Atame

If you know what Atame means in Spanish, it literally means tie me up. This new *hot*spot is somewhat a blend of a restaurant, lounge, cabaret and an art gallery. You can already guess from its name that something sexual is involved. The menu consists of dishes with one or more aphrodisiac ingredients to make one simple and well-harmonized dish. Some of the dishes remind me of the concept of food pairing. Food pairing means combining two ingredients that are molecularly compatible, but one perceives it as an unusual mix.

The restaurants offers live performances featuring burlesque dancers, kinky reading, and live music. Think of it as a smaller scale of Paris' moulin rouge. Sadly, sitting at the back of the restaurant, the show was difficult to be enjoyed.

The night started with a refreshing watermelon and strawberry soup - tasty, probably best if it was served in between meals as a palate cleanser. The first appetizer was the oyster with passion fruit and lychee mignonette. I was very disappointed as the sweet ingredients mask the fresh taste of oyster. No contrast in flavours. Next was the lamb and veal meatballs with spicy mayo - delicious and flavorful but the additional miso sauce is unnecessary. The third appetizer was the crab cake lollilop - original but at the same time, the crab flavour was definitely lacking and the texture was quite pasty. The fourth appetizer was a lamb sausage with baba ganoush and raita sauce on flat bread - a well-balanced and refreshing dish. However, the saltiness of the sausage and the creaminess of the raita mask the delicate taste of eggplants. The last appetizer was a pan-seared scallop with coconut milk and kaffir leaves - scallops cooked to perfection complemented well with the delicious coconut lemony broth.

Now for the mains. The black truffle quail cooked to perfection with an after-taste of the black truffle lingering in your throat. The duck breasts with chocolate and fig sauce was our favourite dish of the day. Duck and chocolate are an unusual combination that work really well. Next on the line is the filet mignon served rare. Very juicy steak, you can even cut it with simply a fork.

To end the evening, we had the chocolate brownies with salted caramel served with an Amarula dipping sauce. The sourness of the sauce helps tune down the richness of the chocolate and caramel. Rich, scrumptious and sinfully delicious. A nice way to end the meal.

To summarize this evening, the food has some ups and downs, I feel some dishes were overthought - too many unnecessary components that doesn't add much to the dish. If I go back to Atame, I would probably enjoy their performances if I was closer to the set.

If you want to enjoy a miniature version of Paris' Moulin Rouge, this is the place to go.