Amuse Bar & Global Tapas

the most impressive dish we had — and their most famous: an egg wrapped in crispy ciabatta and topped with ham. a modernesque blumenthalesque rendition of a ham-​and-​egg-​sammie with unctous yolk and proper ham, served over truffled jus and spinach: terrifically good. if the rest of the meal had followed in this vein, it would have been amazing — but it didn’t.
the restaurant is done up in black and red — modern colours rather in line with the robuchon chain, but which I think looks a little gaudy in the daytime. it was empty when we arrived (rendering my reservation unnecessary), and there was a single waitress who recommended everything on the menu — not a good sign.
we paid too much for the entire meal — in contrast, I think the egg was well-​worth it, even reasonably-​priced — and were pretty glad we went easy on the ordering. it’s also a good thing there were no celebratory aspirations staked on this meal. not worth coming to, unless merely for the eggs.

This is a review of a Wednesday evening dinner date at Amuse by Armin Leitgeb.
This is one of the restaurants at the Orchard Hotel. However, it is entered via the outside.
I found the ambiance to be a bit cold, metaphorically. It also felt as more of an annex to Esmirada than being it’s own space. Amuse was not very busy. I am not even sure if there was another party. However, noise clearly bled over from Esmirada, which was much busier. The red colours and large mural do provide a distinct Spanish feel.
The staff was friendly and helpful. The food was brought to the table at a reasonable pace. My only real negative is a personal pet peeve. They did not have the bottle of wine (from the wine list) I requested. In itself, this is not the issue. I ordered a $ 120 Tuscan red wine. Their suggested replacement was a $ 150 Tuscan wine (same winery). To me, it felt like an up-​sell. I think when suggesting a replacement bottle of wine, the restaurant should stay within a 10% range of the original wine’s cost. While there is no commitment to order the suggested wine, it is a bit uncomfortable to say no. This was not a significant issue but I thought it was worth noting.
There was a significant positive. The chef came out and asked how our meal was. I have to say I am never really sure what to say when the chef asks and I know the food has not met expectations. I do not dine out with the expectation of insulting a chef’s work. It was a nice gesture though.
The food ranged from mediocre to good. Unfortunately, there were more negatives than positives.
Bread Basket with tomato salsa — This was not complimentary bread. It was also very average and there was nothing that made it stand out It was a basic herb focaccia. The tomato salsa was overly sweet. Many restaurants provide more appetizing bread as a complimentary start to the meal.
CK’s Crispy Chicken Wings served with kimchi garlic sauce — As the title suggests, these are crispy wings. In presentation, they are not dissimilar from friend chicken found in fast food restaurants. The taste was decidedly on the sweet side (before dipping sauce). From a personal taste standpoint, I simply did not like them. However, I am sure others probably do. Also, on the inside, they were quite pink and bordering on undercooked.
Char Grilled Wagyu Cubes cooked in hay — These were tasty and went well with the provided sauce. However, they were also slightly tough. Plus, from the heat of the meat, the lettuce was beginiing to wilt. I strongly prefer crisp greens. Considering the price ($ 39), the portion was quite small.
Lamb Burger — My dinner date ordered the lamb burger. I did not try it. She seemed to like the taste but mentioned the ground lamb was overly soft.
Grilled Secreto Iberico + cassoulet — The pork itself was delightful. It had that strong, distinct, salty flavour that I love in pork. The cassoulet was a miss. There was too much soup and not enough beans. However, that was not the real issue with the dish. While many of the beans were cooked very well, there were others (or something else) in the dish that were very hard and when bitten into turned into a very gritty (almost sandy) texture in my mouth. I finally decided to simply stop eating it.
Amuse does not offer a dessert menu. They only had one dessert. We decided to go for it. Each of us ordered it. The dessert was prepared to order. It was simple (fruit and a bread) but it was actually quite refreshing. Sometimes simplicty is the best. The bread was quite nice with just the right hint of sweetness. The fruit was fresh. The presentation was also quite nice and allowed the ingredients to shine through.
Receipt (320.15):
Overall — I know restaurants have off nights. This may have been the case with Amuse by Armin Leitgeb. Both of us were very underwhelmed with the food. There just seemed to be basic mistakes in the execution. For me, the indoors seating is more casual lunch than dinner out on the town. There is an al fresco area that, on a less rainy night, looked as if it might provide a cosier setting for dinner. In the end, I do not expect that either of us will choose to return to Amuse.

