My Secret Garden Valentine's Dinner @ 161 Middle Road

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, and Dear and I went to My Secret Garden for dinner. I'd heard about this place before, and heard good reviews about it on Blinkymummy's blog, and thought it had a pretty ambience, so we decided to try it out [edited @ 2039hrs: Minyi told us that Leo had checked it out previously for her birthday, and that some of the reviews he'd read said it was overrated. You be the judge of it for yourself] Naturally, the handphone camera was whipped out again - ever the diligent food bloggers ^_^

The dinner started with a flute of sparkling wine each - rose-pink for the lady, the regular sparkling wine for the guy.. technically. We just swapped and took sips from each throughout the whole dinner.









On to the soup! Lobster bisque! Ooh my goodness it was so good! Rich, thick and luscious, with whole chunks of yummy lobster in it too! Good thing the portions were small though, because if it had been more, I would have wanted to gulp the whole bowl down, and risk being too full for the rest of dinner. As it was, it was just right :)







On to appetisers. We had a choice of baked oysters or Portabello mushrooms, and decided to take one of each to try. I ended up eating most of it though, as Dear is fond of neither. LOL.. To be honest, the oysters didn't do it as much for me. It tasted a bit to me like the orh luak they put in oyster omelettes than the yummilicious oysters you get at restaurants. The cheese and diced tomato topping helped a little, but I still belong to the school that oysters should be eaten fresh, raw and with a squeeze of lemon and a touch of Tabasco sauce. Dear took the cheese and tomato bits of this one :P



The other appetiser option was the Portabello topped with the same diced tomato and cheese as the oysters. The mushrooms were juicy! And mushroom juice oozed out whenever I cut it! Haha.. But it was pretty yummy, and I liked it better than the oysters. I suppose it helps that I pretty much like mushrooms in general. Managed to persuade Dear to try a bite of it (by making sure it was a SMALL bite, and making sure it was topped with cheese and tomato bits) and he thought it was OK - high praise coming from him with regards to such things!




The main course: choice between what they call a Chimichuri Beef Steak, and King Prawns, Scallops and Salmon. Dear chose the former, served with roasted baby potatoes. After not eating meat for a month, the first mouthful was bliss! And they did the beef well too - juicy and still pink, yet not bloody or tasting rare, which Dear hates (actually he takes his steaks well-done, normally. This is a start for him :P). I found the tangy topping rather intriguing, and thought it went well with the beef - it provided a kick, and the flavours just blended so well.




I chose the latter: King Prawns, Scallops and Salmon, served with mashed potatoes and some bitter chinese veggie that I can't remember the name of. The dish was drizzled with a creamy sauce that reminded me of crabs and prawns. It went well with the seafood :) Everything was fresh and sweet. I especially liked the salmon and king prawns, which were huge, juicy and cooked just right. At first, I thought it was a little overcooked, because I tasted the characteristic powdery taste, but I realised it was actually mashed potato residue :P The only thing I didn't like was the veggie, which was bitter and otherwise tasteless.



Dessert: Berry In Love. Yes, don't cringe, I know the name is cheesy. But the dessert was well worth it. I can't tell what juice they used, it could be cranberry, but it went well with the cheesecake-like taste of the dessert, and the sliced strawberries were a perfect touch. I just couldn't stop eating it, even though I was also feeding Dear spoonfuls of it. Mmm....






Dear's dessert, Hot Love. I know, it really doesn't look pretty. Actually we'd forgotten to take a picture before we started on it. The dessert is actually chocolate chip ice cream, topped with unsweetened cappucino. It was actually quite nice, especially when you top a mouthful of ice cream with a mouthful of warm coffee. At first it's a little bitter, but as you go on, it gets sweeter as the warmth melts more ice cream and mixes with it.. A sweet warm way to end a lovely dinner :)




Verdict: We went for Set C, which was $68+++ per pax, if I remembered correctly. And while the food was lovely, and the ambience was wonderful, $158 still seems a rather steep price to pay. Nonetheless, I'm very glad I got to try out the place - it's on the list of places we wanted to try - and I'm even happier that it was on such a special occasion, with a wonderful experience :) Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day!