ROUSE

First heard about Rouse online when some people were buzzing about how cool and hip it was.
And when I saw Shamsydar Ani’s post on Instagram about the food, we simply could not resist! But could the food live up to its reputation?

And when the HungryGoWhere Guest Instagrammer ‘5 Halal Pastas’ project came along, it was a given because ROUSE had a pasta dish that a few people had recommended.

So one fine evening, we eagerly made our way down to Dunlop Street with great expectations.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup ($7.90)

First up for starters was the Roasted Butternut Squash Soup.
I’ll be honest and say that I’ve had Butternut Squash before but never as a soup. For me, it tasted like a cross between pumpkin and sweet potato so I was interested to see how it would be.

I’d have to say I quite enjoyed it! The soup was creamy and was tasty. You could tastes the butternut squash and also the seasoning as well without it being overpowering.

A smooth start to our meal I’d say.

Quinoa Quake ($16.90)

First thing to note – I kept calling this the ‘Quinoa Cake’ but it’s actually QUAKE! LOL.
And secondly – I’m not sure whether I should classify this as an appetizer or a main.
The menu places it under ‘Savouries’ which is a separate section from the ‘Mains’ so I guess I can classify this as an appetizer.

That being said, this is quite an expensive appetizer at $16.90!
(In fact, even a pasta main course costs the same on the menu)

What exactly is Quinoa anyways?
Well, it’s actually a type of grain or a cereal that’s so healthy that it’s classified as a ‘superfood’. Surely that means it’s gotta be good for you right?

The Quinoa Quake at Rouse is served with Smoked Salmon (ZOMG), a poached egg, lemon dill yoghurt and some leafy greens to top off the whole healthy experience. I actually quite like the Quinoa patty itself. It has a nice breading and was especially good with the tasty lemon dill yoghurt.
And I am such a sucker for Smoked Salmon. I guess my biggest issue was the price because this dish was not enough to be filling on its own and yet had a price up there with the mains. Maybe quinoa is really expensive? I am really not sure.

Beef Wrapped Asparagus ($16.90)

I actually hadn’t heard of this one but Mein Brudder says “a lot of people said this one is the bomb” so surely we had to try it right?

So there’s 2 spears of asparagus which the wrap with a slice of beef. They lay invitingly on a bed of pumpkin mash while a poached egg awaits on a slice of toast. This would normally sounds like it was gonna be great to me but somehow the end result was not what we expected.

The beef was… well… I’m not quite sure how to describe it.
The outside was tough (maybe a bit overcooked?) but the inside part closer to the asparagus was… very underdone to say the least. We didn’t finish the beef.

But we did finish the pumpkin mash and the egg and the toast though. Such a pity about the beef.
Mein Brudder did quite like the flavour though.

Spicy Asian Penne Crab Pasta ($16.90)

And we finally got to the dish that we came for. The pasta dish to be featured on HungryGoWhere’s Guest Instagrammer feature! Surely this had to be worth it right?

Thankfully, this one hit the spot.
It kinda had a Thai accent to it with the chilli and the lemongrass (there plenty of small slices of lemongrass you cannot miss them). If you’re worried about it being too spicy, don’t worry.

The serving of crab meat was really generous and as with most pasta dishes, this was really filling.
But just to confirm for you, this one does not have any sauce to go with it okay.

And what did we have to drink?

Iced Chocolate ($6.50)

Nice and rich with chocolate flavour, this is an obvious must have for all your choco-holics.
Refreshing but still not too heavy to have with your meal. I’m guessing this is (and will be) quite a firm favourite with a lot of people!

Iced Peppermint Cucumber Tea ($6.50)

If I said the Iced Chocolate was refreshing, this is 10x more refreshing!
I decided to go a slightly different route with my beverage choice and saw this rather unique option.

I’m quite surprised at how much I enjoyed this. It was nice and tasty and even though I could taste the cucumber, it was not weird at all. Maybe I’m a jakun and I don’t try enough healthy drinks or juices but if they all taste like this then I don’t mind!

Adam’s Verdict:
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup 3/5 — Quinoa Quake 4/5 — Beef Wrapped Asparagus 1/5
Spicy Asian Penne Crab Pasta 3.5/5 — Iced Peppermint Cucumber Tea 4.5/5

Azlan’s Verdict:
Quinoa Quake 4/5 — Beef Wrapped Asparagus 3/5 — Spicy Asian Penne Crab Pasta 4/5
Iced Chocolate 3.5/5

I guess one of the reasons Rouse is making a name for itself is because it’s quite a simple and laidback spot where you can chill with some friends. The decor itself is very simple as you can see.

But be sure to get a good table by going early. We made our plans a little bit too late and ended up sitting in the middle of the walkway in front of the door and on small crates no less.
That’s right. We sat on crates. you can see an example in that picture above. See the crate?

Well, there are still a few things on the menu that we’d like to try so I guess we’ll visit again soon.