A Well-Deserved Celebration

We figured the occasion called for a celebration. Deposit on new flat was put down in early January 2010. Legal completion of the sale and purchase was only in end July 2010. Almost 7 months of waiting - quite painful waiting at times it seems.

So when we figured handed over the cashier's order for the 6-figure final payment, we went all out to have a good meal at OChre at Orchard Central, a contemporary Italian restaurant.

This was a 6-course meal, with a sorbet palate cleanser also

counting as one course! It ended up being a rather expensive dinner, with an additional 2 glasses of wine and a limonata. We had a fresh tuna sashimi starter with tapenade and a tiny bit of salad. Very delicious even for a non olive lover. The tomato broth was next. It was light and thin with a mussel and 2 little clams. I had to add some freshly ground black pepper to take the fishy smell off. But overall it was still tasty.

I had the risotto with parma ham while G had orecchiette in a tomato-based sauce which actually tasted like the tuna pasta that he frequently makes for a quick dinner. Both the risotto and the pasta was slightly undercooked and although edible, both dishes would have been much better if cooked for a bit longer. A bit of a

disappointment in texture altho the flavours were quite good for mine.

My main course was the herb-crusted lamb chops. They weren't very big but they were extremely delicious. I like the daikon strip too for its somewhat unique and almost bitter-sweet taste.

G had the fish as his main course.

And finally it's dessert time. Mine was a pretty berry

compote on a fromage texture sort of pudding while G's was an expresso gelato on a creme caramel. Mine was very good and G tried to trade but I was generous (and too full) and shared mine with him without even a taste of his. Coffee and tea came along with the meal, G's expresso was fine but my latte was not up to standard so I didn't finish it and saved the calories!

So all in, a well-deserved celebration. Now we wait for another 3 weeks where we will treat ourselves to another celebration when we physically get the keys.