Osia: Australian Flavour!

A family friend came from Hong Kong over the last weekend, and we played guests by bringing her to Singapore's latest attraction, Resort World Sentosa. The friend asked me to decide on the dinner venue, so I was thinking that since we are already at RWS, why not the newly opened Osia?





To be honest, I didn't know much about Australian cuisine so this was a rather new experience for me. Decor was modernly comfortable with cushion seats, while the cyber-looking open kitchen made you looked even more forward to your meal with occasional delicious whiffs and soft clanking of pots and pans.



Compliementary Bread

Nothing much to shout about with as it was slightly cold and hardened for my liking. Side event: The Caucasian waiter initially served us 2 plates of olive oil, then when we asked for butter, he took away one plate and replaced with one butter coin while telling us with a smile, "Do let me know if you need more". Yes I do understand food wastage, but I felt that it was somehow a little too petty for a restaurant of this calibre!



Emulsion of Celeriac and Basil, Foie Gras with Venison

The cream-based vegetable soup had a mild celery aftertaste, not something that I would usually order but an adventured try. The succelent scallop on the other hand, was flawless with pan-seared surface and juicy meat. I would love to have one more!

The foie gras was well-controlled with crispy surface and melting goodness beneath, which once again left its unique rich taste lingering in your mouth. The pairing of caramelised banana and white radish balanced it really well, and while the venison was definitely good in its own sense with pink and juicy meat, it was overshadowed by my love for foie gras!


Grilled tenderloin

Mom and friend had this for mains. Presentation was really nice with diced tomatoes, mushrooms and shaved asparagus. My mom commented that the it was a little tough and would prefer something fattier, while I thought it was rather good with a firm chewy texture and solid beefy taste.




Duo of Lamb Shank and Rack

Ahh.. where should I start? Aesthetically it looked really pleasent and colourful but big eaters will probably be a little disappointed with its portion. But what's lacking in quantity, it certainly made up with multiple times of quality!

The lamb shank was simply fantastic with meat so tender and fine that I could simply tear them lightly using a fork. I couldn't make out what the emulsion was, but the red sauce was intensive and somehow reminded me of really good lasagne sauce!

The rack was wonderfully grilled, paired well with the light and refreshing mint puree. The popcorn carbonara was an interesting attempt but I found it to be more gimicky than adding on substance.



Baby Spinach in Cream Sauce, Mashed Potato

I would say that this was an result of raw services. We were asked if we would like some side dishes to go with the mains, and without looking at the menu, we order 2 spinach and 1 mashed, only to realise that its charged seperately and overportioned for us. While the spinach turned out great with buttery cream sauce (mashed potato was really plain), we would appreciate that they could be more careful with their words.



Chocolate Soup with Black Pepper Ice Cream, Apple Crumble

One sentence to sum this up: Chocolate lava cake without the cake! Imagine warm thick melted chocolate with in-house vanilla ice cream seasoned with tingy black pepper. Ingenious and sinful!

The relatively light apple crumble was served with vanilla ice cream, caremelised custard and sliced Granny Smith Apple. A delightful way to round off the meal!

Despite minor service hiccups, Osia offered a wonderful dining experience with excellent dishes presented in the most meticulous and innovative ways. Price-wise, its on the higher end but they do offer affordable set lunches with the same dishes I had that night. The entire menu, however is rather limited so while there are a few other items I would like to try, I probably won't return as soon. Do visit for an eye-opening taste of Australia!

Taken with Nikon D70