soup will fail to absorbthe essence of the mushrooms.

The mushroom soup arrived in a cup of cappuccino, with foamy top layer,and creamy base. Some common mushroom soups might still have bits ofmushrooms in it, but not this one. The wild mushrooms seem to blendtogether naturally, and every mouthful just tasted so flavorsome.

Personally i do not like mushroom soup, but the fact that one spoonfulof soup leaded to the other, with me finishing the whole soup tells youhow good the soup is. There are definitely better mushroom soups outthere, but for now, this is the best mushroom soup i had before.

French Onion soup ($12)
Perhaps the mushroom soup was too good, that we actually find the French onion soup to be quite normal in contrast. Nonetheless, the soup was still very rich, with its strong onion taste.

Traditional French onion soup with crouton and melted gruyere cheese. Crouton is the small piece of sauteed bread that acted as a companion to the soup. However we did not really taste the melted gruyere cheese because the bread became rather soggy in a short while.

Cod ($42, with $15 supplement applies to set menu)
Roasted fillet of cod topped with prawn and cognac butter on salt cod brandade and bouillabaisse sauce. The Codwas definitely the star of the show. Both my friend and i arrived atthe conclusion that the cod was class. The roasted fillet waswonderfully balanced, there were hints of the roasted element, but itdid not shows on the fillet.

If the end product of the Cod was the magic produced, then the prawn and cognac butterwas certainly the wand that produce the magic. The cod on its own didnot warrant a perfect score yet, but wait until you tasted the codtogether with the prawn and cognac butter layer, that was pure magic.

The mashed potato beneath the cod also tasted well together with the bouillabaisse sauce.The sauce which was made from a traditional provencal fish stew has afulsome flavor, and when you have a piece of the roasted cod with theprawn and cognac butter on top, and dipped with the bouillabaissesauce, there was nothing quite like to describe the taste.

Duck Confit ($28, with $10 supplement applies to set menu)
Duck leg confit on a savoy cabbage parcel stuffed withfield mushroom, leek and red onion in pommery mustard sauce. We choseduck confit because it's always a dish that is difficult to handle, andcan test the skills of the chef. The mark of a good duck confitobviously lies in the meat, if the duck is cooked for too long, themeat will become soggy and soft, while under-cook will make it becomestoo tight and hard.

Poking a fork into the duck leg confit, we were glad to find that theduck meat remains firm while retaining its perfectly crispy skin. Withthe price tag, this was one expensive duck leg, which you otherwisecould have a whole duck elsewhere, but made no mistake, the duck legconfit was certainly worth the money.

The pommery mustard sauce did come across to us as rather weird initially, but mixing it with the firm duck meat brought out the brilliance of it.

My friend enjoyed the Pernankan-inspired cabbage parcel stuffed with field mushroom, leek and red onion,but it did not works for me. I felt that the cabbage parcel was toosalty for my liking, and the leek and red onion combination did notreally suit my tastebud.

Strawberry Panna Cotta ($12)
Vanilla panna cotta topped with strawberry jelly and chocolate ganache, compote of strawberries and crunchy nougat. The sweet vanilla panna cotta and chocolate ganachestriked a good balance with the slightly sourish strawberry.The pannacotta itself was quite thick and rich with the fragrant vanilla taste.

The serving size was quite adequate, and the strawberry panna cotta wasquite good, until i try the Oreo Semifreddo, which is in a differentleague all together.

Oreo Semifreddo ($12)
Oreo cookie semifreddo with frozen raspberry mousse and soft coffeescented meringue. This, is the first time i am having a semifreddo, andi am already regretting why have i not try this earlier. The Oreo semifreddowas made up of three different compositions, with the top layer beingthe soft coffee scented meringue, the middle layer the oreo cookiesemifreddo, and the base the frozen raspberry mousse.

The oreo semifreddo really, was playing with our scents, the soft coffee meringue was more to the bitter side, while the oreo cookie ice cream added the sweet touch, and the frozen raspberry moussecompleted with a chilly sourish zang. Trying the three different partsseparately yielded nothing special, but it was when you united thethree layers together then you realised what the oreo semifreddo wasabout.

Total bill is a princely $135 for 2 person, and thisis lunch, not dinner. This ought to be the most expensive lunch i everhad, but all the same, the best lunch. The amount is madness really,two set lunches at $45 each, we topped up $10 for the duck confit, $15for the cod, and factor in the 17% additional charges, do your sums!

The way that Chef Jusman uses a combination of many different ingredientsin one dish is one thing, but to blend all the tastes is another matterall together. There are of course positive and negative things foreverything, and there is no exception here too. The slightly negativeaspect will be every dish is too flavorsome and it really takes time toabsorb and digest what you eat. However you can choose to look at thatfrom a positive angle too.

One thing i ought to mention as well, before this visit to Sage i madea few attempts to go actually but on those few occasions i were held upin the very last minute and couldn’t make it. Each time i called upSage to make another new reservation, and each time Kimberlypicked up the phone and answer my every inquiry politely and patiently.There was never a time where i felt that she was frustrated by this guyhere calling up a few times to keep on postponing the reservation. Forthat i applause her for her sincere altitude, which can be genuinelyfelt across the phone.

I rave about Sage the restaurant, I praise the way Chef Jusman uses his ingredients and play with his food. I appreciatethe manner which Kimberly treats her customers, genuine, friendly yetprofessional which makes you totally free at home. Not to mention theother serving staff at Sage which i find are quite knowledgeable andknow when’s the right time to approach us and when not to disturb us.The combination of all the factors make Sage the restaurant a strongcontender to ladyironchef’s best restaurant 2008.

I do believe that there are certainly better restaurants out there, LesAmis, Saint Pierre, Iggy just to name a few, are all stronghold intheir own rights, but since i have not try the other restaurants, i canonly comment on what i have tried. And for the restaurants which i havebeen to, i say Sage is one of the best, until i experience a better onethen, Sage the restaurant it is!

You are always welcome to visit ladyironcheffor a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuinefeelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call anadventure!