[Invited Tasting] Lunch at Five Marbles Craft Beer Restaurant @ Rendezvous Hotel

9 Bras Basah Road, Level 1, Rendezvous Hotel, Singapore 189559

Tel: 9692 0678

Website: https://fivemarbles.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fivemarbles

Located within Rendezvous Hotel @ Bras Basah Road are 2 rather frequent hangouts of mine - Stuttgart Blackforest Boutique S-Cafe (review here) and The Auld Alliance (review here).

I was pleased to note that recently, another interesting craft beer restaurant has taken over the round courtyard area at the hotel itself, serving up quality craft beers and beer-infused menu. This restaurant is none other than Five Marbles Craft Beer Restaurant, and I am honoured to be invited for their tasting session.

The courtyard gives the place plenty of natural lighting in the daytime, and its location is as prominent as it could get, right where one steps into Rendezvous Hotel. Decor seems to take after the owner - straightforward but comfortable, catering to beer drinkers with more sophisticated palate. Menu is a fusionized blend of Italian dishes with local, and most items contain beer.

Beer is served on tap and there are many types to choose from. My favorites include the following:
1. Brewdog Dead Pony Session Pale Ale (SGD$5.00 / SGD$10.00), containing sweet floral notes
2. Stockade Hop Splicer Grapefruit XPA (SGD$6.00 / $12.00), extra pale ale that was easy on the palate teasing with beautiful grapefruit flavour
3. Gosnell's Citra Sea Mead (SGD$7.00 / SGD$14.00) - feminine and elegant with delicate taste of honey
4. Young's Double Chocolate Stout (SGD$5.00 / $10.00) - the name gives it all away
5. Zeffer Apple Crumble Cider (SGD$6.00 / SGD$12.00) is the perfect lady's alcoholic beverage; imagine your favorite dessert in liquid form.

Other notable flavours for me were Innocence Calamity Coffee Ale (SGD$6.00 / SGD$12.00), Tiny Rebel Marshmallow Porter (SGD$7.00 / SGD$14.00) and Innocence Kranji Kakis Ginger Beer (SGD$6.00 / SGD$12.00). The latter had a heavy bouquet but taste was a stark contrast, surprisingly.

Moving on to food. We started with Craft Beer Mushroom Soup (SGD$9.00), a thick and creamy earthly delicacy made with oyster mushroom, shiitake mushroom, white button mushroom and portobello mushroom with a good dash of beer. It was slurped within seconds and beer flavour was mild, so makes for easy consumption. Chunky mushrooms added bite too.

Next up, Beer Grilled Honey Wings (SGD$9.00 / SGD$16.00), gently sweetened in taste and well-moistened to retain softness.

The Salted Egg Fish Crisps (SGD$9.00) crackled as anticipated and hit with a good burst of salted egg-iness; the perfect snacks for beer lovers.

Grilled Yakitori Meat Skewers (SGD$15.00) - succulent sticks of chicken thigh cubes drizzled with tasty yakitori sauce.

Then we had Green Curry Lychee Duck Linguine (SGD$19.00) topped with halved hard-boiled quail eggs. The pasta dish looked deceptively simple but the spiciness sneaked up like a mild burst of fireworks. I enjoyed this very much.

Following that, we tried the Bolognese Linguine (SGD$16.00) - pasta softened the way the local folks prefer, the beef sauce is simmered in the pot for a good 6 hours so flavour was wonderful.

Next, Portobello Chicken Cheese Baked Beer Rice (SGD$16.00) - it may sound like a mouthful, but this is a very tasty mouthful made up of fresh Portobello mushroom and grilled pulled chicken beneath a golden layer of cheese.

The final mains we had was the Craft Beer Chicken Rice (SGD$16.00), paying homage to Beer Can Chicken concept. The Cajun-flavoured whole chicken thigh was grilled to succulence and served with house-cooked aromatic chicken rice that was nearly crispy.

Last but not least, Alcoholic Float Desserts!! There was Crumble and Tumble (SGD$15.00) - a creamy dreamy slurp-it-up frothy drink made up of Apple Cider and Coconut ice-cream.

The White Princess (SGD$17.00) was composed with Sea Mead beer and Coconut ice-cream, another sweet concoction laced with the unique flavour of Sea Mead - this beer float will make you yearning for more.

Bringing up the rear was Calamity Affogato (SGD$15.00), a rich concoction of vanilla ice-cream and their robust Coffee Ale, indulgently bittersweet.

If I had thought that I could never appreciate beer, I was wrong. The education of quality craft beers and understanding key differences shed new light on the world of wheat. I definitely enjoyed the tasting session and will be back for more.

Thank you Five Marbles Craft Beer Restaurant for hosting us, and Hence for extending the invite.