Stellar at 1-Altitude | Dining Above All

20th August 2013.
The last time I visited Stellar at 1 Raffles Place (OUB Tower) had been a long time ago. It is not the kind of place one visits everyday but rather to celebrate a special occasion and a rather impressive choice if you want a great view (just check the weather forecast first).

The best time to visit is about 6.30 pm – 7.30 pm when you can hang around 1-Altitude, the alfresco bar located on the top of OUB Tower designed by Kenzo Tange. Taller than the Marina Bay Sands and one of the 280m trinity of Singapore, you can be quite assured that you could get a good 360 degrees panorama of Singapore, not just downtown and Marina Bay Sands but also Jurong Island, the Southern Islands, 1-North and Bukit Timah

Cocktails before dinner.

After getting hyped up with fantastic panorama, we went downstairs to Stellar for our dinner. I was informed that after a couple of years, Stellar might be getting a facelift in the near future. The dinner started off with some really good bread paired with olive oil and balsamic vinegar as well as butter.

Then there was the amuse bouche, a mini starter of Hamachi,sake sorbet and shiso leaf. The combination of the light, herbal shiso leaves, fresh Hamachi and refreshing, mildly sweet sake sorbet was a great start for the meal.

Next up was the Scallop (28.00++ SGD), Open Ravioli of Scallop, Parmesan Custard, Pear and Zucchini Paper. It was a rather unique combination which has succulent, nicely seared scallop covered with layers of thin ravioli served on savoury parmesan custard and cubes of sweet pear. The zucchini paper was sweet and raisin-like. It was one of my favourite dishes for the dinner.

The Bone Marrow (24.00++ SGD) Bone marrow fritters, Crispy porky bits, Parsley salad and sauce gribiche has a more familiar range of flavours. The preparation, for a start, sounded tedious. The bone marrow was dug out and steamed with egg and cream before putting them back into the bone marrow again while the pig trotters was mixed some ingredients before deep-frying them with a coat of breadcrumbs. It was served with a salad sprinkled with crispy pork bits. I appreciate the contrasting textures but flavour wise, it was kind of monotonous.

The other dish that I enjoyed a lot was the Aglio Uni (44.00++ SGD) which is Chef Millar’s re-interpretation of the classic aglio olio. Instead of the usual butter, he uses Smoked Sea Urchin Butter which gives it a rather savoury, mild briny flavour to the pasta not to forget, buttery fragrance as well. The combination of ikuro, chopped leeks, ebi sakura, capellini and sea urchin butter went extremely well with the wood fired king prawns. However, my only gripe with this pasta is that it tends to get overwhelmingly salty towards the end.

The dish that didn’t work for me as part of the dinner menu rather than dish was the Yellow Fin Tuna. The Yellow Fin Tuna (44.00++ SGD), Wood Fired Yellow Fin Tuna, Rissoni, Broadbeans, petit pois and mint with fromage blanc and pickled cucumber on the other hand has a distinct, Mediterranean flavour that doesn’t quite fit the “oriental” taste profile of the preceding dishes. As a standalone dish however I thought it was rather interesting and I enjoyed the rissoni as well as the perfectly grilled yellow fin tuna a lot.

The Yellow Fin Tuna demonstrates how you could configure your menu to your own personal taste. Out of several items featuring a star ingredient, you are given the freedom to pick a number of them to form a 4 – 6 course menu which gives a better value than a la carte orders.

While some of the dishes earlier had a “Japanese” slant, Chef Millar, explained that he actually draws his experience from his Australian roots such as the abundance of fresh uni back in Australia for the Agilo Uni.

Meat Lovers can enjoy a trio of prime meats such as Mutton, Beef and Pork with the Meat Platter (120 – 140++ SGD, min.2 pax sharing). Diners who ordered this get to pick their choice of Studio William Meat Blades as well. Gimmicky in my opinion but these blades are really sharp and great for meat dishes. Our meat platter featured 4 kinds of meat including 2 kinds of beef cuts, Victorian lamb rack and US Yorkshire Pork Rack.

