Sarah and I went to watch The September Issue at Cinema Europa yesterday – loved the show and loved the cinema. There is a tiny table between every two seats for you to place food and drinks, love it! The show was good – while it was more a documentary than a film, it was nonetheless entertaining – LV-toting fashion disaster Andre and the all-powerful Anna Wintour. After watching this show, all I can say is that Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada is … soft. She isn’t half as scary as Anna.
Anyway then we went to Serenity for dinner. It’s sort of like our mission to eat through the entire Vivocity or something. Serenity is a Spanish place and they serve many kinds of Spanish paella. How best can I describe paella? I’d say it’s Spanish rice cooked in broth and then left to stew and dry in the pan itself. It’s not as delicate as risotto (in the sense the delicate and precise process of cooking), but I’m sure it’s by no means less complex and delicious.
Some pictures (brought to you by the crappy Omnia 2 camera):
My mojito. I liked it that they out the entire sprig of mint leaves on top.
Pina Colada. Nothing special or fantastic. This is an average pina colada in an average glass with average decoration.
Melon and ham (not sure if is parma or proscuitto or some other fancier ham) salad with sherry viniagrette, $14.
I was rather shocked that they used honeydew instead of melon, despite writing melon on the menu. I expected the orange cantanloupe sort of melon, not this. This looks like pear. But ham and honeydew is a winning combo. ‘Nuff said. The pine nuts in the salad was enjoyable too.
Paella valenciana for 2, $40
The paella has two sizes, for two or for four as with most Spanish restaurants. This is my first time eating paella and I was, to be honest, apprehensive because of the mixed reviews from Su and Angela who both had the authentic grub in Spain. If the paella at Serenity is anything to go by, I think I like paella. If I ever go back to this place again, I’d try the squidink paella. Looks interesting! Anyway, this paella – the prawns were succulent, the mussels I didn’t eat, there are sliced sausages (that look suspiciously like lapcheong) and chicken.
Overally the food at Serenity was good, the service was a tad overwhelming in the wrong sense. See, it was a Tuesday evening at about 6.45pm. We didn’t have a reservation, and they didn’t have a single soul in the restaurant and yet they had to seat us next to a glass door. Our bad for not requesting other seats, but it’s not like they look like they are prepared to give us other seats. Not only that, during the meal, they kept hovering about, eager to clear our unfinished dishes. There was at one point the waitress asked to clear the paella pan when Sarah’s fork and hand was still over the dish. Granted, there was just a bit left but is it the bad lighting that contributed to the waitress’ blindness and inability to spot a customer EATING? The restaurant had at most 8 customers in it, when it can sit about 80. I don’t understand the need to chase us out.
In retrospect, I hate that the food is good. Now I’m torn between going back again for the food and having to endure their overbearing service.
In closing, I have to bitch about mention the star system Food Bloggers use in writing reviews. I will not adopt that system. It just makes little sense to me. See, why I’m talking about this is that I chanced upon this other blogger who said something akin to “since the professional food bloggers always use a star system, I shall adopt it too”. Sure, sure, go with the flow without thinking. Honestly, the star system does nothing. It’s my own set of arbitrary criteria translated into marks. Does giving it 3 out of 5 stars equate to anything tangible? Not really. Already taste for food is a subjective experience, stop trying to seemingly objectify it by measuring it on a scale that appears objective when it is not so at all. So yes, a little airing aside, I just want to say I like this place enough to want to go back some day.
Oh yeah, you can visit their website here.
