Dining out: Wine Garage

So the company that owns Brewerkz and Cafe Iguana has decided to go in a different alcohol direction and offer wines.

Brewerkz is now flanked by the iguana and Wine Garage, which has a rather extensive winelist and a decent menu. Service was a dismal letdown but what's new nowadays.

I was a couple of minutes late on Thursday, and arrived to find eps scrutinising the winelist. In the middle of the table was a plateful of sliced breads and what looked like yam paste, which I later found out was simply butter, that was grey in colour. I wondered if it was pate, but to my disappointment, it was not.

But bravo to the speed the bread and yampaste/butter/pate was laid out. Other customers were immediately offered that and menus just a few minutes after sitting down. I didn't even have to raise my hand to ask for water. So on this part, service was excellent and efficient.

When J finally arrived, we picked a semillon-sauvignon blanc from australia (not really noticing the sauvblanc part of the details) from the list, having decided to try something a bit new. The waiter (here's the notsogood service part) was asked for recommendations and the first thing he said, in an embarrassed tone, was "I'm not so good at that", leaving us equally clueless as to why, since this is a place that obviously specialises in wine, he was not trained to recommend at least one bottle or one blend, and also, why he didn't have someone, say his manager, come to our table and recommend us something instead. (The same guy also couldn't really make a recommendation for the food.)

Being left to our own devices, we made our own pick, which was ok. (They do have somemore that look quite interesting and which I wouldn't mind trying)

But what I quite liked was the food, although... well... here's what happened.

I ordered the steak frites, medium rare. And it came pretty well cooked for a medium rare, or even for a medium. So I sent it back and I got a better one, which was still a bit more on the cooked side - I like them bloody

But oh were the fries great. Instead of crinkle-cut types or skinny ones ala mcdonalds, or fat ones, they were small and skinny, with the skins on. They looked more like they were run through a grater. And sprinkled with just the right amount of salt, some herb and a bit of pepper. Yummy.

After we polished off the food, for some reason, we decided to have nachos instead of dessert. I dunno why - it wasn't my idea. But nachos from neighbouring Brewerkz that is.

And we figured that since the place was owned by the same company, we could do that. Nope. Wrong.

It wasn't as if the two places served the same type of food. I mean, if nachos were on the Wine Garage menu, then sure, we wouldn't have minded ordering that. The waiter could've easily ordered from a Brewerkz staff, we could've paid when the food arrived. And the plate could be returned after. Not that difficult. The manager was consulted. She (of course it had to be a woman - yes I know it's going against my own gender, but I do have two female bosses) said no. Then these people sit down at the table behind us, carrying glasses of beer from Brewerkz. We decide to check out Brewerkz but their waiting list is long despite a couple of empty tables outside - now that's efficient.

And we end up at Tapas Tree, where we lounge on cosy sofas and sip on sangrias that somehow don't taste of wine, but rather of a hard liquor (eps reckons its vodka cranberry), and chat as Eros Ramazotti plays in the background. So these people don't make sangria with wine and play Italian music. I doubt that the owners are from Spain.


The Wine Garage,
30 Merchant Road,
#01-07 Riverside Point
Tel: 6533 3188

The Tapas Tree
The Tapas Tree,
3D River Valley Rd,
#01-08 Clarke Quay,
Shop House Row
Tel: 6837 2938