Lunch at Bincho

C says:

The lunch sets at Bincho, available daily even on weekends, are a slightly less extravagant way to sample what Bincho has to offer. Even better, most of their a la carte menu is still available at lunch time too if, like us, you can't resist supplementing your lunch sets with an extra side or two. 

We ordered the Beef Tongue Don ($38) and the Pork Jowl Ikura Don ($40). First is an amuse bouche and a chicken skin salad. 

Next up was karaage - fried drumlets coated in a sweet teriyaki sauce. Both the salad and the karaage were good, but were really just there to pave the way for the awesome mains. 

The beef tongue was sensational. It was perfectly cooked, so flavourful and so incredibly unctuous. Bliss at first bite. 

The pork jowl and ikura don was also amazing. The pork had a wonderful texture, and the flavour combination of the fatty seared pork, sweet glaze and savory ikura was heavenly. 

Even the black sesame ice cream dessert was simple but really good. 

We honestly can't get enough of Bincho. Always immensely satisfying, and now with the lunch sets, maybe just a little easier on the wallet. 

A says:

Awesome.

Esquina

C says:

It's about time we posted about Esquina again. For those of you who are averse to their no-reservations policy, good news - they now accept reservations at lunch time! That, combined with a wallet-friendly set lunch ($33 for 2 courses, $40 for 3), should be more than enough to convert any Esquina cynics.

The set lunch is definitely a great deal - sitting at the counter watching the dishes come out of the kitchen, I can vouch for the fact that just as much care goes into preparing and plating the set lunch dishes as the regular a la carte ones.

A had the gazpacho with black olive burrata and heirloom tomatoes, and I had the slow cooked egg with curried rice and potato foam. A liked his dish because he likes all forms of gazpacho, but my egg and rice dish was exquisite. The curry was pronounced but not overpowering, and the oozy egg yolk from a perfectly slow cooked egg... mmmm.

A's main course was the roasted rump steak, and I had the pan fried snapper with sauteed prawns and a prawn bisque. Mine definitely was much better than A's, which was more ordinary. The snapper was perfectly cooked and really flavourful with the prawn bisque.

We had the same dessert though - the chocolate tea ice cream with a sacher sponge. Pity we couldn't swap the other set lunch dessert (the sliced manchego cheese with toast) to the very enticing-sounding churros on the regular menu. We'll try it next time.

We wouldn't be atetoomuch if we didn't add something to the set lunch selection. We ordered an additional dish - the honey chicken wings with artichoke foam and a bacon and oat crumble. Another classic Esquina-style dish, with intensely flavourful components and a killer sauce.

Quality is still excellent, but I hope it doesn't get too crowded at lunch time now. It's still my default go-to place whenever I have a precious day off work.

A says:

Still my favourite place to eat (lunch) in Singapore.

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon

C says:

This is ordinarily out of our usual price range for non-special occasions, but L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon has recently started serving lunch on Sundays, at relatively reasonable prices - $49 for 3 courses (limited selection of dishes), $68 for a 4-course (choose any appetizer, fish course, meat course and dessert) and $87 for a 5-course (same as 4-course but with the addition of a soup).

None of the soups were particularly enticing, so we both went with the fish and meat menu. The amuse bouche was a foie gras custard with truffle and parmesan foam - a winning combination of flavours and pretty tasty.

For the first course we both opted for the pig head terrine with slow cooked egg and olives. The gelatinous bits of the meat from the pig's head were wrapped inside a casing made from pig skin then fried. It was a very rich dish because of the sticky, gelatinous texture of the meat combined with the skin (which still had singed bits of hair on it), so the small portion was about all I could handle. The olives helped cut through the richness though.

A had a bacalao polenta with jamon, and I had the prawns with kaffir lime leaf. The prawns were pretty ordinary compared to the awesome bacalao, which was flavourful enough on its own, and went to a whole other level when paired with the umami-packed slices of jamon.

Most of the meat dishes were quite ordinary - roast chicken, or thinly sliced beef on rocket salad. I decided to top up my set for the roasted quail dish - the leg was really tender, and the breast perfectly cooked and stuffed with foie gras.

