Ember

C says:

Our anniversary is upon us yet again, and what better way to celebrate surviving another year of pain and suffering, than to head to our firm favourite Ember. Actually, for the second year running we had to have our Ember anniversary dinner a day earlier, because our anniversary falls on a Sunday this year and Ember is closed on Sundays.



We had the deep fried tofu and the angel hair pasta with shaved abalone again. While the tofu packs a serious flavour punch because of the foie gras mirin sauce, I prefer the abalone pasta just that little bit more, because it’s refreshing and just as flavourful, but in a more subtle, less in-your-face way. The portion isn’t very big, but they’re very generous with the shaved abalone. I just wish they’d give a little more pasta.


We also tried a new dish – the pan seared scallops with pumpkin puree. Wow. Another great dish – the scallops were perfectly seared and very fresh, and all the flavours on the plate just went really well together. A was clearly enamoured with this dish, so being the selfless wife I just took a bite and left the rest for him.


Our traditional anniversary dinner at Ember wouldn’t be the same without the Chilean seabass with bacon and mushroom ragout and yuzu truffle butter. Unlike A, I’ve never had the problem of diminishing returns on this dish, so I was happy to have this almost all to myself.


There’s a new Chilean seabass dish here – it comes with mentaiko crust, and is served with a bottarga hollandaise. I had my doubts about ordering two Chilean seabass dishes, but A was insistent that he wanted to try this. Well, he claims that he preferred it to my old faithful, but I beg to differ. It actually tasted distinctly Asian, a bit like sambal fish – this was reinforced by the waitress, who likened it to hae bee hiam. So much for A’s Western palate... My old faithful was flawless as always. It’s wonderful to know that some things just don’t change.



Desserts are admittedly not their strongest suit here, but I do quite like their coconut panna cotta with red rubies. A had the banana tart with vanilla instead of lavender ice cream. Both ended off a stellar meal perfectly.

There aren’t many places where every single dish lives up to expectations. Even Sage had that weird crab salad starter that was a tiny blip in an otherwise awesome meal. Maybe it’s because we always order the same things here, but I’m really happy that a year on, Ember’s standard has remained consistently high.

A says:

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.

The hard to get parking is the only drawback to this place.

Restaurant Ember
50 Keong Saik Road
Tel: 6347-1928
Monday to Friday: Lunch 11.30 am – 2 pm, Dinner 6.30 pm – 10 pm
Saturday: Dinner only
Closed Sunday