It's almost Christmas and celebrations has started for many. 3 food loving colleagues and I escaped our hectic work day by having a mid week Christmas Feast. We went to Halia at Raffles Hotel to try the Communal Feast.
Have you realised that most of us love sharing our food? We will order and then portion up what we have and distribute to each other? This Communal Feast is designed for those of us who love to share food. It's quite a feast too! If you scroll all the way down, I have included the full menu for you to salivate.
All of us have stories to tell and as we dine with different people, we get to know each other more. On our drive in colleague's car to Raffles Hotel he was telling us that he had his first legal drink at Raffles Hotel, treated by his brother. Another female colleague said she would not have remembered because she had too many 'illegal' ones before she turned 18. Shall not say more to protect our privacy.
Anyway, they were also talking about Seah Street Deli and how they miss the place. Guess what? I told them Halia is where Seah Street Deli used to be! Just with better food! haha....
The Candy Cane (Sprite and Mint Tea based) and The Grinch (Midori and Lime Juice).
There are 2 cocktails and 2 mocktails in the special menu. Somehow as people love to take photographs to instragram, fb or tweet it, everyone ordered a different drink! Does that happen to your friends too?
White Christmas (Baileys, Kahlua, Apricot Brandy, Milk and Syrup).
Santa's Hot Chocolate.
Dinner started with a selection of breads that was quite addictive. Each of us had our own favourite and we reminded ourselves not to ask for more. pace, pace..... don't stuff ourself with bread.
Chef's Soup
Chef's soup was tomato soup with herb oil. It was a very tangy soup, that's quite appetizing.
Some felt it was too sharp, but most thought it was good.
Brussels Sprouts
This pretty dish is made from Brussels Sprouts! Grilled Brussels Sprouts and Brussels Sprouts Slaw. It was very tasty, I love the whole grilled ones while another colleague liked the slaw. It's served with dried iberico that's also very addictive, so crunchy and tasty it makes you wish they had more of it. The spiced almonds were also tasty.
Prawn Cocktails
This was another very nice starter. They had horseradish on it and so be careful when you have it. You will be quite awake after eating it! A nice spicy touch on the tip of the tongue that goes well with the piquant mayo and crisp salad.
Goats Cheese Mousse.
This was also a pretty dish that everyone just had to photograph it. Two artistic blobs of goat cheese mousse. The goat cheese had been mixed with cream cheese and wild honey they sourced from Hanoi. It goes very well, even if you do not really take cheese, try it, it's good.
I loved the heirloom tomatoes they serve with the cheese. They had also sprinkled olive 'soil' around and with pieces of toasted brioche.
Potato Fries
If you have dined here, you know these are very tasty fries. Served with truffle aoili and piquant mayo. Really addictive, and I say it again, very addictive! A colleague was eating it non stop and saying it's so nice.
We love how they paced our food and serve the sides at the correct timing too.These fries goes well with the goat cheese mousse too!
Yellowfin Tuna Loin
My 2nd most favourite of the night was this seared tuna loins. They only seared the sides and it's rare inside. So tasty with the smoked avocado puree and chopped red peppers and dried apricots. It's very well balanced in taste.
I wonder if they have this in their regular menu, I will just eat this as my mains the next time I am here.
Sides of meslun salad with tomato, cucumber and feta.
It's nice but with the yummier stuff, this was a filler and a palate cleanser. We can't wait for more food to be served!
Sides of Skinny Beans and Portobello.
I am a skinny beans person and these were really nicely done. All of us were so amazed with the portobello! It was so so delicious. The tastiest of the 3 sides in the menu!
House Smoked Duck Breast
Another photogenic course. It was a very delicious smoked duck. We did really hope we had more of it. Served with a very smooth parsnip mash.
We were all talking about eating habits and someone said parsnip is called ugly pale carrot in their home. LOL! We must find out how they make it so tasty!
Sous Vide Wagyu Rump
A colleague just before this has been asking the rest of us if we are already full, if yes, he will gladly devour this himself. I love sous vide meats especially beef. My number one dish of the night.
The beef was tender, moist and nicely seared outside with a sprinkle of coarse salt that I could taste. Awesome! The mash potato has been infused with truffle oil. It's so delicious it was wiped out clean.
I was not a 'bother' this time and did not asked the wait staff the temp and how long it was cooked. I also did not ask where the wagyu is from. My guess is that it's Mayura Station because their previous wagyu I had at Halia has been Mayura Station ones.
Turkey Breast
We were all saying, they should have served this before the wagyu. After tasting the duck and wagyu, we did not like this dish. It was drier as compared to the earlier dishes. It's not that it's not nice, but after the tastier meat, we were spoilt.
We did finish it up though, after we perform a tongue reset.;-P
All of us except for one colleague was already quite full after the duck. I think the service staff knows so the lady who served us asked if we would like to pause for a while before dessert is served? We said bring it on! We will eat it slowly.
Christmas Pudding
We were quite glad after cutting it to 4, it's not too big a piece. A very nicely done Christmas pudding with a blob of brandy butter on top!
Selection of cheese (90 gm)
Two of my colleague are cheese lovers and this platter was for the 2 of them. I only nibbled a bit like a mouse and the other colleague hardly touched it after he has a bite into some gorgonzola and his face expression changed.
There was camembert, gorgonzola, blue and cheddar with homemade biscuits and chutney.
I did learn a bit about cheese from these colleagues, next time I shall try more. Some biscuits were too 'strong' and overpowered the cheese. Oh snobs!
The full menu. $360++ per set, feeds 4 persons nicely.
This special crafted Communal Menu will be available for dinner till 25 December 2013.
A note of thanks to the folks at Halia and Foodnews PR that provided this unhosted dinner.
