Friday, January 16, 2009

The Rabbit Hole

Rabbit Hole is the watering hole of its sister restaurant, the White Rabbit at this lovely restored chapel at Dempsey.It's opened by the folks who are behind Loof. Simarly the gorgeous ambience here attracts its fair share of eye candies on a Friday night too.

Before I go on, I must caution you that you should drive here (we saw a whole group of angmohs outisde white rabbit at 1230am trying to hail a cab, how sensible) and even if you do, you are warned that the entry point to the carpark is this dark turn in, and you are greeted by the valet whether you like it or not. That either goes to show how full the carpark is, or how they're really trying to squeeze in all the revenue they can get from that space. (well the carpark was indeed full). Despite parking the car myself I was still expected to tip the valet (for vacating a lot and keeping the area around my car empty so I can move out)

Secondly, reservations for the Rabbit Hole are a must. And even then the person on the other line told us the indoor bar area was open till 2am when it doesnt!! it closes at 1230am (and we were there at 1130pm). We liked the quieter interiors (although obviously, there was more buzz at the outdoor bar, especially with the dj spinning.)
The outdoor bar closes at 2am. So when we got there things got a little complicated - in the end we shifted from the indoor area to the outdoor bar.
Last order for bar food (which we were there for) is at 1230am.

alot of shaky night shots..this is on the way into the rabbit hole. This brings you straight to the outdoor bar. I believe there's another entrance proper for White Rabbit itself.

The bar.

The indoor bar is right at the other end of the restaurant. I 've seen the place in daylight before (when it was closed) and everything is really bright and white and the light filtering in through the tainted glass is very pretty indeed.
From where we sat, it was a corner of the patio and we could spy on the interior (largely empty by supper time) and the buzzling activity around us. They really make use of the entire compound, dotting tables around the courtyard, and having quaint tables surrounded by nicely pruned plants. Feels very Alice in Wonderlandish.
The crowd is obviously quite well heeled and well, we feel young here.
And another thing they told me over the phone was that desserts are still available for supper but they ran out tonight =( they ran out of the truffle brie toast as well, so we ordered everything else except for the oyster shooters and the french fries (which we'd rather have at Barracks). I really wanted to try the Baked Alaskan and the deconstructed BlackForest cake.

Sole Lollipops $11
served with ikura and mayonnaise
Tender and smooth white fish finely breaded and deep fried. This was quite tasty.
Duck Pastilla $9
deep fried spring rolls of duck confit and mango dusted with cinammon sugar
I liked this better but my friends all said it tasted exactly like charsiew...which I don't eat. The duck was quite tender and flavourful - cant really taste the cinnamon nor mango cos the duck aroma was quite strong. Maybe its just the colourful language to dress up the dish name.
Mac and Cheese $9
Macaroni in a creamy cheese sauce
I doubt this is the version that White Rabbit is famous for because that comes with black truffles and a truffle sauce. This particular mac and cheese is very milky though - so if you are used to the Kenny Rogers version (which Chong and I had last year) where the cheese is really dense the way we like it, then this is going to be a watered down version. I can taste the different types of cheese - there is possibly brie, mozarrella and cheddar there.
There are many cute vintage items around..
I stopped the car to take this shot...really quite stunning at night...
After supper, Celene, Dom, Xueling and I headed to Zouk for Dave Dresden but we didnt stay for long - while Cel and Dom headed back after Xueling and I decided to max our night and catch a movie...
So off we were to watch Eden Lake at Cineleisure. The original plan was to watch Changeling but no luck at 330am. So horror it was.
It turned out not to be like what the newspapers reviewed it to be - an intelligent cat and mouse hunt. Xueling watched Saw and said Saw was definitely more intelligent. This is plain sadism.
Well....after that we decided to create our own Eden Lake adventure.
For the uninitiated, Eden Lake is about a couple who gets stalked, taunted and tortured by a gang of kids on this island. The boyfriend eventually died, and the girlfriend (a very useless one at that) escaped, killing one of the gangsters on the way,and at the end when she found civilisation she walked into another trap : it housed the gangsters' parents.. Chong, i realise all our movies all turn out to be pretty pointless: Wanted, WallE... we need to make wiser choices.
So anyways. we found ourselves at Sentosa at 530am. We drove through St James before that but the party was over but we saw many many police around and even an ambulance. Eventually this mad guy driving a lancer in front of us rammed down the barrier before zooming out to Sentosa Gateway. Whacky.
We learnt a few things today. Firstly, the best place to catch sunrise is Tanjong Beach. Second thing, it is damnnnn deserted, even the drive in was freaky. When we reached the remote carpark we immediately zoomed off to Siloso. The way in was really dammn dammn dark and the road was very narrow. dannnngerous.
The beach car park on the other hand was more lighted up, and we felt safer especially with the 7-11 there.Our safety haven - we parked the car at the beach carpark below and found ourselves here.
our makeshift picnic mat. Better than newspaper!
Simple joys like star gazing and hearing the waves are a rare luxury in our hectic lifestyles. And here in Singapore where everything is so built up we seem to forget nature and how to live it slow.
Watching the sky brighten up (well we were in the west at Siloso, cant watch sunrise)
on the way to the southernmost point
The Southermost point
From the lookout at the Southernmost point.
The third thing we learnt was, the beach really feels exclusive early in the morning when there arent annoying tweens and family making a lot of noise. See how empty it is? Very quiet, peaceful, and calming.
Sentosa sometimes give an artificial vibe though....the flowers are of cos real but...the way they are arranged are so neat and so...planned. Just like everything else in the political landscape in Singapore.
And the resort like fake music playing in the background is totally unnecssary..trying too hard

Spot the Julie...
We wanted to have breakfast at Prive so we drove there but it only opens at 9am so we took a walk at Mount Faber..this was on the way to Henderson waves.
Do you see a cyclist there? There are MANY MANY of them zooming down at around 8am and they think its their grandfathers road so please be careful when you are driving up.
Anyway, the healthy lifestyles of those joggers and cyclists made us feel very ashamed of our unhealthy lifestyles and i think i should try to revamp my blog to PROMOTE HEALTHY LIVING! Get out of your chair, go breathe some fresh air, get your circulation going! Don't just gawk at food porn and clog your arteries !

Spot the balloons
The breakfast at Prive that never was.........our second time back... the opening hours are actually from 9am onwards but dun be deceived....9-10am is tea and coffee only (NOT EVEN THE CAKES ON DISPLAY, DAMIT) , proper food is served only from 10am onwards!!!! breakfast is not supposed to start at 10am!!! what about the jolly good old folks like here who came over from our cooling morning stroll, are we suppose to burn in the scorching sun while waiting for you to open?!
The White Rabbit & The Rabbit Hole
39C Harding Road
Tel: +65 6473 9965

3 comments:

ratatouille said...

pity your encounter at Prive. a hungry woman is an angry woman. did u end up having Macs for breakfast?

Unknown said...

hahahaha. spot the julie. rabbit hole's just a bar of sort that serves finger food? white rabbit is expensive tho.

julie said...

Hi Ratatouille, no we were so tired and grimy we were actually more in a need of a hot bath than anything else! bath, bed in breakfast was the ultimate indulgence after that crazy night out =P

Brad: yup rabbit hole is more of a bar, the food was secondary. The menu is so limited - the reverse of that menu I posted was the desserts, which unfortunately ran out that night..

yup white rabbit isnt cheap and i heard the food portions are puny and there are hits and misses..

but the ambience is lovely, especially since its a restored chapel..with its fair share of a gorgeous crowd as well..