amethyst73 | Birthday dinner at Straits last night

We finished watching our DVD of Ratatouille Saturday night. It was the perfect thing to see before visiting Straits Cafe, a marvelous and amazing restaurant specializing in Singaporean cuisine. They are more than happy to serve their dishes to a group family-style, encouraging everyone at the table to sample every dish. That worked out extremely well last night: the four dishes we had complemented each other very nicely indeed - and completely by accident, too!

(1) Laksa Paella: "Spiced coconut risotto of abalone, shrimp, scallops and sautéed seasonal vegetables." This was a jasmine rice with the aforementioned seafood in it, held together with a creamy orange coconut-milk sauce, and topped with crisp-tender green beans. The seafood was tender and delicate, perfectly cooked. The sauce was a lovely savory creation, and the beans added a nice sweetness and contrasting crunchy texture.

(2) Kari Kambing: "Boneless lamb braised in a spicy dry curry sauce, with potato and carrots." Not sure what their definition of dry is; sauce was typical Indian panang curry consistency. The surprise in this dish, for me, was the potatoes of all things: it's the first time I've seen potatoes well-browned or roasted or something prior to use in a curry dish. Very pleasant.

(3) Origami Sea Bass: "Baked in parchment with ginger, longan, shiitake mushrooms and rice wine." The presentation of this dish is fun: two origami boxes, one atop the other as a lid, with carrot curls and parsley atop the cover. Within, the most subtly flavored part of the meal. The fish portion, while a little small, is done to moist perfection in a clear wine/broth with the aforementioned mushrooms and slices of red and green pepper.

(4) Sambal Udang: "Prawns sauteed in a sambal chili sauce." I'd never had sambal before; now that I've looked it up, I understand why this chili sauce started out spicy, but momentarily brought out distinctly sweet notes - must have been from the brown sugar! Ours had a moderately strong lemon flavor to it as well. Certainly the most interesting dish in terms of bringing together flavors in a way that I, at least, found unexpected.

Dessert (because this was a birthday dinner, and birthday dinners have dessert): Huz and I split a piece of Chocolate Ginger Cake, "Fresh chocolate ginger cake with a touch of molasses and topped with vanilla gelato." The cake part on its own was pleasant, though I wouldn't have called it amazing. It went very well, though, with the aforementioned gelato, and with decorative fruit sauces (one orange-colored, one berry-colored) drizzled around the edge of the plate. A fine ending to a wonderful meal.

I can't recommend Straits heartily enough to anyone who likes really good Asian cuisine. Overall, it's about the same price as or slightly more expensive than, say, Max's (main dishes range from around $10 to $36). Well worth it if you live in the area and want something a bit different and extremely tasty, and worth spending a meal here if you're visiting the area.