5th Quarter

dear santa,
hopefully, this review finds you well?
i know how busy you must be during this festive year end period but i can’t help but want to share with you this new favourite haunt of mine.
and just in case you happen to be delivering presents to the lavender area, do make a scheduled stop at quinto quartro, another brainchild of lik peng and helmed by chef nocente.
don’t worry too much about your sleigh, as you can find easy cashcard parking at song lin building which is just adjacent to hotel vagabond, home of fifth quarter.
there is no real demarcation for the restaurant but it occupies most of the ground floor.
enter via the main door on the right and friendly, service oriented siva might well be there to greet you, together with opulence, golden trees and golden elephants.
so do leave your reindeer outside as otherwise they might end up in a state of shock and awe!
but you will indeed feel really comfy in here, with the loungy surroundings and light lounge music.
the vast collection of art pieces that adorn the walls may not hold a candle to the newly minted national gallery of singapore but are classy and pleasing nonetheless, except maybe one controversial piece.
if budget is an issue, lunch is more affordable at $ 10++ for each of the 12 items on this menu.
and if you ask nicely, they might just naughtily sneak you their gorgeous tripe, otherwise only available for dinner.
it is actually this tripe dish that first seduced me into seeking them out.
seeing this masterpiece presented on print in one gourmet magazine, send my salivary glands into overdrive.
tasting this masterpiece, akin to crunching tripe fries, masterfully moreish!
having tasted most of the menu, both at lunch and dinner.
i must say andrew’s strong point is indeed his meats and you should try to avoid the seafood dishes as they were more misses than hit, especially the overly salted tuna and the contrastingly bland scallops.
and then finding out more about his background and previous culinary experience further reinforced my initial assessment, stick to the meats.
and if miss piggy is your thing, do order all things porky here!
the jowl, collar, belly and of course, the tail all passed my test with flying colours.
even the duck, which i normally do not order in a western setting (because nothing comes close to a chinese roast duck or peking duck), came out flaming, perfectly paired with soft sweet figs, crispy delicate tongue and tender heart, stealing mine and hopefully yours.
for the cow centric, they also more than capably churn out an oxtail rillette, thinly sliced tongue, meatily charred brisket, succulent short rib and sirloin, the priciest item on the dinner menu.
i would however recommend skipping the sirloin as it doesn’t offer as much value for money as the other choices of cut.
and in case you are a vegetarian, in a mostly meat setting.
get the japanese corn!
sweet as syrup complemented by a spiced cheese sauce and chives.
the spinach with radish will also add some needed fibre to your diet but totally unnecessary.
don’t forget to leave space for the chocolate salami with salted caramel ice cream and dehydrated heirloom tomatoes, i’m glad i didn’t!
and finally the complimentary bacon anzac biscuits with caramel sauce will complete your food comatose.
in the spirit of christmas, i have decided to be generous and round it up to a fifth star for the fifth quarter.
p. s. all i want for christmas is a UFC!

First up. Parking here is a pain and valet at the Vagabond Hotel costs a whopping $ 18. Not a great start. Entered Fifth Quarter, secondary first impressions are that it’s dim and dark and mostly empty.
There were 5 of us, sat up at a high table. Comfy padded barstools though. Even my mom seemed quite comfortable.
Food:
1) Burrata $ 12. We all found this really fresh tasting and a must-​order. But they do not serve bread here. They make their own crackers and they are yummy but I think we miss some good warm bread that smells of hearth and home.
2) Black mash — Ordered. Never came although we got some pumpkin thing instead which they promptly said was on the house.
3) Corn — Yummy sauce and very juicy corn underneath but the flavour of the sauce and seasoning didn’t permeate into the corn. The corn was very easy to slice off.
4) Charcuterie 5 kinds — they change the selections of 5 daily apparently. All charcuterie is made inhouse and indeed everything tastes very fresh here. Our favourite was the Mortadella thingy which was moist, really tasty and doesn’t have that funky smell mortadella sometimes has and was very smooth creamy texture other than the bits. We also had the oxtail rillette, country pâté, wine salami, and duck prosciutto (listed roughly in order of preference). Again we were missing the bread but we asked for extra crackers and got that quickly with no complaints.
5) Short rib — Supposed to be popular but again we never got to try it. They brought us pork collar instead which was evenly cooked. Not bad but I would have preferred the rib.
6) Barramundi $ 32 — We rated this the best dish of the night, together with the burrata. And the portion was bigger than the pork or chevron. This was very fresh, moist, perfectly cooked and seasoned. Sometimes barramundi can be presented bit dry but this was a good one. There were lovely crispy bits of skin as well adding texture.
7) Chevron $ 25 — Small portion. It was supposed to be goat. It was tender but otherwise not very memorable and I do like goat and gamey foods so it wasn’t that.
Drinks:
We had 4 cocktails ranging from about $ 18 to $ 22 dollars each. I enjoyed all of them. Cocktails are divided into 2 sections — light and refreshing and the stronger richer stuff. We enjoyed the Andy, and some other cocktail that they said was very popular. I don’t remember all the names but I had one that was like a Watermelon Margarita type, bit of a twist. Had a chat with one of the bartenders as he was making mine and he was down to earth. I saw 2 expat guys asking for Singapore Slings and whatnot that were not on the menu and they said they didn’t have fresh pineapple but they would still do up something so they seem open to some improv.
Behind the bar was one expat and one local guy. I don’t know if hey have any seniority but the local guy did my drink and he was nice :)
Having said that all 4 cocktails we had were yummy and well balanced. 2 of them were not filled near to the brim tho and I think that’s one area to be improved!
Note: Wine list is pricey. Starts at $ 115.
Desserts:
We had the cured berries and smoked pineapple. $ 14 each. Berries nothing special. Smoked pineapple was served with coconut ice cream and they gave us an extra scoop, being guilty for getting our orders wrong.
We were each given a free cookie with candied bacon in it as a petit four/​parting gift. This was a really nice surprise. They said they made it themselves and I believe it as it was unique and really yummy with a half crunchy half chewy texture. Even though I thought I was full, I thoroughly enjoyed mine.
I think overall, it was a positive experience, certainly it was helped by the fact that 5 of us ate and had 4 cocktails and the bill came to about $ 280. Could do with a bit more polish but I would come back, especially for more drinks ;). It’s not a romantic or intimate atmosphere as it’s kinda lounge-​like and the music gets louder just before 10pm.