THE Pier at Robertson Quay draws an after-work crowd looking for good food and a relaxed ambience for dinner, but there's no reason to wait till sundown to drop by the popular eateries there.
Especially not when Brussels Sprouts has started a set lunch deal of $19.90++ on the weekdays.
The set comprises a starter, a main course and dessert or coffee/tea and it's pretty good value given what we tasted last week. Portions were just right for lunch as well, enough to fill one up without putting too much of a pinch on your waistband. The day we dropped by for a taster, the soup of the day was pumpkin, the type that's churned in the blender and creamed up just a little so it's an appetising, not-too-heavy starter. The other starter choice was golden brown prawn tempura, a generous handful, with just the right breaded crunch to them.
Sausage pasta with Hunter sauce and cod fillet are the two choices for mains put on the menu, one supposes, with masculine and feminine preferences in mind. Both are better-than-average choices, the handmade sausage providing a good, hearty bite, nicely complemented by the pasta swirls in savoury brown sauce.
The fish was just barely seasoned, done just right, and the bed of buttery mashed potato it sat on made the dish a tad richer.
Since we were a party of four, we decided we could indulge a little and got a few starter-sized ($18) pots of mussels to share as well - the special is classic, with celery, onion, parsley, butter and black pepper gravy; while the provencal (tomato, garlic, red capsicum, rosemary, olive oil and parmesan) is another appealing version. The mussels were done just right and tender to the bite, not the rubbery type that one has come to expect since they're often over-cooked.
The dessert that came with the set was the regular-sized version, to our surprise - a yummy bread and butter pudding topped with Speculoos ice-cream. We definitely thought our lunch was good value, with the quiet and laid-back ambience and view of the river an added bonus to the afternoon.
Brussels Sprouts 80, Mohd Sultan Road
The Pier @ Robertson, #01-12.
Tel: 6887-4344
Rating: 7/10