These were served with an array of sauces and condiments as well such Dijon mustard,blue cheese sauce, morey sauce. Foie gras sauce and chili jam. My favourite item in the platter was the Victorian Lamb Rack which was excellent on its own. The meat was very tender, very fragrant with a nice smoky flavour from the grill. Oh, the seasonal vegetables served as side was wonderful too. The US Yorkshire Pork goes quite well with the chili jam which has a distinct cumin taste.

Finally, the meal ended with a sweet bang. The Sweet Experience was a theatrical experience itself as a pastry chef (in this case Chef Millar himself) crafts a beautiful piece of cuisine art on the spot for you. Chef Millar mentioned that he tries to create a kind of magical “Harry Potter” experience for the dinners in the Sweet Experience.

Featured in the Sweet Experience is the Valrhona Chocolate Bomb, Flaming Baked Alaska, Caramel Crème Brulee, Ginger Raspberry Tart, Amazing French Strawberries with rhubarb glacee. The climax of the ‘show’ was the revealing of the valrhona chocolate bomb as warm raspberry sauce was poured on the chocolate globe, hence melting its chocolate dome.

My favourite among the various sweets presented on this dessert platter was the Flaming Baked Alaska with its contrasting textures (and temperatures). Last but not least, for dinners who ordered coffee or tea, you get to enjoy specially crafted truffles such as Mango Sorbet coated with White Chocolate or a Berry Sorbet coated with Dark Chocolate.

Service was excellent, the server, Nicole was very attentive and tries to interact with us throughout the dinner service. While I was fine with the service, some might find it bordering on the line of over-attentive service. Overall, I had to admit that the prices here ain’t cheap, it is easily within the $$$$$ range but if you are looking for somewhere to enjoy the panorama 280 meters above ground with decent food, Stellar is somewhere you can consider. Come October, Stellar would be participating in Restaurant Week too.

Stellar
Former OUB Centre
Level 62
1 Raffles Place
Singapore 048616

The nearest MRT Station is Raffles Place MRT Station.

Thank you Immelia from the 1-Rochester Group for the invitation!

Spices Cafe | Harvest of the Sea

7th August 2013.
A buffet is one of the best ways to entertain a crowd with varying tastes. Our initial plan to go Traders Hotel for its 1-for-1 deal failed and we ended up at Spices Café at the Concorde Hotel (formerly the Le Meridien Hotel).

For dinner, they have a Harvest of the Sea Buffet. One of the star features of this buffet is the complimentary “200 gms” lobster for each diner which can be prepared in 3 ways: Thai BBQ, XO Sauce or Cheese. Pictured here is the Cheese Lobster which my younger brother thought it was too cheesy. Among the 3 however, cheese seemed to get more approvals.

And the other feature of the buffet is the free-flow crab which can be prepared in several ways. I only went for the Chili Crab and the Black Pepper Crab. Clearly, the buffet is a quantity rather than quality one.

While the crabs were free-flow, there was inconsistency in the freshness of the crabs. It is a pity because, both the Black Pepper Crab and Chili Crab gravy were not bad actually. Be prepared to get your hands dirty while eating those crabs. They provide washing bowls but we prefer heading to the toilet.

The buffet selection isn’t huge but enough to make a family happy. Here are some photos to show what was on offer during our visit.

The seafood selection comprises of oysters, scallops, prawns and mussels. The salmon sashimi was decent but the tuna sashimi was icy.

For appetizers, I enjoyed their Mussel with Salsa, Spicy Jellyfish Salad and Cold Poached Salmon.

Hot main dishes include Cuttlefish cooked in Gongbao Style, Tempura, Steamed Fish, Sea Cucumber with Broccoli, Grilled Chicken and a pretty decent Grilled Lamb as well as Lobster Bisque.

Special mention goes to the Herbal Prawns with its soothing and flavoursome soup. There is also a Pasta station where you can get pastas cooked a la minute. My mum had seconds to my surprise (she doesn’t eat pastas).

The desserts were rather pedestrian. Their Honeydew Jelly was not bad. The crème brulee was tasteless though and the Mango Delight was too sour.

All in all, this is the place to come if you really love eating crabs and prefer somewhere spacious. The only drinks available were coffee, tea (just tea, no milk tea etc.) and water. One thing I observed about Spices Café is that they clear the used plates rather quickly. Something, I really appreciate when going for buffets.

