don't skip town

Had been meaning to have a look at Townhouse since J mentioned it sometime ago. Located above Molly Malone, it offers bar food as well as a proper sit-down dinner menu.

I climbed the stairs and peered into the room at the right, where there was a smattering of noises and voices, half-expecting T to be there. Then I hear someone call out my name and turn around to see a waiter gesturing to follow him into the room on the left. It was quiet - a stark contrast to next door, dimly lit by star-clustered light bulbs and tealights on the tables, dark plushy seats lined the walls, and intimate little tables for two. A nice place for a romantic dinner. Too bad I was meeting two girlfriends. Still it was like having our own private dining room, that is, until two guys were seated in the room as well.

While waiting for the third person in the party, T and I started on a tapas platter ($15) and duck rillettes with baguette ($12). The warm bread arrived in a little basket, and the olive oil was to be slathered on with a brush. Cute.

The wine we had originally selected, a pinot noir from France, was out of stock - the waiter explaining that they were to unleash a new, probably equally hefty winelist soon - so he recommended another pinot noir, from New Zealand, from a vineyard called Matua ($75). Very light and fruity, very drinkable. Quite an enjoyable wine that one.

We shared two mains - a rabbit stew and a beef bourguignon. The rabbit was delicious - accompanied with a creamy herb sauce and a dab of mashed potato. But the beef chunks were a tad bit tough. I definitely preferred the wee rabbit. I just wanted to soak up all the sauce with the bread - pity I was feeling so full.

Although somehow managed to find a space for dessert - then again, there's always space for dessert - and we shared the lemon tart. The tart base was hard. Hard as in, it required a hard stab and a violent twist before the desired piece could be dislodged. Too bad. It was looking so pretty and all. The lemon layer was nice though, not too tart.

Service was polite, efficient and I like that he would occasionally pop his head into the room to check if we needed anything, so there was no need to get up from the seat and wander across to find some help.

I really liked the cosiness and the warmth of the room, but it was really quiet. No music played at all and when conversation ends, as conversations do, it is met with stark silence.


Townhouse Wine Bar
56 Circular Road.
Tel: 6236-5724