Gordon’s Grill - 18 November 2011

Well, it’s my turn to give a shot on the blog write-up for BMC lunch this week. It was such an effortless affair for the BMC soon-to-be official writer, Billy Choi to pass this responsibility to me, on the grounds that he has yet to be named the “Official One”.

Without further ado, let me introduce this week’s presidential-race candidate, Collin Cheong a.k.a. CC or Cameraman, whom we all knew from the very start would be powerless to mount a meaningful challenge. Why would someone as courteous as me (aka MG) make such a direct and uninspiring comment on an esteemed fellow club member? For this we will have to go back with a little history which needs to be shared with our dedicated BMC Blog followers as well as a refresher to the man himself. CC was initially hoping to be a president elect during our very first round of the bidding exercise for our 2011 presidential race. Back then, he was naive enough to believe that he could pull-off and out-bid all of us for the title with a mere S$480 check, held at Hide Yamamoto MBS. Nonetheless we give kudos to him for the effort given the fact that there were only 4 attendees which, broken down works to S$120 per pax. Soon after in a matter of 7 days, he was single-handedly out-witted (and more importantly outspent) by our current president-in-the-running, Jon Choo, A.K.A Juice with a S$500 check at Don Quixote @ Dempsey. Given the fact that CC even bothered to try, we thus gave him the accolade of “Tan Kin Lian” (aka “presidential also ran”) and this title has since lingered in his mind, and we believe it is likely to stay there for several years to come.

Enough of history lessons, let’s return to our main topic. This week’s BMC lunch was scheduled at Goodwood Park’s, Gordon’s Grill. I must admit that the name and location of the restaurant had already gotten our stomach growling. The restaurant is well and classily-decorated and was not too crowded when we arrived. We were greeted warmly by the staff, and the restaurant manager that served us was rather humorous, as we joked about where the escargots they served came from (pls read below).  

On opening the food menu, you will spot the photo and write up of the executive chef of Gordon Grill, which is interesting though I doubt anyone paid attention to it as we all headed straight to the food menu. Regrettably, the pay-master had his orders - limiting us only to the 3-course lunch set at S$48++, instead of the 4-course set at S$58++. Comfort was provided by CC as he conveyed his next message, which allowed only:

1. the current lead president-in-running (Jon),
2. the current lead VP-in-running (whom is designated as the 2nd highest bidder)
3. and himself (paymaster),

to be entitled to the special 4-course set. This gave me the aspiration to wrestle and retain my position as the lead VP-in-running! Owing to this invaluable recognition, I decided to give CC’s wallet a break and content myself with the 3-course set instead.

What I find unique about Gordon Grill is that their Appetiser and Soup courses come in sampler portions, which allow customers to get a taste of up to 3 different selections. (I’ll skip the bread description since it was ordinary and common butter was used.) 

The restaurant manager recommended us the 3 appetisers, roasted duck foie gras – which was pretty huge in size as compared to a goose’s but the taste was comparable, though we all agreed that Iggy’s still has the finest foie gras so far. Next is King Scallop, which was also pretty big. Though fresh, it was rather flavorless. Finally the Escargot, which was presumably air-flown from France (which I joking giggled mentioning softly that it was maybe picked from the Singapore River. The restaurant manager actually eavesdropped and responded that they were actually picked up from the garden outside.  I was like -_- ). Taste wise it was so-so, similar to chewing rubbery mushrooms and the garlic flavoring was too mild. I would recommend our followers to try Le Carillon’s (at Ann Siang Road) if they prefer stronger garlic-flavored Escagots. 

Out of the 7 Appetiser selections, I had the privilege to try out 6 of them (The other 3 are samplings from other BMC member’s dish). The Pasta was average as I couldn’t really taste any crab meat nor truffle oil.  The langoustine was more impressive, taken raw, it was fresh and juicy. After all they belong to the lobster/prawn family, how wrong can it get? The Wagyu beef was delightfully presented like a raw-beef bun, but I was not really able to differentiate it with ordinary beef, as it was served raw and the portion I had was rather small.

Next up was the Soup Samplers. Likewise, the recommendation given was Lobster Bisque, French Onion and Soupe du Jour (A.K.A Soup of the Day) combo. Personally I like the lobster bisque as I’m not usually a fan of this soup in most restaurants as I find it served rather too salty. The one served here I felt was just nice and drinkable. The French onion was simple yet good, with a few slices of onion within the clear soup.  The Soupe du Jour is a mash potato soup akin to KFC’s whipped potato but of course a much nicer version. The other soup I managed to try was the mushroom cappuccino, which I thought was too watery as I always prefer mushroom soups that are thick with chunky pieces of mushrooms in it. Nonetheless, it was satisfactory. Lastly the poultry consommé, for which the presentation I felt was a little poor, with some childish ball-like carrots and I think the remaining colored ones were corn and onion as I didn’t had a go at it.  Taste wise it was like any consommé, nothing fantastic.

The main I chose was US beef fillet with braised beef cheeks, since we are all-beef lovers (not because we are cheapos who tend to choose the most value-for-money dish) and it was also highly recommended. The beef fillet served was nicely medium-grilled and semi-juicy. For beef-lovers that don’t like fatty parts, this would be a perfect dish as the meat was quite lean. The cheeks were more of a highlight for this dish as it was very tender, resembling a melt-in-your-mouth sensation. Portion and presentation wise it was good, with a slap of mash potato, topped with a pair of carrot and asparagus sticks and brown sauce all-over.

I didn’t manage to try the lamb chops as I wasn’t offered any by our dear “never-look” or rather “unable-to-look-at-girls” member, Dann. For whatever immoral reasons he doesn’t consume beef. This may be the reason why he did not share the lamb with us since everyone else chose beef, and so if he offered, there would be no exchange…. what a realistic world we all live in!

The lunch set concluded with a complimentary coffer or tea selection. As usual, our one-of-a-kind member, Jason, a.k.a. Businessman or BMW 640 man, asked for a soft drink but was rejected (we will always remember the Sin Huat incident). Nothing extraordinary on the tea and coffee that was served, but the raw-sugar stick that comes with the beverage was quite a novelty.

Damage for the week’s BMC lunch was only S$339. This comes to about S$56.5 per pax which given all the various dishes we were entitled to sample coupled with the overall dining experience, was rather worth it. We agreed that this would be a place we would consider returning to, especially so since we have yet to try the Ala Carte menu.

Thanks for reading and I hope I will not be tasked to write again. Signing off…

MG.