Restaurant Review: Tong Le Private Dining @ OUE Tower
OUE Tower, Level 4 & 5
60 Collyer Quay
Singapore 049322
+65 6634 3233
The Steamed Wild Ocean Fish with Japanese Black Garlic in Premium Black Bean Sauce turned out to be Garoupa. Tong Le 's presentation of the fish was also visually appealing, and it was juicy and tender in consistency, but could have used a bit more seasoning for my taste.
OUE Tower, Level 4 & 5
60 Collyer Quay
Singapore 049322
+65 6634 3233
As one of only two remaining revolving restaurants, Tong Le Private Dining has secured its place in the Singapore fine dining scene. Under the umbrella of well-known TungLok Group (Chinois, Humble House, Taipan), Tong Le offers select a la carte items and different set menus that change frequently. OUE Tower is special amongst revolving restaurants, as on the "inner circle" you will find Shinji and on the outer, revolving part you will find the private dining rooms and semi-private dining areas of Tong Le. Guest have the option to choose from the menus of both Shinji and Tong Le. Reservations are obligatory for both venues.
As OUE Tower’s Tong Le is located right at the bay, the revolving view includes the Fullerton Bay Hotel, Marina Bay Sands, the Art Museum and the Singapore Flyer (but also a very unimpressive view of the office building right next to it). One revolution takes a bit more than two hours, so during the course of a set meal you should have more than sufficient time to enjoy the view.
If you go to Tong Le's website, the interior decor appears quite bright, however, we found the restaurant itself was lit rather dimly and the wooden furnishing is much darker than depicted on the website (this holds true only for Tong Le, as Shinji's decor is much lighter). For my taste, they could indeed have allowed for a little more light, especially as the light intensity sometimes changes when the restaurant revolves.
As we went during Chinese New Year, we had to order one of Tong Le's set menus and decided on the following: Prosperous Yu Sheng/ Yee Sang with Yellow Fin, Tuna and Lobster; Braised Superlative Shark's Fin with Australia Winter Black Truffle in “Noble” Tanfu Broth; Steamed Wild Ocean Fish with Japanese Black Garlic in Premium Black Bean Sauce; Chilled Homemade Sorbet to cleanse the palate; Braised South African Abalone with Fish Maw; Poached Alaska King Crab with Fish Mousse Noodle in Superior Broth; and for desert Pumpkin Puree Diced Mango topped with Coconut Ice Cream and served in Young Coconut. Price per person was about S$ 200 (excluding the bottle of 2005 Chianti we shared).
The Prosperous Yu Sheng/ Yee Sang with Yellow Fin, Tuna and Lobster was definitely a few notches above the ready made CNY Yee Sang you usually get at the store. I'm not too keen on Yee Sang, as I generally find it too sweet, but the one at Tong Le was well-liked by everyone at our table.
My fellow diners all ordered Braised Superlative Shark's Fin with Australia Winter Black Truffle in “Noble” Tanfu Broth, whereas I opted for the Bird's Nest in chicken consomme. Both dishes were served on flaming platters and were equally delicious. In contrast to say Yan Ting, Tong Le's shark's fin was tender, with very flavorful broth and the bird's nest was perfectly accentuating the chicken consomme.
Thereafter, Tong Le served a Chilled Homemade Sorbet served to cleanse the palate. The addition of poprocks to the sorbet made for an interesting culinary experience to say the least. The sorbet itself was fruity and flavorful, as you'd expect. The following course was Braised South African Abalone with Fish Maw. Most people will know Abalone, but not everyone knows that fish maw is actually a fish's swim bladder. Due to the difficulty of cleansing and preparing fish maw, and since the fish itself has to be of a decent size, it takes special skills to prepare this dish, which you will most likely only find in Chines cuisine, and which the chef at Tong Le seems to have mastered to perfection. The consistency is somewhat gelatinous, but not at all unpleasant and, as you may have guessed, it tastes intensely of fish. The Abalone was decent, but nothing out of the ordinary.
When the Poached Alaska King Crab with Fish Mousse Noodle in Superior Broth arrived, most of us were already well stuffed and possibly we were unable to fully appreciate this second-last dish. Unfortunately, I found bits of crab shell crunching between my teeth as I tasted the King Crab, which made me sample the next few bites more cautiously. The croutons in the broth were very rich in flavor and the crab meat itself was decent. The Fish Mousse Noodle I found rather disappointing, but the superior broth well deserved its name. You can't see it properly below, but some poor soul at Tong Le was obviously tasked with cutting out all the CNY coasters, as we could clearly see the scissor marks on the not-quite-round circle.
Last but not least, desert was served on dried ice, which again made for a visually stimulating culinary experience. Tong Le's Pumpkin Puree Diced Mango was topped with Coconut Ice Cream and served in Young Coconut. Unfortunately, my coconut was not so young anymore, so the coconut meat was rather hard. Otherwise the desert was creamy, yummy and not too sweet, setting a nice finishing point to our meal.
The staff at Tong Le was generally nice and there were some positive aspects (they didn’t mind our extensive photo-taking requests, overall polite and friendly) and some other things that definitely need improving: one of the waitresses spoke very minimal English, which is not what I’d expect in a fine dining setting, our main waitress kept addressing us very informally as “guys” (personally I wouldn’t have minded but there were quite senior people present and I’d have expected more formality). Lastly, at the end one course, three of us were still eating while one person had already finished, whereupon they cleared his plate and immediately served him the next course, which was rather inappropriate. Even though proper attire was requested, a diner at another table was wearing t-shirt and shorts, which surprised me somewhat as I’d been told Tong Le denies you entry if you are not dressed appropriately.
Overall, a decent but not quite perfect dining experience in a nice setting. I'd recommend dining at night, as the bay view is less captivating during the day. If you fancy a drink afterwards, there are plenty of bars nearby, and Latern at Fullerton Bayside is always a safe option to finish the evening.
4/5 Stars