A went with the spaghetti carbonara, which he regretted to some extent because of how pedestrian he thought it was, but it was a damn good plate of carbonara. The dish was infused with flavours of bacon fat, and the sauce was just bacon fat and egg, no cream, so it was silky and smooth without being too rich.

We were each served a little dish of the legendary Robuchon mashed potatoes, but even though I requested at the start that ours weren't dumbed down (I'd heard that they may veer away from the 50-50 ratio in Singapore to cater to a reduced appetite for butter-rich food), I doubt they prepared a separate batch for us. I haven't been to any of the other Robuchons so I can't vouch for whether the one we had was the full-on version or not - it was very good, but I didn't get an overwhelming sense of butteriness from it.

A had the profiteroles for dessert, and I had a chocolate and salt caramel mousse with diced mango. The profiteroles were quite ordinary compared to the relative complexity of the mousse. Hidden within the mousse were bits of popping candy, which added an unexpectedly playful note.

We were one of the first customers at noon, and service was excellent when lunch started out. As it got more crowded, the waitstaff were getting quite stretched, and while the kitchen got the orders out in perfect time, they were generally let down by the speed of the service staff. Our desserts, which were prepped in a separate kitchen, took ages to arrive, not to mention the bill, and again the credit card slip for payment. I would have given this place top marks if not for the almost half hour wait (in total) from desserts till we finally paid the bill.

A says:

The food is fantastic but the question is whether it is worth paying astronomical prices for. In terms of the Sunday set lunch (which isn't cheap until you compare it to the regular menu prices) then the answer is yes, it's worth it. Other than that, I probably won't empty my wallet for it.

The service started great, but once the restuarant filled up with fellow cheapskates, the standard dropped tremendously. Our original server switched to another station and service was almost non-existent from our mains onwards. Maybe it's a different story if you go at dinner and pay the big bucks.

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon
Resorts World Sentosa
Tel: 6577-7888
Dinner: Daily, 6 pm – 10.30 pm
Lunch: Sunday, 12 noon -  2 pm

Nicolas Le Restaurant

C says:

Ever since Nicolas Le Restaurant closed their Keong Saik Street outlet a while back, their re-opening has been awaited with bated breath. They finally opened at Teck Lim Road late last year. Their set lunches are a very good deal - $42 for 3 courses (one of each course), and $68 for a multi-course (3 appetizers) lunch degustation. To get the most variety, we went with one $42, and one $68 one.
 

We started out with a plate of 2 amuse bouches, which unfortunately wasn’t explained to us at all. One was some kind of cheesy gougere I think, and the other was a quenelle of duck rillette on a cracker.
 

The $42 set lunch offered 4 appetizers to choose from, 3 of which were part of the $68 degustation, so of course we chose the missing one as the starter for the set lunch – a beef tartare with sweet potato crisps and a sunny side up quail's egg. I liked that the tartare was quite roughly chopped - gave it some bite and texture.

The degustation started with a hen egg with caviar, xeres cream and a deep fried tempura (of sorts) prawn. I didn't discern the caviar, but I liked the perfectly cooked egg.

Next up was the black ink tonnarelli pasta with sakura ebi. Vast difference between this and the version we had at InITALY... The light broth in which this was served was briny and insanely flavourful. The pasta and sakura ebi were good too, but the broth was clearly the star.

Third appetizer for the degustation was a ravioli with confit vine tomato and seared Iberico pork. The cheese-filled ravioli and tomato were perfect together, and the pork was fabulous - seared and crisp outside, and a solid medium rare inside. Most of us are used to pork being cooked all the way through, but when the pork is good quality and reared in proper conditions, it can actually be treated like steak. Both the texture and flavour of the medium rare pork were outstanding.

Our mains were a slow roasted rack of lamb, and the special of the day - pigeon two-ways. The lamb was very simply served with mini ravioli and some mash, and a lamb jus sauce.

The pigeon stole the show, though. The leg was confited, and the breast seared. Again, props to them for serving the breast quite rare. It was really tender and the flavour of the meat came through without being excessively gamey.

Dessert was a tasting trio of vanilla ice cream with strawberry crepe, a tuile served on top of a yogurt mousse and chocolate ganache. The chocolate was a bit too potent for me, but the ice cream was really good, and I loved the yogurt tuile.

