Looking for a new place to eat at this month? Here are 10 places worth checking out in Singapore this October.
There are more hits than misses at Restaurant Ards, which does not have an a la carte menu and serves an original fine-dining Asian cuisine.
Two young and relatively unknown chefs came on the restaurant scene here two weeks ago, boldly launching a fine-dining restaurant with a cuisine that no one has ventured into before.
They find inspiration in regional produce and do not copy what others are doing. Neither do they go down the mod-Sin route, which is frankly getting a bit tired. I am sure I am not the only person who doesn’t need to see another bak chor mee pasta or chilli crab anything.
At Restaurant Ards, the two chef-owners Ace Tan, 36, and David Lee, 24, use Asian ingredients and cooking techniques to come up with a menu that will not be out of place in a fine-dining Western restaurant.
And to their credit, they pull it off most of the time, without dishes that come across as gimmicky or trying too hard to be clever.
There is no a la carte menu at Ards, which stands for “Asia, roots, distinct, singular”.
For lunch, there are three-to five-course sets ($48 to $68 a person). For dinner, there are three set menus: Dawn (three courses at $88), Roots (five courses at $128) and a 15-course Piquant Illustration menu ($188).
The last menu best showcases what the two guys can do and, while there is certainly room to improve, there is much to commend. I like nine of the 15 items, which is not bad. Some well-known restaurants I have dined at have fared worse.
Among the items that has no place in a fine-dining menu is Ginseng Mantou And Tea Butter – a mildly flavoured steamed bun with a pat of equally flavourless butter, which seems pointless. The only nice touch are the bits of fried tea leaves sprinkled on the butter.
Apparently, that dish has been changed to a genmai cha mantou with ginseng butter a few days after I dine at the restaurant. But it still strikes me as a mere variation of the bread roll and butter that Western restaurants typically serve on the side. To make it a course in the meal seems odd and a cheap way to make up the 15 courses.
Mum’s Chicken Soup also does not sit well in the menu. The concoction of reduced chicken juice and herbs with cubes of wintermelon and a touch of coriander and lime is a cross between a consomme and a Cantonese soup. But it is hard to beat a Cantonese chef at a chicken and wintermelon soup. And the reduction results in the soup being too salty.
Another dish that needs rethinking is a canape called Touch Of Asia, comprising smoked pork wrapped with sweet potato leaves taco-style in a thin slice of raw carrot. It does not taste half-bad, but it is too big for one bite and everything falls out when you sink your teeth into it – leaving a mess on your hands.
Desserts are generally weak too, including something called Desserts’ Heritage that is too similar to a warm cheng tng, with its barley, dried longan, bird’s nest and housemade fruit vinegar.
These hiccups are, however, overshadowed by the successes.
Soy Bean Skewer, comprising housemade tofu with soya bean reduction, caramel and topped with crisped black moss, promises a good start to the meal with its play on textures and balance of flavours.
This mild-tasting dish is followed by something totally different – a tart slice of pickled pumpkin served with mint leaves, dill and pumpkin reduction called Origin Pickle.
It wakes up your taste buds, not with an assault, but through more gentle sensations of pumpkin and aromatic herbs.
Another dish to keep is 21st Egg Tart, with a wonderfully crumbly tart shell filled with raw Japanese corn, raw carrot and cornflakes that magically transform into wonderfully full flavours in the mouth.
33 Ingredients is my favourite. Although the server cannot name all the 33 – nor do I want him to because it is more important that I eat the dish before it gets cold – the plethora of textures and flavours makes this a palate pleaser.
The base of the dish is a timbale of diced ingredients, which include various types of mushrooms; grains from Japan, Cambodia and Thailand; sea cucumber; and fish maw. On top is a piece of deep-fried lotus root, tempura-style, which provides the dish with its principal character.
With some dishes, I am still sitting on the fence.
An example is Fish On Fish, which is more striking for the beautiful fish-shaped plate the dish is served on. The red garoupa fillet served with flower clams, goji and a touch of wasabi is decent, but the various ingredients do not come together, leaving one to wonder whether they need to be put together at all.
Restaurant Ards is not perfect – yet. But its potential is unmistakable and I can only see it improving as the two chefs grow in confidence and build up their network of food suppliers. Their next menu will be one to watch.
