Pollen @ Gardens by the Bay

There's something about Pollen that amazes me - how it allows me to feel entirely at ease with myself and with the surroundings. Tucked snugly in a corner of the Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay, there's nothing not to love about this enchanting little Mediterranean-European nook.

So it was my birthday, and the Husband got the venue right - this is for the no-nonsense girl who's craving occasional affection and pampering. The place was surprisingly filled - mainly with Caucasian tourists - at 2.30pm in the afternoon. Pollen offers different menu options at different periods of the day, and we happened to sit in during the Bistro slot.

From left: Burro, Rosa

The Husband is a discerning wine drinker, so he frowned hugeass time when the waitress came over with an opened bottle of wine. *red alert* I admonished that look in my head; I mean, would you be expecting them to serve you out of a fresh bottle? Anyway he didn't like the rosa at all, but downed it with his main course anyhow. My Burro was a refreshing concoction of ginger beer, fresh strawberry and fizz. Yum.

Salt-baked beets salad (S$25)

I had a heavy breakfast (while the Husband was still busy snoring in Lalaland), so I went for a salad instead. I love beetroot, so the beets salad was perfect. There's goat's curd, fresh pomegranate and both fresh and salt-baked beetroot. A good spoonful of fragrant goat's curd added some volume to the otherwise light meal.

Battered cod fillet (S$35)

The Husband picked a more wholesome cod fillet resting over a bed of mushy peas with a side of chips. The look is clean and no-nonsense. If you're not a fan of greens, then you'll choose to sideline the peas - the Husband said it tasted like mushed grass, though I thought it was acceptable and balanced out the fried fillet. The fillet was fresh - the meat didn't disintegrate and flake easily - and the portion was decent. The chips... let's not go there. I know of somewhere that does better.

To conclude an amazing date, DESSERT! Our eyes ran down the dessert list and landed on the same spot - Chocolate "Kopi" (main picture). The dollop of coffee and truffle honey spells every bit of the S$20 we spent on it, even though it was just the size of a tablespoon. The rum raisins would have been much better partners if they had belonged within the chocolate coffee mousse instead. Shall try Pollen "Tatin" on our next visit here, since I've heard pretty good reviews about it.

For a restaurant boasting a respectable menu, the quality of the service staff was surprisingly meh. They were inattentive, slow to respond, and their attitude is in serious need of a rain check. You could do a little experiment by getting them to fetch different things and watching their expressions change - if you're asking for the menu, expect a wider smile than you would get if you were asking for the bill. Or maybe it's just by pure coincidence that other food blogs are saying the same stuff about the lacklustre service. If you're pocketing my 10% service charge, I need to see where that's going because I've already paid for the air-conditioning and the ambience.

Eat where:
Pollen @ Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay
18 Marina Gardens Drive #01-09
Singapore 018953
Tel: 6604 9988 (reservations are advisable)
Mondays to Sundays, 12pm - 2.30pm (lunch), 2.30pm - 5.30pm (tea), 6pm - 10pm (dinner)
info@pollen.com.sg

All the above came up to a total bill of S$153, inclusive of 7% GST and 10% service charge.