Restaurant Review – With a Pinch of Salt

 With a Pinch of Salt

297, Tanjong Katong Road

Singapore 437080

+65 6348 2297

I came across the restaurant named “With a Pinch Of Salt” when looking for a dinner place on Saturday night. It was recommended by Lady Ironchef and is located in the Katong, one of my favourite neighbourhoods to dine out. So what could go wrong? Well, maybe I should have lent more credibility to the 51% vote on hungrygowhere, but most of the voters there complained about issues with Groupon and the fact that With a Pinch Of Salt charges 30 cent for water. I don’t have a gripe with that, and since all alcohol-free drinks there are very reasonably priced, I think it’s acceptable.

When we arrived, we realized that there were not one but 2 birthday parties going on in the café, with one small table free in the middle between the two parties. No one had told us this when we called to make our reservation, and luckily I wasn’t planning on a romantic night out. Accordingly, it was rather noisy and sitting in the middle of all this activity was not very relaxing. The café/restaurant looks very family-oriented, with wall decorations like you would expect in an American nursery, including short fairy tales about the dishes they offer. I reckon it’s fine if you’re out with kid, though as an adult it does feel a little strange sitting in a room full with pastel colored, striped walls. Then again, the motto at With a Pinch of Salt is “It’s only a café, don’t take it so seriously’.

In my mind, they should stick to this, and rename the place, as salt & flavour was exactly what the food (or most of it) was missing. The iced mocha I ordered was very watery, and one of the worst I’ve had in Singapore. Usually not a drink anyone could do wrong, but this one was definitely sub-par. To eat, we ordered one Chicken Cordon Bleu and one Old Uncle Mac’s Farm Platter (which comprised sausages, fried fish, steak and fried  chicken). When the food arrived, some of it was lukewarm. For both the Cordon Bleu and fried chicken/fish, the breading was so thick you had to search for the meat, and it was only edible doused with ketchup. The steak was streaky. The mashed potatos and few vegetables sprinkled in between were the best parts, yet not very plentiful.

Uncle Mac's Meat Platter

 

Cordon Bleu

On the plus side, staff was nice, food arrived relatively quickly (must have been re-heated) and was relatively cheap (less than SGD 50 for one beer, one iced mocha and the two mains). Even so, I would not come back, and cannot quite understand the laudable review by Lady Ironchef (then again I have to yet read one of her reviews where she didn’t like the food).

2/5 Stars

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SUR - Nuevo Latino Kitchen Restaurant Review

SUR - Nuevo Latino Kitchen

13 North Canal Rd

Singapore 048826

+656222 2897 

Recently opened SUR - Nuevo Latino Kitchen is a family-owned Latin-American fusion restaurant in the heart of Singapore's CBD. If you're having trouble finding the place, it's right opposite the OCBC building on North Canal Road, close to the MOM.

The restaurant extends over two floors, with the ground floor having more of a bar atmosphere, whereas the upper floor looks more like a classical bodega. The menu at SUR - Nuevo Latino Kitchen is not very extensive, and I like a restaurant that focuses on a few dishes -provided that it is able to prepare these very well.

In the evenings, SUR - Nuevo Latino Kitchen has a one-for-one offer on their small, international beer selection, which we took advantage of. For our mains we ordered:

Ceviche de Camarón, which is a cold dish comprising shrimp, tomato, red onion, jalapeño pepper, passion fruit leche de tigra and mint. As you can see from the pictures, the portions at SUR - Nuevo Latino Kitchen are not exactly huge, and the Ceviche was served in a somewhat smallish bowl. Flavor-wise this dish was decent, although I would have prefer a more intense seafood flavor.

Our second main, Pabellón, or braised short rib, came accompanied by black bean tacu-tacu, and roasted sweet plantain. I must say, this short rib was cooked very well, and the beef was very, very tender. However, again I would have preferred a more intense flavor and perhaps a bit more seasoning.