Overall, lunch was very enjoyable and also very good value. Props to Chef Nicolas for manning the kitchen with only one sous chef. The place wasn't full throughout lunch service, making this a very viable lunch option.

The only criticism is that service was a bit sketchy - more than once we had food placed in front of us without any explanation at all. While I don't need the history of each ingredient explained to me, a brief reminder of the components of each dish (given that we don't have the menus in front of us during lunch) would be helpful.

A says:

Even better than before. While I felt the old one was a bit on the stuffy side, this place is now more like fine dining with a somewhat casual feel. The set lunch is also great value (all things considered, i.e. still not cheap). Overall, definitely would go back.

Nicolas Le Restaurant
10 Teck Lim Road
Tel: 6224-2404
Open daily: 12 noon - 2 pm; 6.30 pm - 10 pm
www.restaurantnicolas.com

Osteria La Luna Rossa

C says:

This semi fine-dining restaurant at Scotts Square has been slowly but steadily garnering good reviews for their Italian cuisine with a distinct Japanese twist. Menu prices are probably in the Otto/Oso category, but they have some pretty good value set lunches (ranging from $30 to $60) which FYI are also available on weekends.

The ambience is more formal than I expected, but at the same time it’s not fussy or intimidating; the service staff are very polite, yet still friendly.

They have 3 set lunches – a $30 pasta lunch, a $40 classic 3 course lunch with a few more options, and a $60 5-course executive lunch. We decided on one classic, one executive, and shared an additional pasta.

The classic lunch starter was a prosciutto panna cotta with shrimp, peperonta and pineapple. The panna cotta tasted oddly like ham-flavoured La Vache Qui Rit cream cheese, which though not unpleasant was still a bit disconcerting. Not sure that the pineapple bits were necessary too.

The executive lunch starter was an antipasti trio, with mixed vegetables in an anchovy sauce, a fresh oyster, and earl grey cured salmon. Again, ok but not spectacular.

The second course for the executive set was supposed to be roasted white asparagus with truffle scrambled egg, but white asparagus season has ended so they changed it to a seafood parcel with cous cous. This was pretty good – the cous cous was nicely flavoured with all the yummy seafood juices, and studded with mozzarella.

The pasta in the executive set was a squid ink-blackened tagliolini with crab, ginger and pepperoncino. This was remarkably like chilli crab, and while I liked it, A found that the squid ink pasta was overwhelmed by the sauce.

The additional pasta I ordered a la carte was a chitarra pasta with uni and asparagus in a carbonara sauce. This was very good, with the carbonara sauce not too thick and rich, but the taste of the uni was quite subtle and again, got sort of lost amongst everything else.

The executive main was a roast magret duck breast with balsamic sauce. Some slices of duck were a bit overdone, but the slices in the centre, which were done more medium, were much better.

For the classic lunch main, I decided against the mushroom and bacon risotto (carb overload!) in favour of the braised beef cheek in red wine and acacia honey. This was a very hearty portion and very well done. The beef wasn’t overly braised so that it fell apart, but it was very rich and unctuous so sharing it definitely helped.

Desserts seemed a bit of an afterthought. The classic came with a Valrhona chocolate cake, and the executive had a trio of desserts that included the chocolate cake, together with a matcha cheesecake and pineapple sorbet.

Generally, I expected to be a lot more impressed than I actually was. None of the dishes were bad in any way; they just weren't particularly memorable. It’s a pretty nice respite in the middle of town though – very much a ladies who lunch place. Ah well, I can dream…

A says:

Service is spectacular. Unfortunately, the food, while very good, didn’t blow me away. I’d recommend this for a business lunch or tai-tais.

Osteria La Luna Rossa

6 Scotts Road

#02-01 Scotts Square

Tel: 6636-2951

Lunch: 11:00 – 15:00
Dinner: 18:00 – 22:30

Hi Tea: 14:00 – 16:30 (Saturday and Sunday only)

www.laluna-rossa.com

Novus

C says:

For some reason, despite having a very satisfying wedding lunch here a few years ago, Novus has never been on our radar for repeat visits. After the lunch we had today though, I think it certainly ought to be.

For some reason I'm on their mailing list, and recently received an email about their winter set lunch promotion. Almost all the options looked enticing, and after establishing that their set lunch was also available on Saturday (they're closed on Sunday), we promptly made a reservation.

