Mezza9 @ Grand Hyatt Singapore

The second of a three-part series on Grand Hyatt! Mezza9 is another one of those "old-school" restaurants that still has its loyal following amongst not just returning tourists but with Singaporeans as well, especially since it manages to offer Chinese, Thai, Japanese and Western cuisines all under one location. There's a warm and relaxed feel to this place, nothing pretentious about it, with good service all around. Makes for a pleasant dinner with the dinner buddy Glenn.

Complimentary Bread


Unlike the bread bar at Pete's Place where the breads were left there to turn cold, here the bread was served warm and was lightly crisp on the sides. It's simple bread just to get you started and warmed up for dinner.

Crab Cakes



Definitely one of the better crab cakes that I've tried, and also one that really makes a point to prove it uses real crabmeat - snow crabmeat from Southeast Asia to be precise. It's served with rémoulade, a kind of French tartar if you like, that has capers in it and even an Asian hint of lemongrass. The crab cake on its own was already very flavourful, with herbs and spices to tantalise your senses.

Side: Baked Potato


This was my side order of baked potato with chives and sour cream. I can't really say much about this because it's really just plain baked potato! It does come with bacon bits but no, not for me.

Side: Green Asparagus


If my baked potato looked boring, this would be even more so. Fine, I'm biased against greens. Glenn's order, served with parsley and lemon confit.

Wood-Roasted Lamb Shanks


A real man would never say "no" to his red meat (yes, I'm trying very hard to justify my immensely carnivorous appetite and diet) and having had so much beef lately I turned to lamb this time. I was so hungry staring at this when it arrived that I hurriedly took a couple of pictures and got ready to eat, completely missing the point that I should be taking the whole bone as well for a good picture of a shank. Then again, who cares, I'm hungry! The meat was pretty good, but at some points it could be less tough and dry. Somehow or another I still think the lamb shank from Cafe Oliv is tops in terms of tenderness, with the melt-in-your-mouth umami kind of feeling.

Tuna Steak


This, I thought was quite awesome. Looks like grilled chicken, and actually almost tasted like grilled chicken as well on the first small bite! But no, this is a tuna steak, well-grilled with its flesh still pink, fresh and tender. One of the house favourites I realised, quite a few diners around me were having this as well.

Soft Chocolate Pudding


Mmm... Warm chocolate cake with hot chocolate lava inside, my kind of thing definitely. Good quality chocolate too, very thick and rich. Thing is, since it's this rich, it could do better with not one but two scoops of vanilla bean ice-cream! I didn't like the apricot compote much though, but I know it's really to balance the sweetness of the chocolate. All-in-all, still a little bit pricey, and would be more worth the money with another scoop of ice-cream.

Warm Banana and Nutella Crepe


Surprisingly, Glenn enjoyed his boring-looking crepe, which happens to be quite popular amongst diners here. Served with a complimentary scoop of chocolate ice-cream.

Service
Excellent. Constant refilling of your glasses with iced water, even when you tell them it's enough.

Price
$18 for the crab cakes
$9 for the baked potatoes
$12 for the green asparagus
$38 for the wood-roasted lamb shanks
$34 for the tuna steak
$16 for the soft chocolate pudding
$14 for the warm banana and nutella crepe

* Prices subject to the usual 7% GST and 10% service charge.

Place
Grand Hyatt Singapore, Level 2.

Pictures taken with the Canon EOS 500D.