Omphaloskepsis: The Curious Case of Oriole Cafe (& Bar)

Omphaloskepsis is a curious - almost idiosyncratic - kind of hobby. The term also happens to be one of my favourite, for I have a penchant for strange words, some of which have sadly fallen into desuetude. While words like "allochthonous" and "parvanimity" send wave of ecstasy all the same, "omphaloskepsis" probably ties in more neatly with the theme at hand, i.e., food. On one hand, the act of navel-gazing is redolent of admiring one's tummy (more like a burgeoning belly thanks to all the food); on the other, the same practice can get one lost in a whirl - a vortex - of daydreams, just like how reading food reviews that are of the same opinion may make one more hesitant of expressing a contrasting viewpoint. On this note, allow me to expound on the curious (yes, "curious" yet again) case of Oriole cafe, an establishment located at Somerset that has been touted to serve good food but which failed to do so on my visit. 

Having amassed a 74% thumbs-up rating on HungryGoWhere, I had definitely expected better of Oriole. For the mains, I had the St Louis Pork Ribs ($32) while my dining partner had the Baked Seafood Linguini ($26). The former came with manis chilli marinade, samba matah, sweet potato fries and tossed greens. While the pork ribs were listed as a specialty, there was certainly nothing much to boast about - the meat was not well-grilled and lacked sufficient marination, and worst of all, there was rather little meat to pick off the rib bones - an anorexic member of the Sus genus, perhaps? The only redeeming factor would have been the sweet potato fries, an attempt by Oriole at distinguishing themselves from the commonplace fries or truffle fries. 

St Louis Pork Ribs

As for the Baked Seafood Linguini, it was served in parchment paper and consisted of linguine, prawns, scallops and snapper fillet topped with roasted tomato sauce. According to my dining partner, the linguini was dry and tasted rather mediocre, although the generous portion of seafood was commendable.

Wrapped up like a mummy in a sarcophagus

As for the wines, due to their Happy Hour (3-9pm), we had the two-for-one red wine deal and opted for their Terrazas Malbec (Argentina) house pour ($14), which was medium-bodied and was quite smooth on the throat. In addition to that, being a oenophile, I decided to give the lychee prosecco a shot as it was a rather unconventional twist to the usual prosecco. Indeed, the prosecco gave off a whiff of the scent of lychees, although it was rather similar to other sparkling wines taste-wise. 

All in all, dinner at Oriole was quite a disappointment given all the hype about the restaurant. Nevertheless, I might make a return trip to try out their coffees and the several other wines on their menu. One thing that Oriole might wish to consider, though, would be to find a niche, instead of being overly ambitious in aiming to simultaneously be a cafe and a bar.