The set lunch is amazingly good value - $32 for 2 courses and $40 for 3. There are about 5 options for each course, with a handful incurring some additional supplements. If you're so inclined, the 3 courses can comprise 2 starters and a main as well.

Being partial to savoury courses, I went with that option because I simply couldn't decide which starter to have. In the end I had the burrata, and the Vitello Tonnato Reinvented. A, who had a more conventional 3 course, started with the burrata too. 

The burrata is served with heirloom tomatoes and a hearty dollop of pesto. Personally I don't like my burrata seasoned with anything other than a good amount of salt, pepper and olive oil. Anything less doesn't bring out the flavour of the cheese; anything more simply overwhelms it.

Having said that, I must admit that this was really good. The burrata was creamy, and the pesto brought everything together well, albeit a tad too dominantly. 

The slight reinvention of the Vitello Tonnato here was the addition of a quenelle of tuna tartare, rather than the traditional incorporation of tuna into the sauce. The tuna was a bit bland on its own, but went well with the tomato marmalade, and I liked the slightly lighter sauce with the veal slices. I wasn't too keen on their use of micro coriander though. I'm trying to train my palate not to dislike coriander, but I need to take baby steps. The one here was too strong and too prevalent for me. 

That seemed to be a recurring theme, because it was scattered all over my lobster risotto as well. This had the makings of a really good risotto. They use carnaroli rice, the grains have an al dente bite, and most importantly, it still oozes on the plate - the mark of a proper risotto. What was a bit disconcerting though, was a distinct alcoholic edge to the sauce. It tasted as though they hadn't properly allowed the alcohol to cook off when incorporating the wine. 

A had a gnocchi itch that just had to be scratched, so he ordered the wild mushroom gnocchi. This was good, if slightly predictable. Portions are surprisingly substantial for a set lunch - 2 carb-heavy choices probably weren't the best idea. 

My 3 courses were done, and on hindsight 2 starters before a heavy main probably wasn't a good idea. A's dessert was the Apple and Calvados Souffle with chocolate ice cream. The souffle was perfect - light, airy and not overly sweet.

Service was always polite, attentive and earnest, but some servers were new and a bit forgetful. Still, I liked their little touches, like giving little place cards describing each dish, and presenting each of us with a cupcake as we left. 

Their winter menu is available till 17 March. I'm actually tempted to go one more time, perhaps next Saturday.

A says:

Excellent. The setting’s a bit imposing and poncy but the service is unbelievably friendly and helpful. While the food may not be the best I’ve had in Singapore, it’s still very, very good, and unlike most finer dining places, the portions are pretty big.

Novus

National Museum of Singapore

93 Stamford Road

Tel: 6336-8770

Mon – Sat: 11.30 am to 2.30 pm; 6.30 pm to 10.30 pm

www.novus.sg

Salt Grill

C says:

This is one of those places which are a bit too intimidating for us to attempt for a normal dinner service. Instead, I was on leave today so we came for the weekday set lunch. Located on Level 55 of ION Orchard, Salt boasts a pretty spectacular view – from our table we could see all the way to Keppel Bay and beyond. Access is from the concierge desk on Level 4, and they verify your reservation there before allowing you to take the elevator up to the Sky Gallery.

The set lunch, at $40 for 2 courses, isn’t the best deal in town, but given the prices of the degustation and a la carte menus, it’s almost understandable. Portions are pretty small, so 2 courses is good for a very light lunch. For us, we added another starter from the a la carte menu to share.

From the set menu, A had one of Luke’s signatures, the Sydney crab omelette with miso mustard broth. I expected quite a lot from the crab, since it’s a signature dish, but I found it slightly underwhelming. Flavours were quite clean but overall not much of a wow factor.

I had the Salt salad – baby vegetables, slow poached hen’s egg and buffalo mozzarella, drizzled with some truffle oil. I preferred my dish because it was really simple, but both the egg and the vegetables were done really well, and in a way that showcased them.

The additional starter was Spanish anchovies with semi dried tomato and garlic toast. This knocked everything out of the park. The flavours of each element were good on their own, and absolutely amazing when eaten together.

