Providence: Dinner at L'artisan Bistro & Bar with new friend!

After being virtual friends who reads each others' blogs for a couple of years, June and I finally met on Monday!~ We first got acquainted on a ladies' forum , and from there we moved on to reading each others' blogs to being friends on Facebook :) It seems all like a natural progression that we should meet in reality.

Friends who knows me well will know that I don't usually click so easily with another girl. It's really not difficult not to enjoy June's company as we have a lot of things in common. We're both Teochew, we both have a god daughter each and we enjoy eating! That's just some of the things we have in common :)

At first we were quite apprehensive about the meeting as what if we have nothing to talk about? Even thought I have met new friends from the net countless times ( since the days of IRC ...zzz ) I still have my reservations each and every time :) I guess our worries were unfounded as the conversation flowed very smoothly! We were like two old time good friends :D

Oh, before I rattle on and on... we met on Monday for dinner at a small restaurant tucked next to a * ahem* massage parlour at Orchard Towers.

It is run by a couple
and the boss who's German has
been in Singapore for 31 yrs :)

It is a small set up,
and being a Monday night,
there weren't many people
which makes it good for a cosy dinner
between two friends
* this is the work/kitchen area*

The restaurant

It took me a while to decide what to eat...and in the end, I decided to be adventurous.
I ate raw beef :P

Okay, hold on to that thought..

Before our main course, we were served a basket of complimentary bread

We also ordered the mushroom soup
Quite nice but i guess it was a little watery

This is Beef Tartare
Wanna know what is it and how it is prepared?
Read on...

Here's a simple explanation I 'ripped' from Wiki

Beef tartare or Steak tartare is a meat dish made from finely chopped or minced raw beef^[1] (or horse meat in Switzerland). Tartare can also be made by thinly slicing a high grade of meat such as strip steak, marinating it in wine or other spirits, spicing it to taste, and then chilling it. It is often served with onions, capers and seasonings (the latter typically incorporating fresh ground pepper and Worcestershire sauce), sometimes with a raw egg, and often on rye bread.

This is a German dish, but other cultures such as Japanese and Koreans eat raw beef too. Another raw beef dish would be Yukhoe, a korean dish.

ok..back to my main course....

The rather stern looking boss asked which Tabasco sauce I prefer and i said the normal mild one. Kinda regretted, should have asked for the hot one.. :P The dish actually tasted quite nice.. there were lots of chopped onions mixed inside...and i love onions :) it's almost like eating sashimi :p

The boss was actually quite friendly. He even had a chat with us.. it was monday night after all.. a slow night for restaurants and shopping malls.

As June is still coughing, it's best
she eats light.. so she chose the cod fish

The sauce is very nice..
The cod rested on a bed of french black lentils..
goes well with the fish.
* we asked where can we find the lentils in singapore
and boss said not likely as he imports them *