Platypus (Bugis)

I had a pretty horrid experience at Platypus in Chinatown, but EJ was pretty convincing in persuading me that Platypus here is heads and shoulders above. It's certainly not the easiest restaurant to find in Bugis Junction, but with a little help, I located it along the exterior of the mall facing Victoria Street. So far so good.

Their selection of cocktails was a great start to the dinner. Your first drink is $6. What a great idea. Over the course of a year, EJ's tried all the cocktails, and recommended all of them. I was intrigued by the Yellow Fever (tequila, mango nectar, orange, shiso and lime zet), but chose the Secret Soju Agent (a blend of triple sec and soju) instead. 

Meanwhile my suggestion to take a picture of all of us and caption it "Yellow Fever at Platypus" was ignored.

It's the holidays and my brain is on off mode. Looking through the full menu made my head spin. I had the Weekday 3 Course Dinner ($26) because I want someone to narrow down my choices for me. The starter is Roasted Pumpkin Soup. I like my pumpkin soup to be more savoury, this was a little too sweet. 

Pumpkin soup (bottom), lobster bisque (top)

The main was Angry Lemon Garlic Shrimp Linguini. The pasta is little on the spicy side, and it wasn't very memorable. The prawns are pretty huge though. 

The dessert is the nicest part of the meal: I had the Wild Berry Panna Cotta. It looked gorgeous, in a jar so adorable, I entertained the notion of asking the waiter where they got it. Or maybe just slip it into J's purse on the way out. It was rich, velvety smooth and well-chilled. It was a little on the sweet side though, especially after I had a bite of J's Molten Lava Cake. The lava cake was another winner: it tasted like a pudding, and it is so wide and flat, I wouldn't have expected it to be a lava cake. But inexplicably, there's still a molten chocolate core. I've never seen a recipe like it. 

The Verdict
The cocktails and dessert carried the meal. The molten lava cake is especially impressive. The servers couldn't be warmer to us. Considering the quality of food and service here, the difference in level of dining enjoyment between the Platypus in Bugis to the branch in Chinatown is heaven and earth hell.