My main course was grilled Kurobuta pork with a huge disc of herb butter and served with green beans. The pork was nicely grilled, and the bits with the fat were tender and juicy, but some parts were a bit dry and chewy.

A went with the pan fried gnocchi with seasonal vegetables and truffle jus. Surprisingly, I think this was executed better than my pork. The gnocchi was amazingly light, yet had a nice crisp exterior from being pan fried, and the vegetables were again cooked to tender perfection.

Food was good, but will we return for dinner? Given that it’ll set us back at least $150 per person, I’m not sure. Maybe this is one of those places, like Osia, which are way better value at lunch and hence more enjoyable as a result.

A says:

Excellent view. Excellent service. But the food, which was very good, fell just short of excellent. The only thing that blew me away was the sundried tomato component of our order of anchovies.

Conclusion – a great place to take visitors and guests, for special events, and maybe for business lunches. For a regular place... probably not.

Salt Grill

Level 55 & 56, ION Orchard

Tel: 6592-5118

Lunch: 11.30 am to 3 pm

Dinner: 6 pm to 10.30 pm

www.saltgrill.com

Osia

C says:

An early contender for Best of 2011! It was purely by chance that we came here, since I’d never heard of Australian chef Scott Webster so this new “celebrity restaurant” at Resorts World has never been on my radar. But we were here for the Valentino Retrospective exhibition and thought we’d make the most of our outing by trying something interesting for lunch.

They have a very good set lunch, which I think (but can’t be sure until we try it for ourselves) is also available on weekends - $28 for 2 courses, and $38 for 3 courses. You can choose between 4 choices for the starter and main, but dessert is fixed.


We read good reviews about their flatbread, so decided to order one 2-course, one 3-course, and share an order of flatbread. We were drawn to two of the flatbread flavours – rosemary and black olive, and roasted garlic and butter – and when we told the waiter about our dilemma, he said we could order it half and half. Perfect!

The flatbread comes with a dip, conveniently packaged in a tube, and it apparently changes all the time. We’d read about the hummus, but today we got tomato and basil, which was fabulous – perfectly balanced, not too sweet nor too tart. The bread was very good, and coupled with the excellent dip, the meal was off to a very good start. If I had to choose, I’d say the rosemary and olive flatbread was just that much better.



Our starter choices were no brainers. A had the salmon tartare with a wasabi ice cream, and I had the polenta-crusted foie gras with a honey sponge cake. Both were excellent, and it was a smart decision crusting the foie gras with the polenta. Getting a nice crust on a seared foie gras can be quite difficult, so lightly breading it so that it had an instant crust was a good idea.


I had the hanging tender steak, and A ordered the Barramundi. Given my sole previous experience with this cut was at Meatworks, I hoped this would be a better gauge of what the cut is like. This was interesting. It was definitely better than the Meatworks one, but it definitely wasn’t fillet tender. It was still kinda chewy, but not in an overcooked or sinewy way. Still, it was cooked well and very flavourful.


A’s fish was very good, and I dare say better than mine. The fish was perfectly cooked and the skin was nice and crispy (why can’t I cook my fish skin like this!). The accompanying mash was also very good.


We shared the dessert, which was their signature dessert anyway – the hot Valrhona chocolate soup with black pepper ice cream. This sounded a bit strange, but actually the pepper was very subtle. The chocolate soup was actually more like a lava cake baked into the ramekin, and while it was a tad too chocolate-y for me, it went well with the ice cream.

We had one waiter who was amazing. Very polite and friendly, suggested the half and half flatbread, and even indulged us when we asked if they sold their dips (alas, they don’t). We’re definitely planning a return visit for dinner.

A says:

Awesome service from our waiter. And the lunch set is an amazing deal. A definite contender for best of 2011.

Too bad it’s at Resorts World which limits how often we’d go. And too bad they probably see their share of irritating tourists. I pity the wait staff there.

Osia
Resorts World Sentosa
L2, FestiveWalk
Tel: 6577-6560
Lunch:
Sun-Wed: 12:00pm – 02:30pm, Thurs-Sat: 12:00pm - 03:00pm
Dinner:
Sun-Wed: 6:00pm – 10:00pm, Thurs-Sat: 6:00pm – 10:30pm