Celebrating Moon’s Birthday at MAD (Modern Asian Diner)

Moon turns 30 today!! And we had to go somewhere that we’ve never gone to before, which is MAD (Modern Asian Diner) at the refurbished Turf City/Grandstand at Bukit Timah.

MAD is a collaboration between Tung Lok Group, Bakerzin, Top Wine, Bar Stories and Dick Lee which explains why the place is not just a restaurant but also houses a bakery, cafe, wine cellar, cocktail bar and dim sum!

Being true to their name, your menu is in the form of an iPad and that is also how you send in your orders.  We didn’t order any of the dim sum because they were expensive! A plate of yam puffs costs S$5.50++ for 3 pieces while the same thing costs only $4.50++ at Royal China, Raffles Hotel.  Anyway, here are the dishes that we ordered:

Laksa Clams (S$16++) – The clams were large and juicy without being grainy.  The laksa soup was also very nice although it tasted like a watered down version of our favourite Katong Laksa.  It wasn’t spicy either so this was quite good for those who do not want to burn their bellies.

Truffle Fries (S$8++) – How could we resist truffle fries?  These came with bits of black truffle too! Totally worth it for S$8.

Pork Mantou Burgers (S$14++) – we ordered 2 servings of this.  It’s not WOW but it is pork belly with tomato, avocado and a nice sauce.  It’s a safe dish.

Lobster Claypot Rice (S$33++) – this is a little pricey but it was gooood.  There’s a whole lobster in there with asparagus and fried seaweed toppings.  The sauce was flavourful and makes a good one dish meal!

Thai style fried calamari (S$14++) – no complaints for this.  You can imagine tender fried calamari rings topped with sweet chilli sauce and mango, on a bed of shredded cabbage.

Cream Crab Croquettes (S$10++) – these babies were quite good although it lacked a bit of flavour and crumbled when forked.  Could use a wee bit more potato.  Otherwise, who can fault the pairing of fried cream crab with honey mustard?

Parma Ham Carbonara (S$18++) – you cannot eat this alone.  You’ll get sick of all the cream after a mouthful.  The parma ham tasted extra salty but I liked the silkiness of the egg.

What’s a celebration without booze?  We ordered our Mojitos (S$15++) and they came the way that we like them – strong.  Because we ordered 4 glasses, the manager gave us 1 free glass 😉

Decadent Wagyu & Foie Gras Claypot Rice (S$29++) which I felt was a bit of a letdown mainly because the beef wasn’t juicy enough.  More sauce needed too!  Otherwise, I’m a happy camper with foie gras down my throat.

Since it’s Moon’s Big 30, she wanted Hello Kitty and it came in the form of her birthday cake!  Got this from Breadtalk.

My dear girl hesitated from cutting her cake simply because it was Hello Kitty and “she is too cute to be cut!”.

The manager was way cool.  He sent my girl a complimentary Long Island Tea and then asked her to choose another drink, which would also be on the house!  Moon chose “Peru With Love”…

Such a pretty drink.  The foam tasted creamy, which balances out the alcohol and those rose petals floating were edible too!

Although the bill came up to be a rather hefty amount, it was quite worth it considering the friendly staff (although they had to be prompted to give us extra bowls etc) and the quality of the food was generally faultless.  The ambience of the place too made relaxing quite an easy task.  It’s modern without being so cutting edge that you aren’t familiar with the dishes in the menu.

Note: UOB and DBS card holders get 15% discount!

MAD (Modern Asian Diner)