L.O.L. /Lolla

(May '23)

SCORE: On the good end of "Ok, lah"

ORDER: A counter seat | Uni Pudding | Kombu butter (if no access to Sam Chablani's dirty butter) | Crab Pasta | Burnt Cabbage | Smoked Italian cheese starting with an S... Scarzmorza? | Red saumur and orange by the glass | Their secret for staff retention - lots of long timers at front of house

VALUE: ish. $270 for dinner and 3 glasses of wine

Revisited /Lolla after a year or so hiatus. It's a restaurant I keep wanting to love enough to be a regular to because their wine list is accessible and the food is consistent. I first went in 2012 and ended up with a table seat, which strangely didn't work for me. I normally dislike counter seating unless I'm on a date, and opt for tables when in groups (more usual), but the table seats at Lolla were (back then) dark. The counters at Lolla are perfectly lit and comfortable, and make for great conversation.

Also great for conversation is their uni pudding. A sort of set squid ink custard topped with uni, it really is a star. With chawanmushi all over fine dining menus these days, I'm surprised there hasn't been an imitator.

We had a seasonal special, the bouchot mussels (I never say no to these and make sure to go to /Atout whenever they are in season). We had been warned that it was a small portion, which it was, but it was delicious, and the scallops were perfectly cooked. I'm also a sucker for anything resembling samphire, and so was biased towards loving this dish. In the end, I liked it, but didn't love it, and thought it was a little punchy at $42 (or higher).

The burnt cabbage is a Lolla must-order for me, and we continued the burnt caper trend with the lemon sole. No complaints, and we enjoyed how the lemon sole came with calamansi cut in hawker style.

We were enjoying the saumur (a cab franc iteration!) so much that we decided to pick three cheeses, which I really enjoyed. The condiments were perfect, a sweet fig jam, textured pineapple and a poached pear. I can never resist poached pear and theirs was perfectly done, with some bite.

All in, I had a good time, didn't cry at the bill, and got to have a lot of flavours that I love. I will go back, but probably not regularly. The menu is a little too stable and a little bit too high on the price for me to get regular, but if someone suggested it, I would be in.

/Lolla

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