IF YOU look at how well places like Dempsey Hill and Rochester Park are doing, you would think that restaurants just need an interesting location and a nice ambience to attract the crowds.
Often, food is secondary.
If that is so, then Suburbia can expect to be a success as well.
The two-week-old restaurant, run by the people behind the Wine Network bar in Dempsey Road, is housed in an old monorail station on Sentosa, although you would never guess by the looks of it.
Located at a road junction near Spa Botanica, the old Ficus Station - named after a landmark ficus tree nearby - is now a two-storey restaurant with an air-conditioned dining room on the upper floor. That will be open only next month, when the restaurant is officially launched.
For now, diners can only sit in the ground- floor dining area. It has no walls and there are some tables spilling out onto alfresco sections outdoors.
A high ceiling and plenty of fans, plus good ventilation, ensure that the place is cool and pleasant, however. Air-conditioning was certainly not missed during my two dinners there last week.
Instead, the mood was languid and romantic as the place is still pretty quiet. The views are of rolling lawns on one side and the green of the Sentosa Golf Club on the other, with some of the plants - including the ficus tree - lit up dramatically.
I reckon the place would be much warmer in the day, but the restaurant will start lunch only after its official launch. And by then, you can retreat to the air-conditioned room upstairs.
The restaurant, helmed by chef Odin Fu, who previously worked in hotels including his last posting in Taiwan, serves a contemporary European menu that does not look too challenging to either the imagination or the palate.
There are mostly tried-and-tested favourites such as mushroom cappuccino, crab linguine and rack of lamb Provencal.
The cooking, however, ranges from good to mediocre to poor.
Among the good stuff are seafood items such as the grilled king prawns ($32) and lobster thermidor ($52), both of which are fresh and succulent.
The lobster is also easy to eat, with the meat cut into pieces and sauteed in a creamy shellfish sauce before being stuffed back into the shell and topped with hollandaise sauce and parmesan cheese. It then goes into the oven and the cheese turns into a golden crust enveloping the moist pieces of shellfish.
Desserts here are excellent too, including a tiramisu ($14) that might just bring the Italian creation back into vogue.
The confection is moist enough to be soft and fluffy without being wet. And it comes not with a coat of cocoa powder, like in most versions, but a more crumbly chocolate that reminds me of broken-up Oreo cookies.
The strawberry and rhubarb cheese trifle ($14) is also moist and soft, and richly satisfying.
The meats generally pass muster, with the rack of lamb Provencal ($34) among the better offerings.
It is tender and moist, though the herb crust is rather characterless. But the lamb comes with a lot of vegetables, which is good. Besides grilled eggplant and beans, there are also pieces of sun-dried tomato to add flavour, plus a side serving of paper-thin potato crisps.
The honey spiced duck breast ($34) is tasty but the meat is too tough. Otherwise, it would have been a winner, especially with its unusual accompaniments, including a slice of charbroiled pineapple and mushroom risotto.
Falling into the bad category are the soups.
There are three on the menu: lobster bisque ($12), seafood bouillabaisse ($12) and mushroom cappuccino ($10). All suffer from a stock that lacks complexity, which the chef tries to compensate with an inordinate amount of salt.
The bisque and the cappuccino also appear to be over-thickened with flour.
If the chefs could just work out the kinks, Suburbia would certainly be a destination worth leaving the city for.
SUBURBIA 30 Allanbrooke Road, Sentosa,
Tel: 6376-5938
Open: 3 to 10pm (Sundays to Thursdays), 3 to 10.30pm (Fridays, Saturdays and eve of public holidays)
Food: ***
Service: ***
Ambience: ****
Price: Budget from $70 per person http://www.suburbia.com.sg/
For now, diners can only sit in the ground- floor dining area. It has no walls and there are some tables spilling out onto alfresco sections outdoors.
