Food Picks: Carbon-conscious dining, Mediterranean fare and Easter treats

If you are planning a fun-filled Easter celebration this weekend, consider adding The Marmalade Pantry's Cracking Surprises Easter Egg (right, $38++, $30+ with any online purchase) to your shopping list.

With the small wooden hammer provided, crack the dark couverture chocolate shell to reveal jelly beans, flower-shaped marshmallows and mini chocolates.

The chocolate egg is also in the bistro's other bundles.

The Eggcellent Easter Tea Set ($96++, good for two, available at Oasia Hotel Downtown and Novena outlets, 3 to 6pm daily) features savoury sandwiches and sweet treats such as purple macarons, Blush Velvet Petite Cupcakes and taro Swiss rolls.

In the Mixed Joy Cupcake Set ($64++) are six signature cupcakes, including Japanese Sencha, Pistachio Raspberry Rose and Cranberry Lychee flavours.

Where: The Marmalade Pantry outlets at 04-11A Ion Orchard, 2 Orchard Turn; 01-02/04 Oasia Hotel Novena, 8 Sinaran Drive; 01-01 Oasia Hotel Downtown, 100 Peck Seah Street; and 01-35 BHG Bugis Junction, 200 Victoria Street
MRT: Orchard/Novena/Tanjong Pagar/Bugis
When: Till April 17
Info: Order at The Marmalade Pantry's website

In conjunction with Earth Day on April 22, Mexican hospitality group Super Loco Group has rolled out its first Loco Earth Month to promote a carbon-conscious lifestyle.

An Earth Month menu at its three restaurants offers dishes featuring ethically raised ingredients with a low-carbon footprint that are sustainably sourced locally or regionally.

Go for the four-course dinner set menu ($80 a person), which starts with Garden Flautas - crispy spinach herb tortillas filled with quinoa and goat's cheese - served with sikil pak dip made from repurposing excess pumpkin seeds, lime sour cream and cactus pico de gallo.

This is followed by the plant-based Fable Al Pastor Taco. The taco is usually filled with pork, but here, it is made with Australia's plant-based food brand Fable Food, which is known for its alternative meat made from shiitake mushrooms.

I like the various elements in the taco - from the meat-like texture of the slow-braised Fable "meat" that reminds me of lion's mane mushrooms andcrispy kale to roasted corn and watermelon radish.

The main course features barramundi from local fishery Kuhlbarra, with each restaurant doing a different take.

At Super Loco Customs House, I enjoy the pan-roasted barramundi with crisp skin on a herb salad, vibrant salsa verde and corn.

Over at the Robertson Quay branch, the fish is paired with chopped jalapenos, piquillo pepper and grilled corn salad, while sister brand Lucha Loco's pan-fried barramundi is served with cauliflower arroz (rice) and amaranth seeds.

The meal ends with Pomegranate Tres Leches (three milks), which has a layer each of milk sponge cake, coconut cream and tart pomegranate gelee served on charcoal crumble and tres leches sauce.

The dishes are available as a la carte options too.

Where: Lucha Loco at 15 Duxton Hill; Super Loco outlets at 01-04 Customs House, 70 Collyer Quay, and 01-13 The Quayside, 60 Robertson Quay
MRT:  Outram Park/Raffles Place/Fort Canning
When: Till April 30
Info: Super Loco's website

While Black Marble steakhouse at Holland Village focuses on grilled meats, its new sister restaurant White Marble puts the spotlight on seafood and vegetables.

At the 158-seater at Orchard Rendezvous Hotel, chef-owner Otto Weibel showcases his passion for Mediterranean cuisine, covering regional flavours of Spain, Portugal, France, Morocco and the Middle East.

The best item for sharing is the Mezze Plate ($34 for two), a flavour-packed platter featuring tabbouleh salad with quinoa, a juicy chicken skewer, pita bread, falafel, fattouche salad, eggplant moutabbal dip and hummus.

Skewers are the highlight here, so go for Australian Lamb ($48) or Seafood ($38), which comes with prawns, swordfish and octopus.

The skewers are accompanied by three sauces - lemon garlic cream, harissa aioli and salbitxada, a Spanish sauce made with ingredients such as capsicum, red chilli, tomatoes and sherry vinegar.

Other dishes worth checking out include Prawn Bucatini Puttanesca ($28), sauteed with fresh cherry tomatoes, capers, olives, prawns and anchovies; and Chicken Leg Bone-in Tagine ($60 for two), a Moroccan stew with fork-tender chicken.

Pair the stew's delicious gravy with a side of curry leaf pilaf rice ($8++).

Where: 01-09 Orchard Rendezvous Hotel, 1 Tanglin Road
MRT: Orchard
Open: 11.30am to 10.30pm daily
Tel: 9772-9434
Info: White Marble's website