Halia @ The Raffles Hotel
1 Beach Road,
#01-22/23, Raffles Hotel
Singapore 189673
Tel: +65 9639 1148
Have you realised that most of us love sharing our food? We will order and then portion up what we have and distribute to each other? This Communal Feast is designed for those of us who love to share food. It's quite a feast too! If you scroll all the way down, I have included the full menu for you to salivate.
All of us have stories to tell and as we dine with different people, we get to know each other more. On our drive in colleague's car to Raffles Hotel he was telling us that he had his first legal drink at Raffles Hotel, treated by his brother. Another female colleague said she would not have remembered because she had too many 'illegal' ones before she turned 18. Shall not say more to protect our privacy.
Anyway, they were also talking about Seah Street Deli and how they miss the place. Guess what? I told them Halia is where Seah Street Deli used to be! Just with better food! haha....
The Candy Cane (Sprite and Mint Tea based) and The Grinch (Midori and Lime Juice).
There are 2 cocktails and 2 mocktails in the special menu. Somehow as people love to take photographs to instragram, fb or tweet it, everyone ordered a different drink! Does that happen to your friends too?
White Christmas (Baileys, Kahlua, Apricot Brandy, Milk and Syrup).
Santa's Hot Chocolate.
Dinner started with a selection of breads that was quite addictive. Each of us had our own favourite and we reminded ourselves not to ask for more. pace, pace..... don't stuff ourself with bread.
Chef's Soup
Chef's soup was tomato soup with herb oil. It was a very tangy soup, that's quite appetizing.
Some felt it was too sharp, but most thought it was good.
Brussels Sprouts
This pretty dish is made from Brussels Sprouts! Grilled Brussels Sprouts and Brussels Sprouts Slaw. It was very tasty, I love the whole grilled ones while another colleague liked the slaw. It's served with dried iberico that's also very addictive, so crunchy and tasty it makes you wish they had more of it. The spiced almonds were also tasty.
Prawn Cocktails
This was another very nice starter. They had horseradish on it and so be careful when you have it. You will be quite awake after eating it! A nice spicy touch on the tip of the tongue that goes well with the piquant mayo and crisp salad.
Goats Cheese Mousse.
This was also a pretty dish that everyone just had to photograph it. Two artistic blobs of goat cheese mousse. The goat cheese had been mixed with cream cheese and wild honey they sourced from Hanoi. It goes very well, even if you do not really take cheese, try it, it's good.
I loved the heirloom tomatoes they serve with the cheese. They had also sprinkled olive 'soil' around and with pieces of toasted brioche.
Potato Fries
If you have dined here, you know these are very tasty fries. Served with truffle aoili and piquant mayo. Really addictive, and I say it again, very addictive! A colleague was eating it non stop and saying it's so nice.
We love how they paced our food and serve the sides at the correct timing too.These fries goes well with the goat cheese mousse too!
Yellowfin Tuna Loin
My 2nd most favourite of the night was this seared tuna loins. They only seared the sides and it's rare inside. So tasty with the smoked avocado puree and chopped red peppers and dried apricots. It's very well balanced in taste.
I wonder if they have this in their regular menu, I will just eat this as my mains the next time I am here.
Sides of meslun salad with tomato, cucumber and feta.
It's nice but with the yummier stuff, this was a filler and a palate cleanser. We can't wait for more food to be served!
Sides of Skinny Beans and Portobello.
I am a skinny beans person and these were really nicely done. All of us were so amazed with the portobello! It was so so delicious. The tastiest of the 3 sides in the menu!
House Smoked Duck Breast
Another photogenic course. It was a very delicious smoked duck. We did really hope we had more of it. Served with a very smooth parsnip mash.
We were all talking about eating habits and someone said parsnip is called ugly pale carrot in their home. LOL! We must find out how they make it so tasty!
Sous Vide Wagyu Rump
A colleague just before this has been asking the rest of us if we are already full, if yes, he will gladly devour this himself. I love sous vide meats especially beef. My number one dish of the night.
The beef was tender, moist and nicely seared outside with a sprinkle of coarse salt that I could taste. Awesome! The mash potato has been infused with truffle oil. It's so delicious it was wiped out clean.
I was not a 'bother' this time and did not asked the wait staff the temp and how long it was cooked. I also did not ask where the wagyu is from. My guess is that it's Mayura Station because their previous wagyu I had at Halia has been Mayura Station ones.
Turkey Breast
We were all saying, they should have served this before the wagyu. After tasting the duck and wagyu, we did not like this dish. It was drier as compared to the earlier dishes. It's not that it's not nice, but after the tastier meat, we were spoilt.
We did finish it up though, after we perform a tongue reset.;-P
All of us except for one colleague was already quite full after the duck. I think the service staff knows so the lady who served us asked if we would like to pause for a while before dessert is served? We said bring it on! We will eat it slowly.
Christmas Pudding
We were quite glad after cutting it to 4, it's not too big a piece. A very nicely done Christmas pudding with a blob of brandy butter on top!
Selection of cheese (90 gm)
Two of my colleague are cheese lovers and this platter was for the 2 of them. I only nibbled a bit like a mouse and the other colleague hardly touched it after he has a bite into some gorgonzola and his face expression changed.
There was camembert, gorgonzola, blue and cheddar with homemade biscuits and chutney.
I did learn a bit about cheese from these colleagues, next time I shall try more. Some biscuits were too 'strong' and overpowered the cheese. Oh snobs!
The full menu. $360++ per set, feeds 4 persons nicely.
This special crafted Communal Menu will be available for dinner till 25 December 2013.
A note of thanks to the folks at Halia and Foodnews PR that provided this unhosted dinner.
Halia @ The Raffles Hotel
1 Beach Road,
#01-22/23, Raffles Hotel
Singapore 189673
Tel: +65 9639 1148
