Joie Restaurant by DOZO

Welcome back to my blog! I know I do not have frequent updates but I'll try to update more. Here goes....
If there is anything that I cannot leave without, that would be FOOD! I love food and trying out dishes that seems interesting and sometimes...just weird. So, I stumbled upon this fascinating restaurant that serves vegetarian food while I was well, randomly scrolling through Google. The restaurant is called Joie Restaurant by DOZO (the full name).

A little information about Joie (pronounced as Joy),
Joie is located at Orchard Central, the heart of Singapore where it is bustling with people especially after office hours and weekends. There are a lot of shopping malls and shops around so don't be afraid you'll get bored while waiting for your reservation time to reach.
Joie Restaurant focuses a lot on private dining so...feel free to leave a remark to them indicating that you want to have a private room during your reservation. They serve a set of Japanese-European style dishes so be prepared to be amazed at their creation. Oh! It's a meatless restaurant. You're warned that you will be shocked after seeing their menu of so...impossible dishes. Even someone who hates eating (my partner) said the food was amazing and an eye-opener.

Let's drive Right In!

After we settled down, a welcome dish was served. It was meant for you to enjoy and also acts as a refresher while waiting for your starter to be ready.

I'm unsure of the actual naming for this drink but the taste of it is sour and really cooling with a hint of mint (refer to Pic 1). The drink comes along with some deep fried soba noodles which are really crunchy and tastes unique. Honestly, It is the first time I have ever seen Deep Fried Noodle!

Pic 1

refresher and fried noodle

The starter:

Since there was 2 of us, we order different dishes for each course other than the starter which is fixed.

Chef's Selection of Assorted Platter

This platter consists of a Rasberry (If I'm not wrong) mousse, Carrots, and seaweed cracker. The service staff did explain the dish, however, I was too excited and didn't pay much attention :') THO...... he mentioned to first start with the carrots in the middle, followed by the seaweed cracker and lastly the raspberry mousse.
This is where I'm like.....WTH! How do you slice and roll carrots into...like a salmon??
Anyway, the carrots not only look like salmon, it even taste like one. It is like...super soft. The only thing that ensures it is veg and not real salmon is that it absorbs water. Meat doesn't absorb water and I'm sure of that. The seaweed cracker is a little spicy (I think the green dots on it is wasabi) and slightly sweet (from the clear pink red dots). Lastly, the raspberry mousse is very sour but....it serves as a good finish for the whole platter. Like, cleanse your taste buds for the next dish.

Side Dish:

Gratinated Champignon with Mozzarella

I believe this is the vegetarian version of escargots (people call it snail). The button mushrooms are baked/grilled with super alot of cheese, like really alot. If you are one who loves cheese, this is the perfect dish for you.

Bailing Mushroom on Paper Hot Pot

Bailing Mushroom is what people use as mocked abalone in Chinese dishes due to its texture. I personally feel that this dish is more of Chinese style but the Hot Stone plate is something I doubt Chinese will use in their dishes. This dish is slightly on the salty side and I believe if you can mix the seaweed in with the sauce from the start, it would be more fragrant.

That block of stone is seriously HOT

Cold Dish:

The cold dish choices are only served during dinner at Joie.

Vegetable Sashimi on Ice with Sea Grapes Shooter Glass

Even till now, I still can't believe the orange thing is carrots and not salmon. Seriously! Look at that white stripes and texture.
This dish is made up of coconut (white slices on the middle of green leaf), Konjac, huai san (the 3 roll like thing), aloe vera sashimi translucent red on top left), sea grapes shooter glass. I didnt get to try the sea grapes but from the experssion on my partner's face, it seems to taste really weird. I had a fun laughing time looking at the sudden change. Basically, the sea grapes are to be the last to be eaten.

Dragon Fruit Lotus with Truffle Vegetable Garden

First of all, I'm someone who doesn't like eating fruits. like.....seriously. But, this sounded interesting so I decided to try it out. The dish originally comes with a glass dome shape cover for the dragon fruit. I wonder how much skill is needed to cut the fruit into such a pretty shape.

Made up of dragon fruit with Japanese dressing, vegetable salad and asparagus perfumed with truffle.

Honestly, I won't mind eating this everyday coz it tastes great!. ahahah. I found a new way to eat my fruits.

Soup:

Pumpkin Veloute

Pumpkin veloute with tomato clabatta. Since I'm not a fan of pumpkins and this taste of thick pumpkin, I didnt try it. If you like sweet and creamy, this should be something you would wanna try.

Infusion of Cepes and Truffle

Made with cepes mushroom with white winter truffle oil and black truffles. Let me say this first. mushrooms and truffles were on my NO NO list till I visited Joie. The 2 indregients compliments each other rather than overpowering one another so....this is good. I won't mind going back for more of yummes.

Main:

Finally, the Main Dish! Everything seems too good, it was a very hard time deciding which to go for.

Grill Summer Mushroom Steak on "Pu-Ye" Hot Stone

It is at this dish that I realised, Joie serve lots of truffle and mushroom dishes. A little late hhmmm

There is the fried noodle in a shape of a fan and their special sauce on the small side dish. This "steak" is made of grilled monkey head mushroom on lava stone serv with truffle mash potato.

Hm...too much mushroom. Like, literally. The whole Potato shaped thing is mushroom so...in the end, it does get a little...sickening. Mushroom Lovers, this is your must go item on the menu.

Truffle Risotto

HeHeHe, I choose something fulfilling. Well, risotto would never go wrong when you can't decide.

Risotto with black truffle, cepes and edamamme, topped with mascarpone cream and Japanese croquette

I seriously can't describe how this taste like but...It is extra creamy and cheesy if anything, The croquette is also good to give an extra bite.

Dessert & Drink:

The last 2 courses are served together.

Warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream / Ice Mallow Apple Melody

The dessert: Warm chocolate cake with vanilla Ice cream.
This is a real sweet dish. and the cake is a lava cake.

The drink: Ice Mallow Apple Melody (blend of mallow flowers, apple and guava juice)
There are real apples in the drink. I would suggest to shake and let the ice melt a bit before drinking. otherwise, the drink is pretty thick. should be enough for about 2 cups like that. Experience shaking a mixing container like a bartender. "wink" taste wise, it would be more of a fruit juice kinda drink but not too sweet.

Red Wine Poach Pear with Lime Sorbet / Hot Roselle Rhythm

The dessert: Red wine poach pear with lime sorbet

I expected the pear the taste like thick red wine. I meant, it says red wine poach pear. But nah. it is slight sour and sweet. Eat each bite with the lime sorbet and it fits so well.

The drink: Hot Roselle Rhythm (flavoured brew of citrus peels, herbs and roselle flowers)

I was deciding between cold or hot drink but since the place was pretty cold, I went with

a hot tea. This is a sour kind of tea. I like sour food so.......I LOVE IT!