76 Duxton Road
For affordable Vietnamese fare, casual restaurant chain Pho Street is right up my alley.
Its new menu offers a dish that is turning out to be my new favourite – spicy pork combination rice vermicelli ($8.90), which is pho with a spicy soup base, sliced pork and pork balls.
The soup is way hotter than it looks and I like that it really packs a punch with its spicy and sour notes.
For those who prefer a dry noodle dish, go for the refreshing rice vermicelli with grilled pork belly and spring roll with pickled carrots and radish ($8.90).
Complete your meal with the eatery’s street snacks. These include a rice cracker and cucumber platter with a caramelised dried shrimp dip ($6.90); and its rice vermicelli wrap with pork belly ($6.90), which is crisp and tender.
Pho Street, several outlets
I’m developing an obsession with tendon (tempura on rice) because it is the perfect combination of fried stuff and carbs. My new haunt is Shitamachi Tendon Akimitsu, which hails from Asakusa in Tokyo, Japan.
I go straight for the signature mixed tendon ($14.90) with prawn, fish, egg, seaweed and assorted vegetables such as brinjal, baby corn, pumpkin and mushrooms.
The egg is perfectly runny and coated in the same light and crispy batter as the ingredients.
The fried seaweed is an interesting addition but was unfortunately rather hard. I notice that another diner had taken only one bite of her fried seaweed, too.
While one can choose between the original sauce and spicy sauce, I recommend the original sweet sauce as the spicy sauce lacked heat and did not have a kick.
The menu also offers vegetable tendon ($12.90) and tempura rice sets (from $13.90) where the tempura is served separately from the rice. The sets come with soup and chawanmushi and there is a free flow of pickled cabbage and beansprouts at the table.
Such good value.
#04-65 Plaza Singapura, 68 Orchard Road
Everything looks delicious at Korean fishcake brand Samjin Amook at Ion Orchard’s basement food hall, which sells fishcake-based snacks (amook is Korean for fishcake). The snacks are priced between $1.20 and $5.50 and are displayed like loaves of bread at a bakery.
Start with the popular amook croquettes, which are made with amook instead of potato. The cheese amook croquette ($2.30) is filled with melted mozzarella and cheddar and covered in a crisp layer of breadcrumbs.
Another highlight is the prawn roll hot dog ($3.50) which is made with a skewered whole prawn coated with amook instead of a sausage. I love the combination of amook with the juicy and sweet prawn.
I also try the red shrimp paprika ($2) and crabmeat flower ($2.80) topped with a cube of crabmeat and smelt roe – which pops satisfyingly when I bite into it.
This is one snack shop I’ll be visiting frequently.
#B4-34 Ion Orchard, 2 Orchard Turn
Now, with chef Chi Leung Tse, a 20-year veteran in Cantonese cuisine who joined in May, Char is looking to make some noise again, with an ambitious 70 per cent change to its menu. It now also offers casual Cantonese dishes.
But fans need not fret – the char siew has remained and there is a new version.
I am chill about how people eat their food. But I am triggered when people order lean char siew – they are missing the point of eating char siew.
So, imagine my disappointment when – at first glance – I did not spot much fat in the Premium Slow-Roasted Char Siew ($20; 10 portions a day).
Even the glossy coat and aromatic smokiness from lychee wood could not distract me.
But that changed after my first bite: The meat is tender and juicy, without the parched chew that lean char siew has.
As impressive as the new char siew is, the Signature Char Siew ($6 per 100g, minimum 300g) still wins. It is fatty, juicy and worth the calories.
You cannot be a Cantonese restaurant without offering soup and the Signature Double Boiled Chicken Soup ($10) is excellent.
Like most good soups, it looks unassuming. The milky colour is achieved by boiling chicken bones and cartilage, and it does not prepare you for how robust the soup is.
New on the menu is the Black Garlic Stewed Chicken In Casserole ($15.80).
This homespun dish is elevated with black garlic, which gives it a sweetness that some may like.
I was told the Charcoal Bean Curd With Spinach And Wild Fungi ($14.80) is the breakout star of the new menu.
Charcoal powder is added to the homemade bean curd, which gives it a gorgeous colour.
