N and B gathered us for an easy dinner at Aniba. It was rather dimly lit. Hahahah. Well, I guess it's supposed to be a bar. I had use extra lights to read the menu. We ordered bit by bit because we didn't know how much stomach space there was. It was full house, but the kitchen delivered speedily, and superbly. Had starters of pani puri, avocado ravioli, hamachi and watermelon tartare, and Caprese burrata with smoked eggplants, dried olives and Ortiz anchovies. Decided that we had more space.
The people behind Miznon and North Miznon intended for Aniba's more Mediterranean menu to also showcase loads of vegetables and herbs, and seafood. At this moment, the menu doesn't carry any chicken, duck, beef or lamb. Of course there wouldn't be pork.
Food prtions are definitely for sharing, but depending on stomach space, some of the mains might not be enough for four people. That Jerusalem bagel with labneh and za'tar was delicious. We don't have many decent restaurants that churn out Middle Eastern food at this standard. I'd say that this restaurant offers the best dips and mix of spices, so far. It is pricey. But it has warned us that it's meant to be fine-dining and at 6 Battery Road, of course. The quality of ingredients, spices and umami in its food kinda justify the prices, for now.
We took two fish dishes because there were four of us. The fillets wouldn't be sufficient if it was just one dish. We were right. Two orders of different fishes kept our stomach full and tastebuds intrigued. This $72 portion of 'Married' sardines with Jerusalem artichokes, pine nuts. lemon-cumin stuffing, yuzu-yoghurt vinaigrette, and habanero, was GOOD. The $89 fillet of butter blanched halibut had lovely kohlrabi, spinach and chervil.
We went for broke and finished with a vegetarian pappardelle. That $57 pasta was gorgeous! It was freshly made and tossed with haricot vert, spinach, grilled savoy cabbage, hazel nuts, pangrattato, lemon zest, and reggiano. Mmmmmmm. Every dish was beautifully spiced with loads of nuts and vegetables. I love it. They aren't flat.
We had complimentary desserts! A Mont Blanc of chestnut mousse, rosemary toffee, porcini meringue, brown sugar crumble, chocolate ganache, vanilla ice-cream, puffed buckwheat, coco tuile, and a Malabi of malabi cream, plum and warm spices compote, strawberries, raspberry sorbet, caramelized shredded filo tuile, pistachio hibiscus powder & dried rose petals.
We went easy on the alcohol because nobody wanted to be drunk. And we carpooled, so we needed to drive everyone back and take care of one another. Heh. One drink each was perfect. My Oban 14y.o came in a gentleman's pour over a tiny square cube of ice; it melted down beautifully, so I was pleased.
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