Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Badoque

I have to say that with this dear pal of mine, a spontaneous decision is all it takes to make things happen.

Earlier in the day, my long-time pal Tini suddenly asked if I'm free to break-fast with her at Badoque later. Apparently, her hubby had asked for their beef ribs (can't make it there in time before they closed) and she's gonna get a take-away.

Come to think of it, both of us has always planned on dining at Badoque together one day. We just never got down to it. Guess this was a good chance as any.

Menu 01 

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Menu 02 

Truth to be told, I find the menu to be really confusing. What with the wild colours. The distracting captions & random pictures.

It took me a really looong time to decide what to have. Seriously.

Oh, I also thought that this menu will eventually be used as placemats… Guess not.

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Naughty Chocolate Shake & Watermelon Ice-Blended

Tini got a glass of 'Naughty' chocolate shake for her boys to share. She got the Watermelon ice-blended for herself. I like just how finely blended the ice had been.

First time I tried a drink with watermelon-flavoured syrup. Not bad, actually.

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Hot Mint tea

Myself meanwhile, has no mood for any icy drinks after a day of fasting. A glass of hot mint tea works nicely to ease this hungry belly.

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Seafood Aglio Olio w/ Fettuccine ~ $18

Tini's order. She was going back and forth between several pasta choices and eventually settled on this. I was surprised to see that the fish fillets were battered and fried till crisp.

They were generous with other pieces of seafood too (pretty squid curls, mussels & prawns). I'm lucky enough to dine with someone who doesn't like mussels so I get to relish them!

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Salmon en Croute ~ $22

If you see the menu, there's this funny-looking picture of a bespectecled old lady with the quote, "Enough of Asam Pedas! Thank god for Salmon en croute." LOL

But that wasn't why I chose this, anyway. Typical for my very fickle-minded self, it was a last min. decision. I was initially bent on getting myself a plate of pasta. Either the squid-ink or something tomato-based. Eventually settled for the Seafood Marinara.

However, right before calling the server over, I got curious about this salmon dish with the interesting-sounding name. Asked the server as to what it really was. Upon hearing, "…wrapped in pastry…" I decided on it. Deal sealed.

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Another angle

Salmon en Croute is a term for pastry-wrapped salmon. There are many variations of this, most commonly (and purists will agree), shortcrust pastry is used. And served with Hollandaise sauce.

However, their rendition came with a single, thick slab of only salmon and wrapped in this thin pastry (almost like 'filo') and coated with breadcrumbs. Usually salmon en croute has 2 layers of salmon fillets, with a layer of green paste (filling) sandwiched in between. The paste is made of mainly lemon zest, basil & dill.

The sauce served here is nicely tangy and complement the fish well, to counter and 'fishiness'. The parcel is served on top of a very generous portion of mashed potato that carried a strong hint of rosemary.

I don't know if those 3 salad leaves are just mere garnishing but I walloped them anyway.

In the background to the left, there's this sauce bottle with an orange liquid. That was one of the most awesome chilli oil ever. I was asked if I want any chilli sauce or chilli oil. I initially decline but then I got curious. Chilli oil…? Why not?

Drizzled some into the hollandaise sauce and it really spiked the heat up several notches. Wow!

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Meringue Ice-cream (name to be verified)

My friend, despite being really full from the (unfinished) plate of pasta, actually insist that I have their dessert. Specifically this meringue ice-cream thingy that she's had before.

Seeing her excitement, I caved in, anyway. Despite not polishing my plate (gotta leave some of that mashed potato behind…). The whole presentation was quite impressive. 2 pieces of meringue sandwiching a layer of something creamy in between. A scoop of vanilla ice-cream sitting on a generous squiggle of chocolate sauce. And slices of canned peaches.

I had my first bite together with the ice-cream. It wasn't too bad. But when I had the meringue piece on its own (just because I was curious as to what the layer that was sandwiched in between the 2 pieces of meringue was), I was taken aback by the jarring sweetness. I hastily looked around for a glass of water and had to order a bottle. Even my friend was surprised that the dessert had been too sweet that time. Maybe we got it on a wrong day... Huhu.  

By the way, that layer in between is actually cheesecake.

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With the very friendly Farid

All in all, the service rendered had been very good (that's another thing that they're known for, aside from their food).

The main guy who served us that evening was Farid, who stood in for his bro who was away performing Umrah. Tini was somewhat acquainted with him sometime back so he even had a nice banter at our table.

He eventually had the dessert waived from the bill. Maybe they've seen me over-reacting when I got to the too-sweet part (I have really low tolerance for most extreme flavours) or maybe it was out of goodwill. Either way… yayy!

Oh, he's also the frontman of this local band called Aryan Band, which is quite established in Malaysia too. Well, considering that they're taken under the wings of a legend, himself - M. Nasir.

…I'm sooo coming back here with more folks just so we can have more dishes to try. I want to get my hands on their famous beef ribs!

Badoque Cafe
298 Bedok Road (Simpang Bedok)
Singapore 469454
Tel: 6446 6928

Opening Hours: 3 -11pm. 12 - 11pm. Closed on Mondays.

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