We were famished, so we ordered lots of food. In about 10 minutes they served the first dish which was the Roast Leek Soup (S$16). For the price, I wasn't expecting a large dish so when I saw the small bowl I was like, "Ah, that's expected". The soup was really good though - creamy but with a smooth texture, and the leek was torched slightly. The ravioli had a strong, distinct, cheesy taste.

5 minutes later our Smoked Chicken Coquelet (S$28) was served, and here was when things started to go down a bit. First of all, the dish was puny. The chicken was so small I wouldn't even consider this dish an appetizer, and there were no sides at all. But we decided to give the dish a chance because who knows, maybe it tastes really good.

But no. The chicken was dry with not much flavor, with the only good thing about it being the mustard leaf puree which was very tasty. This dish cost almost S$30 guys. Who in their right mind would serve something like this with a so-so taste, in such a tiny portion?

The chicken was finished in less than 5 minutes, and then our Black Cod (S$48) came. Taste-wise, the cod was decent; it had a soft texture and did not give off a fishy smell. But guys, look at how small the portion was, and trust me, this picture makes the fish look bigger than it was. Also while the taste was good, it did not justify the hefty price tag at all. In fact, the fried tapioca (?) served under the fish tasted better than the fish itself.

Around this time, we were starting to get a bit disappointed as we could sense a pattern from the dishes that were served so far.

Then it was my turn to eat. They served my pasta, the Crab Tagliolini (S$28) which was some sort of fusion dish with crab sauce and Tobiko. Again, the dish tasted good - very creamy, savory sauce with hints of sourness and bitterness BUT come on - the portion was so small! The small mountain of pasta was basically the same size as five macarons stacked on top of each other. It took me less than eight mouthfuls to finish the entire dish. I was still so hungry even after I licked the entire plate clean.

Now I was also starting to become hangry and felt like I was a victim of daylight robbery. We expected the next few dishes to be miserably tiny as well, so we just decided to order more food, which was the Kale & Romaine and Duck Fat Potato.

We also realized one of our appetizers - the Smoked Beetroot Tartare & Burrata - hadn't arrived yet even though we already devoured three mains. Anyway, we ordered the extra two dishes and informed the staff about our missing dish. They told us that it wasn't in our order, so we were like alright never mind we'll just order the two new dishes and wait on our last main, the Wagyu beef.

The next 15 minutes were just waiting and waiting, and finally, the Kale & Romaine (S$14) came. This was basically just a bunch of vegetables but the tangy sauce was really good and we were still so hungry so we ate everything without complaining.

After this dish was served, we waited for the Duck Fat Potato to come. At this time, my boyfriend was still waiting on his main dish which was the Wagyu (we waited for almost 40 minutes by now), so he asked the service staff about it. At this point, we were already planning to just cancel our remaining orders if they weren't prepared yet so we could just have our second round of dinner at Shake Shack downstairs. The staff very nicely told us that she would help us cancel our remaining orders, and we were like NICE, LET'S GET OUT OF HERE AND GET A NORMAL MEAL.

Then suddenly she returned with a dish, the Bread & Dip (S$10), and said the Wagyu would be coming out in 2 minutes. We were like, oh if it's coming then whatever la, let's just finish this ppali ppali and go to Shake Shack... and then we realized, "Wait a minute, we did not order the Bread & Dip!". They got our order for the Duck Fat Potato wrong! Now all the faces at the table were already black... but we told the flustered waitress, it's alright, we'll just take the dish.

Luckily, the Bread & Dip was really nice and we loved how soft and fluffy the bread was. The hummus was also heavenly!

I've worked in F&B before so I know that most of the time the service staff get shit for mistakes the kitchen made, so we didn't blame the staff at all. The lady we spoke to was also really nice and apologized to us, and explained that the kitchen was a big mess right now. She even offered to give us free drinks and wine to make up for the mishap, but we said it's alright.

In another 5 minutes, the Wagyu Hanging Tender (S$50) was served, which had onion jam, marsala wine, and bone marrow jus. Now this dish was decently sized and after all, it was Wagyu, so I thought S$50 was reasonable. The Wagyu was really, really good - soft, juicy, and thick. It was definitely one of the most memorable dishes of the night.

After dinner, we made our payment and headed straight to Shake Shack for another round of dinner.

There are a few things I want to highlight in this NY Verden review. First is that the portions here are really ridiculously small and whoever decided on this should be sacked. We wouldn't have minded paying more for a decent portion since the food actually tasted pretty good.

Second, it took way too long for the dishes to be served. At one point, there was a 30-minute gap between the serving of two mains, and we also realized that our table was largely neglected. The food coming out of the kitchen kept going to the other tables, and we were over at the other side waiting for so long! We also didn't really get to eat together because none of the mains were served at the same time - it was like a course meal where person A would eat and finish, and then person B would eat, and then the next person, and so on. The whole dining experience was just terrible.

Third, NY Verden can't decide on the concept that it wants to be. Was it 'NY' or fusion? Fine dining or casual? The dishes were plated like ones you would see in a French restaurant, but there were hints of Japanese inspiration in the food as well. The restaurant was designed to look rather high class, but the ambiance was just so noisy like we were in a coffee shop.

However, we were really grateful to the staff as they were really friendly throughout the night and also apologized to us when we waited so long. We couldn't help but feel bad for them as well.

So should you come to NY Verden? If you've got a lot of money to burn and expect to leave the restaurant with your tummy 30% full, then be my guest! If the taste is your priority, you can consider giving NV Verden a go because I'm not denying that the food is almost fantastic. But if you rather leave with a full, happy stomach, I suggest you look elsewhere.

Thanks for reading, and see you next post!