Heard some friends raving about this place and about how fantastic the food was, so naturally, had to go and pay it a visit. Must say, it really was value for the price – $39.80++ and $59.80++ for a 6 or 7 course set respectively. And the food really was pretty good! Not as fabulous as I had expected though, as the vivid descriptions by my friends had given me extremely high hopes for the place.

And they were so kind as to give us our own little room (at our request, but still). Since I was early, I was sitting by myself, twiddling my thumbs. The wait staff were really nice about it, coming in regularly to check on me, ask if the temperature was alright, and give me cute snacks and tea.

They were really nice, crunchy and addictive to munch on – a good distraction. The restaurant also gave us a complimentary shot of refreshing plum sorbet.

And then my friends finally arrived, and we proceeded to have our 6 course meal. We started with the Chef’s Seasonal Assorted Platter, which consisted of a serving of smoked salmon and some sort of cream, grilled scallop with asparagus and some sort of emulsion, and foie gras. Pretty good, but found the scallop a tad bland.

It seems that it is a practice of the restaurant to describe each dish – it might be a little annoying for the impatient, hungry person who just wants to eat, but it was fine with me as it was quite interesting.

And then on to starters. I had the Foie Gras Chawanmushi Topped with Black Truffle Slice… sounds strange but was actually really good! The foie gras was blended into the smooth egg and the taste was evenly distributed throughout the dish. Yummyyyyyy.

Next course, soup. I had the Infusion of Cepes Mushroom and Truffle, which was GOOOOD. Essentially it was just cream of mushroom, but they were generous with the mushrooms, so the soup was thick and rich with mushroomy goodness. And truffle is just great with anything, really. Mmm.

And now, finally, we moved to the main dish. I chose the Pork Cheek Crusted with Herbs – it was not bad, but I had been looking forward to the juicy, succulent, melt-in-your-mouth pork which I was told about…. so it was a slight disappointment. Still pretty good, though. But after having the most awesome caramelized pork breast in a Michelin starred restaurant in France (okay only 1, but still), it’s kind of hard to match up.

My friends’ comments on their food was something along the line of ‘not bad!’, I think.

Time for dessert! Hard to go wrong with warm chocolate cake, and the cake itself was pretty decent, with dark chocolate which flowed out happily when cut. Maybe it’s personal preference, but how can they not use vanilla bean ice cream?! Minus points for that, tsk. Ended the meal with a refreshing fruity drink. They have a few other choices for this too but I went with the mixed fruits one. Good for cleansing the palette!

The restaurant definitely has a multitude of selections for each course, and one can be seriously confounded by the number of choices presented. That said, it presents one with a happy problem, and it actually feels kind of nice to have many courses to enjoy. Quality of the food is good too, hence making the many courses worth the time (and the stomach space).

I’d say try it; with great tasting food, value for money and attentive service, this place is definitely worth trying. I’d probably go back again sometime when there’s an occasion!

———————————————————-

Dozo Restaurant
491 River Valley Road
#02-02/03, Valley Point
Singapore 248371
Tel: 6838 6966
Website: http://dozo.com.sg/index.html