Each block of bean curd is steamed and deep-fried before it is laid on poached spinach.
The garnishes and the skin of the bean curd registered salty to me, and I can handle my salt. But have this with rice and it should balance out.
The best part is that the curd is silky smooth.
Singapore is hardly a farming society, but – like everywhere else – the farm-to-table concept is catching on here.
With more vegetable and fish farms popping up, there is enough harvest to sell to restaurants.
The owners of Ah Hua Kelong, which has an online home delivery service for seafood, are going into the restaurant business themselves to showcase their produce.
They have stalls selling steamed and grilled seafood at The Grandstand and The Bedok Marketplace, but recently started a proper restaurant called Scaled By Ah Hua Kelong.
It uses the kitchen at cocktail bar Bar Stories, located on the second floor of a shophouse in Haji Lane, and serves dinner in the bar.
The menu is small, with just 10 items (five under Small Plates, five under Big Plates) and an omakase option at $32 or $58, depending on how much food you want.
Instead of going the mod-Sin route by turning hawker fare into Western-style restaurant dishes, Scaled’s cooking here does not fall into a particular genre.
There are Asian and Western elements, but not something you can put a country’s stamp on. The fusion of cuisines comes across as more organic than deliberate.
The idea, says Ah Hua Kelong’s managing director Wong Jing Kai, is to open diners’ minds to what can be done to the farm’s produce beyond the usual cooking methods and thus boost sales of its home deliveries.
That is why you find a Small Plate such as Locally Harvested XL Clams priced at just $12 for four, while the same number of live clams for home delivery costs $18.
At Scaled, the oversized clams are steamed and served with butterscotch and a dollop of burnt miso. They are more chewy than normal-sized clams but taste sweet, something that is unfortunately masked by the salty miso. When I help myself to a second clam, I scrape most of the miso off and it tastes better.
The ideas for Scaled’s dishes are interesting and the chefs do not appear to copy or follow trends. You won’t find yet another chilli crab pasta here.
But as with the clams, there are often little things that can be better, which can sometimes be easily tweaked.
Another example is the Black Grouper En Papillote ($26), a Big Plate. The fish fillet is baked wrapped in paper with glass noodles and lala clams in what is described as a “Cantonese-style broth”. It should have a well-balanced sweet-salty sauce, but I find the soya sauce-laced broth too sugary.
Another problem, which is more difficult to solve, is that compared with the wild-caught groupers I enjoyed in the 1980s, the fish available in the market these days has a chewier texture. But youngsters who grew up eating only farmed grouper may find nothing wrong with the fish here.
Pomfret ($22), which is slow-cooked and served with tofu puree, kimchi, pickled onions, pita chips and an “Asian chimichurri” of chopped local herbs, is delicious. All the different flavours come together really well and I especially like the crispy strips of deep-fried pita.
But the dish is served cold – which is very odd for something tucked among other main dishes under Big Plates.
So my vote for favourite main dish goes to Curry Mussels ($16 or $18), which has an original sauce that is more rendang than curry and is nicely spiced without overpowering the sweet and perfectly cooked shellfish. You can choose either mantou or pasta- either will work with the sauce.
For Small Plates, I’d suggest the Smoked Seabass Pate ($14), which has a lovely smokiness and is not at all fishy. Well-seasoned and topped with a spoonful of tobiko (flying fish roe) for texture, it is delicious on a piece of toast.
Fresh Crispy Squid ($12) is probably the least exciting item. It’s deep-fried calamari with a bit of spice in the batter to give it an Asian touch. But it boasts such a light and crisp batter that I’d recommend it too.
The squid is bigger than what most restaurants use for calamari, so the pieces are thicker. But their freshness ensures that they are not tough, just a tad more chewy.
Being a bar, the premises are tight and tables are small. It’s not a place for a family dinner and there is no dessert to round out the meal. The plus side, however, is that you can pair your meal with one of the cocktails that Bar Stories is famous for.
55 Haji Lane
Adding to the pool of Japanese curry rice joints here is Fujiyama Dragon Curry, which comes from Hiroshima. The five-year-old chain has five outlets across Japan and its maiden overseas outlet here is helmed by the same owner behind mazesoba shop Kajiken three doors down in Orchid Hotel.
