Waku Ghin – 28 Mar 2017

Finally. Just under 6 years after my first fine dining experience at Tetsuya’s, I finally made it to Waku Ghin. Technically that makes it the restaurant I’ve had on my wishlist for the longest! I almost didn’t go ahead with the booking though. I knew that it was potentially expensive, but I didn’t expect it to be Noma level expensive! At 450SGD plus tax and service charges, it would be my second most expensive meal to date. But, I had to go, because it closes my Tetsuya loop.

First of all, the booking process was essentially the same as that of Tetsuya’s. I emailed them, they emailed me back, I filled in my credit card details, they secured me a table. Now it was just a matter of waiting.

Then on the 28th of March, it was finally time to trek to Marina Bay Sands and check out the amazing complex. It turns out even with instructions, I’m bad at navigating indoors. It took me a few goes to finally get to the elevator that went up to the restaurant floor. Then, I was somewhat baffled because Waku Ghin’s door wasn’t open so I didn’t see that there was a door! I walked all the way around and back before realising there was a handle and that all I had to do was push.

I was lead into a small room that seated about 5-6 people, in front of a shiny, super clean hot plate which looked a lot like we were going to experience a teppanyaki style dinner.

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Rockpool 1989 – 14 August 2014

Rockpool, a place I’ve wanted to visit since before Rockpool Bar and Grill, but never found the opportunity to until I decided to squeeze it into a two day Sydney visit.  Their new place on Bridge St is super pretty and I love waiters that are suited up and are wearing lapel pins too! I do really regret not having visited sooner, as I would have loved to have seen what it was like back on George St, and I admit I was put off because it served Asian cuisine, but I can confirm it’s actually well worth it and for once, doesn’t taste like my parents’ cooking.

It’s essentially a degustation plus up to three extra courses (2 savoury and 1 sweet) to finish up. Since everything on the menu looked tasty, I went for three courses.

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Vue de Monde – 10 December 2013

I didn’t know too much about Melbourne on both my 2012 and 2013  visits, so trying to figure out which restaurant to book was a little tricky. I had failed to book Attica in 2013, around about the time it was ranked 21st in the San Pellegrino Top 50 Restaurants list. The only place I had really wanted to go to was Cumulus Inc/Cumulus Up, so after thinking and taking a stab in the dark, I chose Vue de Monde.

It sits in the Rialto tower and gets a view of the city, though not really a pretty view or anything. What was exciting though, was this was probably the most fun and interactive degustations I’ve had, especially considering I had dined at Momofuku Seiobo not even two weeks prior.

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Quay – 06 December 2011

Quay was the second degustation I had, and my third fine dining experience. I only compare this to Tetsuaya’s, however, and not Rockpool Bar and Grill. I was still relatively new to the game, so I wasn’t sure what to expect when I arrived. I only knew three things about Quay at the time – Jewels, Snow Egg, and Peter Gilmore. Oh, I do believe it was ranked 26th in the San Pellegrino Top 50 Restaurants at roughly this time.

I’d looked up at Quay every time I walked past the Overseas Passenger Terminal, wondering what mysterious entry point the restaurant had. It turns out it was actually ordinary, just a set of stairs to the upper level. We’d arrived early for our booking, but they were accommodating and allowed us to pass time on the balcony while they finished setting up for the night’s service. As a bonus, when they were ready, we were seated at a window table – a prime spot for the view! Being the only diners at the time, we had several waiters offer menus and drinks. As a side of trivia, Masterchef once filmed an episode here where I marvelled at the silver ceiling. It turns out in real life, it’s not as shiny and as a few tarnishes from all that cleaning.

That night, there was a large ship docked outside the restaurant, so the staff apologised for the view. They did mention that it would be departing shortly, and they even made conversation in regards to watching a fluouro-vested man at the docks having been there for the last two hours to ensure everything went smoothly.

While they have an a la carte menu, we opted for the degustation. We were then presented with an amuse bouche of ginger milk curd in a seaweed and oyster consomme. It was delicous and warming, and helped stimulate our appetites for what was to come.

Continue reading Quay – 06 December 2011