Lastly, we had a dish of Chorizo Carupanero, which was (not very) spicy pork sausage, sauteed bell peppers, and fresh cheese on a bed of rice. Usually, proper chorizo has a very intense, almost sweet flavor, and if you chose the spicy variety, you do taste it. I'd be interested in knowing where the chef at SUR sources his chorizo from, as this one was a rather bland affair. Likewise, the fresh cheese and rice were rather lacking, making this dish a rather disappointing affair that now amount of seasoning with pepper and salt was able to rescue.

SUR - Nuevo Latino Kitchen is by no means a cheap eatery and for our dinner with drinks we paid ~ SGD 150. While this is standard for decent international cuisine in Singapore, I'd expect more value for my money. I have yet to find a really good Spanish/Latin-American restaurant in Singapore, so If anyone has any suggestions, please post them in the comments section.

3/5 Stars

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Restaurant Review: Broth @ Duxton Hill

Restaurant Review: Broth @ Duxton Hill

21 Duxton Hill
Singapore 089604

+65 6323 3353 

Situated in a corner of Duxton Hill, Broth is an elegant little restaurant with an atmosphere best suited for a nice dinner for two or a quiet evening out with friends. Given the elevated prices, usually it is not hard to find a table even at times when more trending places such as Lucha Loco (also on Duxton Hill), are packed. Curiously enough, the restaurant does not have a theme of soups/broths but is rather the acronym for Bar Restaurant On The Hill...could have fooled me ;-)

We went on a weekday night and besides ours, only two other tables were taken. The staff is friendly and the service pretty decent. The menu is not very extensive, and if you have any dietary restrictions (e.g. as a vegetarian) you will only have a handful of items to choose from, most of which are starters. Since my companion and I found the Lamb Loin In A Green Coat On Fine Beans, Rosemary Potatoes & Mint Jus the most appealing, we both ordered the same main dish (usually we choose two different ones, so we can switch, but as I said the selection at Broth is rather limited and nothing else tickled our fancy). As mentioned above, Broth is not focused around soup, so the only soup they have is a "Broth of the Day', which in our case was potato soup. To be honest, I don't see the point of paying 12 bucks in a fancy-shmanzy restaurant for a potato soup even the most novice chef can't go wrong with cooking it at home. Instead, we ordered Sugar Beet Cured Salmon, Cucumber Tagliatelle, Caperberries & Mandarine Dressing and some house-made olive/onion bread with oil, butter and pepper to start our dinner.

Home/house made bread sounds good, and the two slices we were served at Broth did look appetizing (as an appetizer should ;-) ), however, the dough was much too soft, so instead of a rich wholemeal bread, it rather had the consistency of soggy toast. Not sure if baking it longer would help, but they should do something about it. The olive oil seemed of decent quality, and what can go wrong with butter and salt. Would have been so simple to make this into a decent appetizer, but Broth failed.

Disappointingly, as it happens in many elegant restaurants, the salad was rather tiny and the few slices of salmon were well hidden by a camouflage of greens. If the starter had made up in taste what it was lacking for in size, I wouldn't complain. However, the mandarin dressing did not have a fruity flavor, the two olives that came with the salad were pickled and the cucumber was absolutely devoid of taste. The salmon itself was ok, but nothing that you wouldn't get at cold storage, i.e. no beet-cured taste at all.

The lamb loin that we had did look appealing, and was quite decent taste-wise. The crust could have been a little more thick and crisp, but otherwise it was savory. Wedged in between the slices of lamp were two or three slices of roast potato. If you're hungry, better order several dishes (like starters) or go elsewhere, otherwise a grown man or woman with a healthy appetite will go home hungry.

With 2 glasses of wine, 2 starters and 2 mains the total bill was close to SGD 170. For this kind of money for a dinner for 2, I would have expected the food to be of higher quality and not just average overall. Still, the restaurant does have a nice athmosphere at night, and may still be worth a visit, at least once.