Diners can choose from seven types of Japanese curry rice dishes.
Signature dishes include Cheese Curry ($15.70), which is cooked with a gooey mix of gouda cheese, Breaded Deep-Fried Pork Curry ($16.70), Garlic Pork Belly Curry ($15.70) and Deep-Fried Chicken Curry ($15.70).
Can’t decide which curry to have? Get the All Topping Wild Curry ($19.70, above), which is loaded with pork katsu, chicken karaage, garlic pork belly and cheese.
The rice is drenched in a house-made curry that is concocted from a blend of 20 spices and is served with spring onions, shredded lettuce, minced pork and an onsen egg.
For a more wholesome meal, opt for the 16-grain rice that includes brown rice, red bean and barley, at no extra charge. Diners can choose from three levels of spiciness for the curry and get an upsized portion of rice for free.
They can also help themselves to the chicken stock. Pour it into the bowl of curry rice to get a congee.
#01-03 Orchid Hotel, 1 Tras Link
Get your fried chicken fix – in South-east Asian flavours – at this self-service joint.
The 68-seat eatery offers fried spice-battered chicken coated in a sticky kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soya sauce) and a fiery Spicy Flamin’ that is seasoned with a chilli blend. Prices start at $8.50 for one drumstick and three two-joint wings.
Sink your teeth into burgers such as Cluckin’ Good ($7.90), which has a lemongrass-seasoned chicken thigh fillet cushioned between malasada (Portuguese doughnuts).
Do not miss the sides, which include We Meat Again ($6.50), fries topped with slow-cooked minced beef rendang, and Tat’s Egg-citing! ($5.90), which has fries tossed in salted egg yolk sauce, nacho cheese and tomato salsa.
Sticky Wings is owned by ABR Holdings, which runs the Swensen’s restaurant chain.
#02-05 Westgate, 3 Gateway Drive
The lounge in the Marina Bay Sands hotel lobby has recently been revamped. The 100-seat lounge and bar serves Asian-inspired bites and cocktails.
Taking centre stage on the menu is the Afternoon High Tea (from $48, above) at 2 and 4pm daily.
Tea connoisseurs can have their customised teas brewed tableside and pair teas with herbs and flowers from the integrated resort’s herb garden.
Teas include Durian Lapis, which is durian-flavoured black tea, and nasi lemak and mango sticky rice tea from home-grown tea purveyor, Ette.
Bites in the three-course afternoon tea menu include prawn avocado with tobiko aioli sandwich, freshly baked scones and yuzu cream cheese mille-feuille.
Food highlights include poached Boston lobster with potato hash ($38), pork and foie gras croquette ($48) and the Alaskan king crab dashi jelly ($48).
Go tipple-happy with cocktails such as Renku Lager ($15), which is infused with green tea and Rosella ($20), a blend of gin, Cocchi Rosa, champagne and wild forest berry tea.
Lobby, Marina Ba Sands, Tower 1
Brunch is often an adult and girlfriends-only affair but at Summerlong, your little ones get to partake in it too.
Featuring items like Grilled Fish with sweet potato crisps and garlic mash ($12), Chicken Pot Pie ($10) and grilled prawns with rice pilaf ($14), your kids will be well and nutritiously fed. Summerlong also serves up soft serve (starting at $4) so if you’re trying to get them to eat healthy, reward them with some afterwards!
For a dish that’s typical of brunch, make sure you order the Blueberry Pancakes served with lemon butterscotch syrup, mascarpone and a square slice of honeycomb (above). For $18, you get three fluffy pieces of pancakes that’s perfect for sharing and definitely worth the price.
Not a fan of the sweet stuff? Then you’ll love the Smoked Salmon with sous vide egg, capers and pickled shallot ($20). The combination is served on rye bread, making it a dish that’s full of texture and high on flavours — an ultimate treat, we say.
Finish it all off with a pitcher of Summerlong Spritz ($50). The restaurant’s rendition of an Aperol Spritz is sweet, refreshing and nicely balanced — especially on a hot day.
#01-04, 60 Robertson Quay
Text: Straits Times and The New Paper Additional Reporting: Atika Lim
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