Spices Cafe
Concorde Hotel
100 Orchard Road
3/F Concorde Hotel Singapore

Monday to Thursday:
Adult: $48++ *Child: $20++
Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Eve of Public Holiday & Public Holiday:
Adult: $52++ *Child: $20++

DBS and UOB Cardholders can enjoy 3+1 offers at Spices Café for dinner, lunch or high-tea.

Black Sheep Cafe | A Re-Visit

10th August 2013
Posted by Xin Li and Mu Yao. Photographs by Mu Yao.
Just about a couple of weeks after the visit to Black Sheep Café, I was back again to try some of the new items on menu and their lunch set menu which cost 26 – 29.50 SGD depending on whether you are getting 2 or 3 courses. Both comes with tea or coffee from Puro (:

Before I move on to the new items, I just got to order the Cheeky Pork on Sauteed Greens and Pear with Orange Glaze (28.50 SGD). It was good, the pork itself was very tender and the wrapped around the tender flesh is a crispy (but rather fatty) pork skin. Together with the orange glaze, it was really good.

Mu Yao:
Had nothing to say other than the fact that I'm a sucker for savoury and sweet things mixed together. The sweetness of the orange glaze was saccharine enough to balance the rich savoury taste of the pork, which is brilliant.

The set lunch menu was too heavy on the palate in my opinion, both starters, the Goat Cheese Salad and the Mushroom Soup (originally asparagus but it ran out so it was changed to mushroom) were rather quite heavy in terms of flavour and texture.

Mu Yao:
I loved the Goat Cheese Salad as a starter because I am quite a sucker for cheeses. The rich, heady creaminess of the goat cheese arrested me with a slight smokiness, complemented wonderfully with the tart tomatoes and the mesclun salad. The walnuts were a lovely touch as well, sealing in all that dairy creamy goodness with a smoky nutty taste and texture.

For the choice of mains, you could opt for the Duck Confit Crepe, a cream-based pasta or the beef fillet which are again heavy dishes in my opinion. All of my friends had the Duck Confit Crepe which proved to be underwhelming in the sense that the dish doesn’t do justice to the actual duck confit that Chef Ratha serves, the duck here was not as tender and while the mushroom cream sauce was pretty good, the dish gets monotonous towards the end. The addition of relish and cherry tomatoes helps to compensate for that but more variation in textures could have helped.

Mu Yao:
What I really appreciated was the sweet and spicy cherry tomato/pepper relish by the side, which broke the monotonous creaminess of the sauce. It was very uniform, and got a bit sick of it after eating everything, and I would have appreciated more flavours enticing my mouth. It was pretty underwhelming, and the heavy sauce sort of drowned out the actual taste of the duck itself. While it wasn't dry, it was slightly sinewy as well. I definitely recommend his mains, which I think, are much better.

In the original lunch set menu, the dessert was supposed to be a Crème Brulee, another heavy dessert. Thankfully we were able to request for a change to a Pear Crumble beforehand because one of my friends was a fan of his crumble dessert the last time we had a celebration at Black Sheep Café. Thankfully the desserts left a good overall impression, my friends enjoyed their Pear Crumble with Rum and Raisin Ice Cream a lot.

Mu Yao:
This dessert was a hit because of the slightly over-ripe pears inside that made the difference — a creamy sweetness and tenderness that melted into the rest of the crumble so well. I appreciated the wonderful fruits and that provided nice flavour contrasts, which are always a good thing.

For me, I had the Chocolate Boudini (9.50 SGD). Both Mu Yao and I think it is supposed to be “boudin” which means “pudding”. This dessert is probably Chef Ratha’s re-worked Flourless Chocolate Tart. It is like a lava cake embedded with grilled bananas and berries, topped off with a scoop of quality rum and raisin ice cream. I enjoyed it a lot. The fruits really help to balance the rich chocolate content in the dessert. Chef Ratha is still working to improve on this chocolate gem.

Overall, Black Sheep Café is still settling into its new haven at Thomson V, while the ambiance has been great and the food was pretty delicious, there are still things to iron out such as the set lunch menu which Chef Ratha is aware of . As of now, he is working to roll out a new set lunch menu in the near future.

Black Sheep Café
Thomson V, Basement 1
11 Sin Ming Road
Singapore 575629