3/5 Stars

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Restaurant Review - Long Beach Seafood @ Dempsey

 resta Restaurant Review - Long Beach Seafood @ Dempsey

25 Dempsey Rd
249670 Singapore

+65 6323 2222

The Long Beach Seafood restaurant has been around for almost 70 years by now and although the flair of the original seaside establishment has made way to today's style of a modernized Chinese restaurant, the place still has some things going for it. Long Beach Seafood has a total of five outlets in Singapore, and the one at Dempsey is arguably the best. Since Dempsey in general is very crowded on the weekends and since Long Beach Seafood has a good reputation in Singapore, it is advisable that you make reservations beforehand.

As you may guess from the picture above, interior design is not Long Beach's forte, and the place is neither elegant nor stylish. So, Long Beach Seafood is probably less suited for a romantic dinner for two, but rather an evening out with friends and family where decent food is in the focus. Unarguably, all seafood served at Long Beach is fresh, as you can even pick which crab, lobster or golden phoenix fish should end up in the cooking pot. The staff is very nice, and if you want a souvenir, they will be happy to hand you a giant Alaskan king crab to take a picture with.

Long Beach Seafood claims to be the creator of the "Original and Best Black Pepper Crab of Singapore", and indeed the crab meat is very succulent and juicy, the black pepper adding some spiciness, without totally covering up the flavor of the meat itself.

 

Personally, I liked the White Pepper Crab better, though. It is a trifle less spicy, but the white pepper beautifully compliments the crab meat and creates a literal feast for your taste buds. Long Beach Seafood really got the hang of this dish, and I very much recommend gicing it a try.

The Curry Crab is probably THE signature dish of Singapore, and the Long Beach Seafood restaurant's version is quite a decent one. The dish is served with little fried/steamed buns so you can better soak up the chili-tomato sauce (or you can also just spoon it up). I like the taste of chili crab, and think it's also very well suited for people who are not great seafood aficionados, just because the chili-tomato sauce covers much of the flavor of the crab itself. If instead you prefer to taste the crab meat more intensely, I would recommend going with the White/Black Pepper Crab.

 

 

In addition to the crabs, we also ordered another of Long Beach Seafood's signature dishes: BBQ Golden Phoenix Fish. Again, this fish is served as fresh as it gets (short of fishing it up yourself and eating it on the beach) and you can pick the one you wish to have prepared for yourself. On the downside, the one we got was slightly undercooked and the waiter we asked to carve it for us massacred the fish, leaving spines everywhere.

 

Besides seafood, Long Beach also serves quite a wide variety of meat, from your usual chicken, duck and pork to even deer meat. To finish our meal, we ordered a rack of ribs, fried rice and some green sprouts. I think, if you go to a seafood place, you're usually well advised to stick with the seafood, and although the other dishes we had besides the crabs were okay, they were not as exceptional as the first courses. The fried rice was okay, the green sprouts were literally drowned in garlic (no matter how many times we ask them to put less, they always put large quantities in) and the ribs would actually have been quite good if they hadn't been so very sweet as to almost taste like a desert.

Overall, I would recommend Long Beach Seafood, also if you have people visiting you in Singapore. The crab dishes are quite a few notches above your average Singaporean seafood restaurant and definitely worth a try. The other dishes were had mostly okay to decent, and for the more adventurous palates Long Beach also offers more exotic seafood such as geoduck and tiger mantis. That said, quality has its price, and you should not go to Long Beach Seafood restaurant expecting a cheap meal.

4/5 Stars

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Restaurant Review - Shin Kushiya at Far East Square

Restaurant Review - Shin Kushiya

33 Peking Street
Far East Square #01-01
Singapore 048703

+65 6438 8991

One of Shin Kushiya's three outlets is located right in the CBD, very close to Raffles Place, in the hustle and bustle of Peking Street, where the working crowd hangs out after office hours. I've never been to Shin Kushiya on a weekend, but I imagine it might actually be less busy than on a weekday evening, as the people working around China Square, Far East Square and Samsung Hub congregate in sizable numbers in Peking Street in the evening.

Even so, when I decided to drop by at Shin Kushiya for a quick dinner, the place was busy, but not crowded, and there were still a few tables available. This might have to do with the fact that, price wise, Shin Kushiya is one of a very few restaurants that are higher priced than the other bars and eateries surrounding it. Most of the tables at the restaurant seat 6 people, so when it's full I reckon it's packed and quite noisy. As in many Japanese restaurants in Singapore, the atmosphere is busy, and not exactly very cozy or romantic, so I would recommend the place rather for a night out with friends than for a romantic dinner.

