Thursday 30 October 2014

An evening with SET

It's interesting to come across restaurants that serves only set meals. When I first heard about SET, I wondered if only set meals were served, and true enough, they only serve sets. I don't usually fancy that because of the fixed and constrained dish choices. But I gave it a go. 

The restaurant was beautifully embellished and tucked in POMO Mall at Selegie Road. It recently opened its doors in August 2014 and the owners were formerly from TAO's eating place formerly located at POMO too. It serves contemporary fusion cuisine at affordable prices.

5 course SET lunch - $28.80++
6 course SET dinner - $38.80++

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SET
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Nicely embellished

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Menu

Upon looking at the menu, I'm comforted by the various flexibility offered. And since we were kindly invited to this food tasting session, their manager suggested to try everything! Though they have kids menu, we decided not to overwhelm our table and share our courses with the kids. Set meal for kids is at $18.80 ++ for 4-course - Chef starter, soup, main course and dessert. We were very well hosted and definitely well fed. While waiting for our courses to be served, we were given some toast, and simple it may be, they tasted really good.

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Toasts!

The chef starter was mushroom and bacon cheese gratin. It was a perfect combination, I thought. Jazz gave it thumbs up too! Just get the kids to be cautious because it comes piping hot.

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Yummy!

After which the cold dishes were served. They were all interestingly created - fusion and contemporary defines it all. Or perhaps, unconventional in just a word.

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Top left to right then bottom right to left: Huai san carpaccio, Tomato caprese, Salmon gravlax and smoked duck breast 


I would never imagined huai san being served this way, topped with beetroot and fruits, tasted seemingly like peach to me. It gave an interesting taste which was pretty decent. I honestly think the cold dishes were good, and very much to personal liking. Tomato caprese was cheesy light, salmon gravlax and smoked duck were very much to whether you like your dish raw or smoked. Smoked wasn't much to my liking, but the man liked it.

Of all, my favourite was the prawn roll with pork floss. I love it! Being newly introduced, it wasn't on the menu. Glad that we managed to try it.

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Prawn roll with pork floss

Coming to the soup, 4 different kinds of soup were dished to our table. They are probably the best representation of east meets west. You sure know where to dine when friends are of different appetite mood.

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Top left to right then bottom right to left: Roasted pumpkin with truffle, miso soup with sake, mushroom veloute with peanut butter and double boiled herbal chicken

Any creamy soup works perfect for me, and the portion was just perfect for my creamy crave. An overdose on that creamy stuff might just kill my appetite, glad these were appetizing. The pumpkin soup adds a unique taste with that splash of truffle, if you aren't into truffle, avoid it. The man didn't like it, he thought the truffle tasted like propane! His favourite was the double boiled herbal chicken. Which was solid good! Mushroom soup was rich with that teeny bit of peanut butter, remember to give it a good stir. The miso soup was a tad disappointing because we couldn't really taste sake in it. But I guess it was intended to have that delicate lightness of sake in it. In any case, we avoided giving the kids. 

Before moving to the mains, on the 6 course set, it included a side, which was grilled king oyster mushroom with foam truffle. I thought more options could be given to the side, as not everyone loves mushroom. In our family, we do! In fact oyster mushrooms appears often in our home cooked food. So of course, this side was grilled to perfection. Not over grilled, just nice and juicy. Jazz had the most of it, she loves mushrooms!

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Top left to right, then bottom left to right: Grilled king oyster mushroom, baby pork back ribs, grilled snapper with salsa, rosted chicken pullet, marinated rack of lamb and roasted beef tenderloin.

The cold dishes, soup, side and dessert were more impressive than the mains. Although not all mains 'wow-ed' us, as compared to the previous serves, there were still some of our favourites. I loved the marinated rack of lamb, while the man love the roasted beef tenderloin. Cooking a good slab of lamb to perfection isn't easy, this worked out to be of the right taste and texture for us. The beef were medium done, and of great taste and texture too.

On the other side, the snapper wasn't as good. I find it too tough for a fish, seemingly over grilled. Chicken was slightly better, but average tasting. The baby pork back ribs was not too bad, I love it that it was cooked to great softness. Nonetheless, they explained that they are working to improve on some of the mains. They are in search for other fish suppliers. So yeap, I think giving them a little more time will give us better treats.

It was a mountain of food for 2 adults and 2 kids! That was just how hospitable they were, and the service was excellent. We were very stuffed, but knew we needed desserts to end that evening sweet.

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Top left to right, then bottom left to right: Huai san jello, Pistacho pana cotta, espresso creme brulee, poached pear with gelato and homemade cake of the day.

The huai san jello was actually cheng ting jello with chucks of huai san in it. A good blend of taste. Pistacho pana cotta was not to bad as well, so was the paoched pear. Poached pear had a rather unique taste which tasted somehow like preserved plum to me, but it was 'marinated' in red wine. An acquired taste, I guess. Homemade cake was pretty average and what blew me off was the espresso creme brulee. I'm a huge fan of creme brulee, but yet to come across such combination. It was awesome! 

We were given lemon ginger tea to 'detox' before calling it total quits. We were so well-fed to the neck, that I could hardly see my toes just by overlooking the bulging tummy. I sure need some workout plan. It was a great meal indeed.

For being a fairly new start up, I think the progress and standards achieved this far were very commendable. Will definitely step in to check out their menu months later. It has a very nice ambience is for dining too.

While waiting for your hunger pangs to be fulfilled, don't be shy to approach the servers for photography. They were quick to offer us some shots the moment we whipped out our camera.

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Awaiting our food

SET contemporary cuisine
Address:
1 Selegie Road, POMO #02-01 Singapore 188306 
Opening hours:
11:30 AM to 10:00 PM
Phone:
6337 7644


Disclaimer: We were given the opportunity for a food tasting session with SET. All opinions and photos are solely our own. 

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