The BetterField, High Street

Our experience at the BetterField could almost be summed up in two words - "almost there." The space is generous with space and natural light, but let down by a sad-looking counter space that takes center stage. It is one of those under-the-radar restaurants that surely deserves more props for its pleasing noms, provided they make some minor tweaks. It was quite the quiet Saturday service so the chef himself came out to take our orders, which was nice but some of the actual younger wait staff were quite clueless throughout our time there.

Every now and then, I get the steak cravings - a real carnivorous need to ingest some red meat into me system. The BetterField is known for their budget beef cakes, and we went with one of the specials for the day - a 300g grass-fed piece from the River Run. White the steak was nicely charred and medium rare as requested, it didn't rest long enough before being sliced. Rookie mistake huh? The salad was a little carelessly dressed, but the mustard mush was nibs-lessly smooth. 

It is not every you met a duck confit under $25 and we went to town with their French Duck Confit. A crisp duck confit paired with tart berry sauce is cause of joy; yet the meat was shy of being juicy and moist. The side salad wasn't amazing either. Again, almost there.

For our kids, the chef himself recommend the Furikake Pasta with Prawns and I must say, it is one of the best pastas I have ever had. The only dish that I reserve all accolades for is the pasta. This. Was. Good. 

The sauce was rich and briny, packed with ridiculous flavour that I have been trying to pick out all afternoon. The kitchen was kind enough to separate portions for our boys - one with slightly more for the elder boy - but Mama and Papa stole more than a few bites of this umami-isa pasta.And those prawn heads? You bet we cleaned them out.

Some of the other dishes sounded very promising so I wouldn't rule out another visit. I just hope they challenge themselves to take things up a notch, and the tables would be filled up.