About a year ago I had a meal at Courtyard and till this day I can still remember it…salty morsels of caviar, creamy fois gras, rich morel risotto…It was pure indulgence, but it also came at a price. This wasn’t the type of restaurant I could frequent without plunging myself into debt. Which is why I was pleasantly surprised on a recent visit to find that the menu has changed into what is known as semi fine dining.
There are some everyday type foods on the menu such as sang har mee, kway teow goreng, and an array of sandwiches which are extremely popular during lunch especially since the sets are paired with a drink and dessert. While they may be typical local dishes, Chef Alex always adds a twist that makes it interesting.
The sang har mee is served with both deep fried bihun and kway teow and lovely large prawns. The thick soup is served in a dish on the side and you pour it on as soon as it gets to the table to ensure that the noodles don’t get too soggy by the time they reach you. The deep fried kway teow is not something you see everyday and since it is larger than the bihun it stays crunchy longer. The kway teow goreng here is served with tender melt-in-the-mouth slices of beef instead of the usual seafood or chicken giving it a richer taste.
While there are some everyday items on the menu there are also the dishes that make up the ‘semi fine dining’ portion of the menu. I sampled a few of the popular items such as the salmon osso bucco, the black cod, the sea bass, a 1kg steak, as well as the deconstructed seared tuna nicoise salad.
I was intrigued by the unique salmon osso bucco as this is not something that can be found anywhere. Chef Alex took the concept of an osso bucco and made it his own by wrapping a thin piece of salmon around a juicy scallop and cooking it slowly. The salmon is fall apart tender and the scallop is springy and soft.
"A Flintstone sized steak!"
The black cod was simply amazing! Cooked Japanese style and served with soba noodles and edamame. It was smooth without feeling too fatty in the way that cod can sometimes feel. The seabass was another dish that was cooked just right in a butter sauce with caviar. The salty little beads of caviar bursting with each bite gave a delicious added flavour to the fish.
When the servers brought out the 1kg steak I inhaled deeply and wondered what I had gotten myself into. It was a huge perfectly cooked slab of meat, probably as big as my head! It’s really the type of thing you would see on the Flintstones. It’s meant to be enjoyed medium rare with the outside being perfectly dark and charred and the inside red and bloody. This is not the steak to eat if you’d like it well done, as it would take up to an hour to cook. It is pure meaty perfection though…you’ve really got to be a meat lover to enjoy it.
The quirky presentation of the nicoise salad was what really got my attention at this meal though. It was deconstructed with the potatoes, greens, olives, mushrooms, and feta stacked up at one end of the serving dish and the little squares of seared tuna laid out atop a raft of green beans on the other end. Almost too pretty to eat.
Dessert is another delight with creations such as a green tea macaron, a mango parfait, and a traditional Chinese herbal jelly served with a delicious sticky sweet honey. Make sure you save a bit of space to try these out. I’m also told the chocolate pudding is a favourite.
Oh and if you’re enjoying a drink over at Courtyard Garden be sure to try their crab cake, open-faced roast beef sandwich, or the cheese croquettes. These snacks go perfectly with any drink.
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