Purple Taste: Ginett Restaurant and Wine Bar @ Hotel G

This beautiful place is located on the first floor of Hotel G, located at 200 Middle Road. Uniquely, one needs to pass through its carpark for its taxi drop-off (and pick-up) point. There, at the hotel lobby, take the lift down to the restaurant.

High ceiling, dimly lit cosy classy ambiance at this European-styled restaurant. The bar area is very striking. The upper level is where the kitchen is. The chefs were looking quite serious.

Ginett

interior

street level

Floor manager and supervisors were quick to attend to our queries and requests. However, a few staff was noticeably new and has limited product knowledge.

promotions

Noticeably, the bottled wines at Ginett are priced reasonably. We started with a bottle of merlot which presumably was picked by Ivan? I do like merlot. In terms of red, my top preferences would be the likes of merlot and malbecs.

Château Martinat, Côte de Bourg @$55++

The Martinat was medium bodied, dry and easy to drink. Low tannins meant no siap-siapness (hokkien colloquial). Yay.

I was soo hungry. Ever since I've started this new job, I'd be the last to arrive at any dinner gatherings during the weekdays. Much apologies to my friends!

Chewy crusty bread served slightly warm. Just spread some of those salty creamy butter on it did wonders to curb that hunger. Plus it allowed me to steal some sips of that delicious wine. Yums.

complimentary bread with butter

The food and drinks here are decidedly French, so we started with Pâté en Croûte. This starter has terrine encased in puff pastry and cooked. The accompanying bread was crisp and flavourful. The terrine is black pork and French foie gras. Not that am able to differentiate non-French foie gras for that matter. This dish was sublime. However, am opined to think that I like rillettes more for its stronger flavours.

Pâté en Croûte@$19++

Ahh, so what's the difference between pate, terrines and rillettes? No idea man, so I did a quick Google search. Interestingly, all pâtés are terrines, but not all terrines are pâtés. All of these are basically preserved meats. Terrines are usually made of ground meat, while rillettes are chopped/shredded and pâtés are blended.

La Joue de Boeuf @ $32++

Our first main dish arrived in the form of La Joue de Boeuf or also known as wagyu beef cheek that has been braised for 12 hours, with sauteed mushrooms and served with a side of smooth creamy mash.

closer view of the beef cheek

Beef cheek was well-braised and the sauce was just right. Not too overpowering. The mash was enjoyable. The next meaty main course came in the form of roasted baby chicken. Lovely colour and served table-side. The staff would help to carve out the chicken. Lovely service.

Le Coquelet De Ferme Rôti aux Herbes de Provence @$34++

bite-sized

French-styled roasted chicken are always subtle. Mild flavours all round and tender chicken with some moist retained. I got the breast meat and it was still nice. This came with truffled mash and the whole table simply adored that as well.

Next up, was a new dish that I had never seen before. Ivan said he ordered fish dumpling, so in my mind, they'd look something like a ravioli or such. Imagine the surprise when a large yellow sausage looking dish arrived. Hee!

La Quenelle de Brochet Gratinée @ $28++

As I am the group's unofficial cutter, had the honour to slice through this 'dumpling'. It was so soft! The texture and flavour was akin to tofu with minced fish. The dumpling itself has such soft, gentle flavours but the sauce (and cheese, yes?) provided a twist in the taste with its stronger flavours. If you are like me and need to know how does a pike fish look like, here is a link.

pike fish dumpling chardonnay sauce

To continue with our meaty adventure, next was the pork chop, served with potato wedges. The meat was adequately seasoned but it was just lacking abit of fats. The lean meat was dangerously and almost veering towards the dry side.

Kurobuta Chop @ $32++

sliced pork chop

Luckily, the finale meat dish did not dissappoint and that, came in the form of La Côte de Boeuf. A hulk of a prime rib that was meant for 2 pax but eaten by 8.

La Côte de Boeuf @ $120++

I saw you, medium rare

Served with three types of sauces; Béarnaise, pepper, blue cheese. All sauces were pretty nice. The meat was wonderful. Thick slices of tender beef cooked medium rare. Each person still gets to enjoy a good-sized cut of the meat. Red meat, red wine. I was happy.

Lastly, our night cap included another bottle of wine. Hey, a sparkling for $30? Why not?

Cuvée Splendid, Sparkling Wine @$30++

And of course, we had to check out the desserts. Ordered a couple to try. Out of the lot, the least enjoyable one was the mille-feuille. The crust was not flaky. The creme brulee was a tad too sweet for me, so I went with the profiteroles. The choux was decent and who can resist ice-cream?