212 326
WINE&DINE
212
October14
We sample the island’s newest restaurants,
so you can decide whether to follow suit
the
TASTE
TEST
This month:
LOWER EAST SIDE
TAQUERIA
CICHETI
EARL OF HINDH
VIDA VINO
Corner House
Singapore Botanic Gardens
1 Cluny Road, Nassim Gate
6469 1000 | cornerhouse.com.sg
Lately, I’ve dominated more than a few
water cooler discussions with details
about Corner House’s
Cocoa Pebbles
dessert – a dish that would look more
at home on the rolling lawns of the
restaurant’s Botanic Gardens location
than on a dessert plate. Stop reading
and take a look; dewy granite Alpaco
chocolate mousse “stones” support
meringue mushroom outcrops on a
sprinkling of chocolate soil with a hidden
spoonful of lemon curd underneath.
Gimmicky? Perhaps for some, but I
loved it. Maybe it was the surroundings
– the historic black-and-white bungalow
that was the 16-year home of Les Amis
Group’s famed Au Jardin (it closed
earlier this year) – or maybe it was the
fact that the dessert pays homage to
the late resident EJH Corner, who held
fungi in special regard during his tenure
as assistant director of the Botanic
Gardens back in the 1930s and 1940s.
This house – and its history – mean
that the new occupants have massive
shoes to fill. Luckily, executive chef
Jason Tan wears a size 12. The France-
trained Singaporean combines skills
acquired at the helm of Marina Bay
Sands’ Sky on 57 with a pastry chef
nabbed when Guy Savoy closed earlier
this year, to prepare a cuisine dubbed
“gastro-botanica” – a fancy way of
saying, “let the plants do the talking”.
The emphasis on produce over
protein is never more apparent than in
the
carabinero prawn
starter,
where,
despite the name, tomatoes get top
billing. The much bolder
oignon doux
des Cevenne
pulls the onion from the
realm of lowly aromatic to the main
stage; it’s onion done four ways, each
as exciting to the palate as to the plate.
(This restaurant has perfected the art
of food presentation.) Perfectly slow-
poached
Maine lobster
is partnered
with
riso
pasta, rather than a heavier
risotto, and complemented with aged
Comté, Manjimup black truffle from
Australia, delightfully crunchy pan-
seared buckwheat crackles, and a glass
of 2011 Pontcin, a crisp Côtes-du-Rhône
Viognier.
Four and six courses are $98 and
$148 respectively; gastronomes should
let the kitchen show its chops with the
eight-course Discovery Menu ($248).
Monica Pitrelli
This onth:
CORNER HOU E
SUPER LOCO
DER BIERGARTEN
NINETY FOUR
NUTMEG & CLOVE
Oignon doux des Cevennes –
onion prepared four ways (an onion
shell encasing sous vide egg,
onion puree and black truffles;
a Parmesan onion confit tart;
dehydrated onion chips; and a “tea”
of onion emulsion with caramelised
onion broth and Earl Grey tea)