When once I used to be an evolved Homo
sapien doing the savvy restaurant circuit, I am now reduced to being a
Kopitiam Neanderthal attempting my dinner-time runs around the coffeeshops near home.
So it comes as a pleasant surprise, nowadays, to stumble upon a nice place to
makan and chill-out. Where the old men at the other tables are not guzzling their Carlsbergs and tossing watermelon seed shells on the floor as they engage in bawdy, boisterious banter. That's so
cheena weekday.
I've heard about Wildrocket for about a year now. Located at the groundfloor of the Hangout Hotel up on Emily Hill. Opened by a 35 year old ex-lawyer turned
restaurateur. And a place to go to if you're a weary urbanite looking for some tranquil good food and yet shiver at the thought of straying too far from the comfort zone that is the arty-farty Bras Basah/Selegie/Bugis district.
You know the Emily Hill locale is really a super quaint and ethereal place with its undulating, San Francisco-like curves, shady casurina trees and its piece of prime real estate next to the outer confines of the Istana. But with a name like Wildrocket, you'd expect a funky little psychedelic joint on the 2nd Floor of one of the nice Conservation shophouses in the area. Instead, you get a contemporary-chic, Aussie-styled bistro within a Budget hotel. It crams 40 and can get a little squishy on a Saturday evening (when they have 2 dinner sittings) but I suppose partaking at such close quarters with reasonably good Oz-fare makes for a lovely, intimate evening with some wine-loving friends. Yes we pop-ed a mandatory bottle of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc while slurping the Crustacean-oil Linguine.
And I must recommend the Warm Chocolate Cake, oozing gorgeous brown lava and served with Vanilla ice-cream, which was simply divine.
Afterwards, we strolled over next door to Wildoats, a watering hole that shares its premises with an Art Gallery, Sculptor, Theatre School and Glass Artist in a stately old Colonial bungalow at the end of Upper Wilkie Road. Again, the
al fresco deck seating area, amongst the lush tropical foliage and beneath the stars, isn't a place you'll associate with sowing your wild oats. Erm...but then again...
Here we had another 3 glasses of Chilean Reds each. And in the balmy night air, with the soft sounds of cicadas all around us, we savoured one of the last places in our noisy city where you can at least take the D-I-N out of Dinner & Drinks.
Labels: Drinks, Food, Places