15 Stamford by Alvin Leung

Decided to utilize the Amex card dining discounts at 15 Stamford by Alvin Leung. It was an on-the-day last minute  reservation and they had a table for two. As long as we order items from its menu portion of 'Charcoal Grill' and 'Grill', and the Gentleman's Cut (360g) for the steaks, we'll get 50% off the total food bill on the Amex. Drinks are excluded. All the drinks we wanted that night were out of stock. Yup. The bottles of prosecco were finished, and they had no beers on tap. Okaaay. Water it was. No alcohol tonight then.  

It's a lovely and spacious restaurant with plenty of ambient lighting that makes you good in the mirrors, but bad for taking photos of food. Haha. The 'Asian Ceviches' were super interesting. The yellowtail was layered in yuzu gel, scallion oil, garlic, chilli and ponzu. The Japanese madai was topped with a cute tiny scoop of sea urchin and tossed in lime turnip, pomelo, ikan bilis and chincalok. The appetizers were tangy and innovative. We liked the mix and mesh of flavors, and how they find harmony in each dish. 

The man went for a Rosedale 30-day Butter Aged Angus Beef Sirloin MB 2+ in medium rare. He loved it and thought it was a good cut, nicely aged and prepared. I took one small slice. Didn't want to deal with beef these two weeks. I took a chance with my main of Fremantle Octopus. It was delicious. Loved how it came with jambu slaw and wok-fried green chilli. I love seafood with a touch spices done Indonesian style or inspired by it. Mmmmm. Also had sides because I needed more vegetables. Took the Three-Style Corn with heirloom tomatoes and Pat Chun vinaigrette, and a Grilled Eggplant with Saikyo miso and Nanami chilli pepper.

The man ordered the Peanut Butter Soufflé for dessert. It came with a nori nougat and multigrain soy milk gelato. It was good, but gosh, the wait was soooo long. For this reason, we'll never order it again. The menu warned diners that it would be a 30-minute wait for any soufflé, so we asked for it as we were having our mains.  But it still took almost an hour to arrive from that point. It took 30 minutes from the time we finished our mains because the server came over to tell us that the chef managed to screw up the soufflé and had to make a new one. Well. Whatever you say. I really dislike waiting this long for food and dessert. Arrrgh.