curiouser and curiouser!: Morsels

So rarely do I go for dinner at any restaurant that already has hype around it and yet come away satisfied. But alas Morsels it seems you are my new favourite diner, can't wait to bring more friends+family back to you, and that indeed is a true mark of an amazing restaurant. I first saw it while walking along the streets of Little India here in our sunny Singapore, scurrying along the five foot pathway to avoid the swelling heat. My parents run a boutique hotel right around the corner, and I decided to give the quaint little diner a few months to settle it's teething problems (which any new establishment is bound to have). Finally last week, I made dinner plans to meet my RGP gang as a late birthday get-together for our newly minted Doctor Sim at Morsels on Mayo Street.

First off let me just say how much of a BITCH parking is around there. Of course you could wing it and park illegally, but I would not like to add an additional $70 to my dinner bill kthx. I did a little bit of research on the internet: what to avoid and what are the must haves, and thankfully every single item we ordered was delicious.

First up, the Hokkaido Scallop Ceviche (not keh-viche but se-vi-che). I was a little underwhelmed by the flavour, but fair enough it was refreshing and a good appetizer to start with. I am sadly, very much allergic to tobiko so we had our version without it. I suspect it is much more delicious both in taste and texture when it does come with tobiko. The tortilla chips it came with were a little greasy, but it's home-fried, so I'll let that one pass. The fried brie cheese balls were really melt-in-your-mouth and I kept wishing I didn't drive because they would have been divine with beer hehe! The steamed clams in fig's broth? Absolutely ace. Steamed just right in a sweetish savoury broth that tasted like the ocean (in a good way) with wakame and kimchi. I need to bring my mom here so she can taste it and recreate it at home. Only gripe I have was that the sliced French bread that came with it to dip was not toasted and unfortunately felt a little bit stale. The two minutes it would have taken to toast the bread would have made this dish a 10/10. Trio of skewers, everyone's fave was the pork! But if you don't HAVE to have meat, you can easily skip this dish.

Under the mains page, we ordered the pulled pork pasta in a spicy pesto sauce served with sour cream. I love anything sour cream so this was really a favourite as well, the mild heat of the sauce balanced out with the coolness of the sour cream. The portion is small but the price matches it at $14, but it's the right amount for a tasting table. By the time the fish came out to our table we were too full to truly appreciate it, but when the squid ink risotto was set down, we dug right back into it. Easily the best dish of the night, creamy flavoursome risotto, with salted egg yoke sauce (tobiko on the side for my non-allergic friends), topped with the softest octopus you will ever taste. The only time I've had octopus this delicious I was in Cyprus 10 years ago. But this dish, truly the piece de resistance of Morsels. The charred, smoky flavour that really explodes in your mouth when you have the first bite of octopus will keep people going back for sure. I remember reading online and everyone was grumbling about the portions being abysmally small, but to me everything was just perfect. You'd want to eat as many things as possible, to have a whole range of flavours, and you can only do that if the portions are smaller. As for the price, our total bill for four girls came up to $200+, including one alcoholic beverage for one of our alcoholic friends (heheheh) which we all felt was incredibly reasonable for both the ingenuity and quality of the dishes. Stay exactly the way you are Morsels, don't change!

Now for the more important part that is #allmyprettyfriends