If eating is an art, then the subject matter within the artwork that acquaints with its diners has to have distinctive characters that display charm. While everybody bears many different perspectives for the food they mesmerized, the culinary artist defines and conceptualizes his art piece based on a doctrine in near proximity to his soul. His love for the artistic creation could be so strong that each piece he created yield consistent elements, with clear expression linking to his intent.
I was quite impressed with the quality of the produces and warm hospitality on my first visit. I decided to make a return the moment I left the door, that ended with a handshake. The chatty young chef clad in black; perfumed in confidence — made good effort building rapport with his guests, carefully detailing each ingredients. Unquestionable, this is the place to mark the celebration of V birthday since she enjoys chilling out.
The chef drum up the celebration by pairing up 2 of his little snacks — Endive Salad with Marinated Salmon, into 1 single art piece. He went on lyricizing the possible inclusion in the dish, if salmon didn’t make it to the plate. How fantasizing. But this one presented was not any loser, it has the same consistency of freshness in the fish meat, the crisp and less bitter small head creamed colored endive leaves, with that nutty note from the chopped walnuts mingled within the sweet spherical cherry tomatoes. The matchmaker, then dressed them with the right proportion of balsamic mix — another good news to healthy eating.
We were upbeat about the food they gobbled up in that see through kitchen while waiting, and decided to ask if we could taste them. Very obliging, a stiff looking mini cast iron pot was pull out from the kitchen, within which, we saw graceful prime ribs forested with watercress being delivered without question. Extremely homely, everyone seems to enjoy the robust flavor of the soup and digging into the fork-​tender ribs.
The meal couldn’t be completed without a fowl when it is an old favorite of A. I remembered falling in love with the roasted french quarter leg the first time at Amuse but the chemistry seems weaker the second time. I wasn’t sure of my feelings for it now, because my partner now has a much developed and trained thorax — the chicken breast. I still enjoyed the clean unadulterated taste & freshness in the meat and sensing that blistering crisp skin in each bite, but it has lost most of its moisture, though not entirely tad dry. I figured its unfair to make comparison between my 2 partners since the belong to different segments. The only failure I admit, is my inability to seize the tastiest part of this baby, which I lost them to the 2 ladies. Now, they barely speak to me, reserving time for their newly found love.
I think the Grilled Hamachi «Kama» has steal the limelight from the rest, under the category of Fish & Seafood. Commonly seen in the sushi joint but often not receiving much attention, this yellow fish collar has found another wonderland to display its formidable being. We have undivided ratings on this gifted piece. Everyone agrees on the robust fatty flavor emit from the meat, its freshness and a hint of nice smokey scent underneath its charred skin. The flesh can be easily maneuvered within the large bones without much concern. Instead of a few lemon wedges, the lardy flavor further stood out with a dab of lime salt accompanied. The dish is a brilliant outcome from Amuse kitchen, but I felt they could perfect the meat with a shorter grilling time for a more succulent texture. Until then, it will be unbeatable.
The next iconic serving was the highly regarded acorn-​fed free range black Iberian pigs, Spain — Iberico pork loin in its oven-​roasted form. Say good bye to your boring chops, you will be addicted to this 80%, lightly pink specimen. Presenting it on a wooden serving board, the chef proudly set it aflame which he called the stunt — sexy. When the glory diminished, the stage is set to reveal that glossy partially-​browned surface — so tantalizing. He starts to dissect the loin into small mouth piece — performing the plating service all by himself. Well, I will give extra credit to him, very generous on my part. I received my share with a few slices of that lean meat marbled in fats. The first bite was electrifying, with our heart and mouth work in tandem. The palate received the cheeriness from the browned bits on the surface before greeted by the more desire pink in the middle. The texture was magnificent — buttery soft and unbelievably juicy that burst and filmed your lips. Its rich taste is further accentuated by the caraway jus, spicing up without an overcast. The contrast in texture between the border and the interior excites our palate, I guess that was the beauty of pan-​seared oven-​roasted method — tenderizing the cut without drying out. This is surely a gem hidden under the chef sleeves, when he told me its off the menu.

restaurant week is upon us and if you make this one of your choices, I’m sure you’ll be amused.
being part of the esmirada group of restaurants, they also happen to be situated side by side.
nice décor with the injection of liveliness through colours and huge paintings.
one particular wait staff was obviously clueless.
more about her later.
we were seated at the bar counter, rather cramped but acceptable.
ala carte menu, restaurant week set menu and drinks menu were presented.
i ordered the sangria which i found a little on the bitter side due to too much rind and not enough fruits.
this was saved only by happy hour price of $ 7 instead of $ 14.
one order of ‘a little bit of everything’ comes presented on a wooden board.
a selection of their cured meats, cheeses, mince quince, grapes and breads.
everything except the joselito iberico grand reserva, for obvious reason.
another ala carte ‘little snack’ we ordered was the beef tartare in a filo cone.
colour, texture, taste all bundled into a small delicious package.
then came the ala carte chilli crab man tou.
not as thick in consistency as the chinese style chilli crab but it tasted spicy with big chunky pieces of whole crab meat.
a perfect sauce for dipping the deep fried man tou in.
the restaurant week set menu comes with a roasted pumpkin soup with sauteed prawns, a spicy angel hair pasta with mussels and finally a crispy fried kurobuta pork belly.
all that for only $ 35.
the soup was outstanding. creamy, thick, tasty with texture from croutons, pumpkin seeds and plump sauteed prawns.
pasta was slighlty over cooked but mussel was just right and juicily sweet.
the main was a nice brown crisp on the outside with a tender and hot belly meat within. the accompanying braised cabbage was a little too sour for my liking though.
the ala carte chef Armin’s signature crispy pork croûton with iberico pork belly was a real treat indeed!
a crispy flat piece of pork croûton lays on top of 2 cubes of iberico pork belly surrounded by a dijon mustard dressing sauce and topped of with horseradish shavings and greens.
a work of epicurean architecture.
the shavings of horseradish really liven up the dish together with the dijon mustard dressing.
and back to the clueless wait staff.
she must be new and was not serving her section well.
me included but i can see how the chef at the bar and the manager was trying so hard to cover for her and doing service recovery, where possible.
a grumpy and nasty patron seating beside us was obviously very upset by her lack of and poor service.
attempts at offering complimentary champagne was rebuffed by him demanding another fresh glass of bubbly.
the manager took it in his stride and replaced it accordingly.
the bar chef also took it upon himself to wait on us even though it was obviously beyond his scope of duties.
plus points for the two of them.