Shin Kushiya's menu is extensive to say the least, and we took quite some time in ordering. There is always staff around, and as long as you can attract their attention, they are quite friendly and helpful, if sometimes a bit young and inexperienced. For two people, we ordered Cha Soba (thin, cold buckwheat noddles flavored with green tea powder), Garlic Rice, Sake Butteryaki (pan butter grilled salmon), the Sushi Favorites and Sashimi Moriwase. To drink, we only ordered green tea and water. 

First off, the Shushi and Sashimi were very decent, both in terms freshness and taste. I'm not a big fan of of soba, but I reckon they were ok as well, though nothing that would make me order this dish again. Unfortunately, Shin Kushiya's Sake Butteryaki and Garlic Rice were both sub par and lacking in flavor. In contrast to the Sushi and Sahimi, the Sake Butteryaki did not taste very much of Salmon, and as butter in itself does not exactly have a very intense flavor, the whole affair was rather bland. what surprised me is how they managed to get the Garlic Rice wrong. I mean, this dish is so simply and would require nothing more than a bit of fresh garlic, rice and maybe some herbs and seasoning to round it all off, but Shin Kushiya instead delivered a bowl of rice that was nearly devoid of taste.

Overall, I'd say the more expensive dishes, such as the sushi and sashimi were worth their money, whereas the cheaper dishes all disappointed. At the end of our meal, we were sated, but our bellies were not bursting, and the bill was slightly north of SGD 100. I might go back to Shin Kushiya in a pinch, but it certainly wont make it to the top of my review list of favorite restaurants anytime soon. 

3/5 Stars

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Restaurant Review: Wild Honey (Orchard Branch)

Restaurant Review: Wild Honey (Orchard Branch)

6 Scotts Square #03-01
Scotts Road
Singapore 228209

+65 6636 1816

Wild Honey created an instant hype when it opened its first outlet in Mandarin Galary and managed to replicated the concept with a second outlet on Scotts Road. Interior design firm Distillery created the atmosphere in Wild Honey based on their motto of "no place like home". And indeed, even though the restaurant is not small and mainly features one open space, one cannot help but feel cozy and comfortable in this environment, which reminded me more of a library setting or an English club.

Wild Honey apparently does not take reservations for peak hours, and during these times the places gets quite busy (like all decent restaurants in Singapore), so you might have to either queue or come by at off-peak hours if you don't want to wait.

For an all-day breakfast place, Wild Honey's menu is quite extensive, and the food is organized by regions. Ordering for three people, we went for the Californian Breakfast (softly scrambled eggs, tofu, fresh herbs, red, green and yellow peppers, mushrooms and scallions on roasted ciabatta bread) and a Wild Honey signature dish, the Tunisian Breakfast (comes in a pan and comprises a shakshouka, i.e. fried eggs on top of a sauce of tomato, red peppers, chili and chorizo sausage, with brioche and Israeli salad). As all this sounded too healthy for me and as I do love a hearty breakfast, I ordered a side dish of breakfast bacon.     

Wild Honey really does have the art of presenting their food down to the t, and all dishes looked absolutely mouth-watering. The California breakfast did not only look appetizing but also tasted very decently, with flavorful seasoning and the eggs just right, on top of nicely toasted bread. In contrast, and despite the nice look, the Tunisian dish was rather disappointing. Proper Spanish chorizo is either quite spicy or quite sweet, and should have stood out when tasting the shakshouka. Alas, the dish mainly tasted like a pomodoro sauce, with little Middle-Eastern touch to it. Wild Honey also advertises this dish as "spicy", which I found somewhat misleading, as it is neither hot nor does it have a lot of spices. That said, I was very pleasantly surprised by the bacon side dish. For S$ 6 the portion was quite sizeable, and more than I could have asked for, with the bacon fried to a nice crisp without being overdone.

The main gripe I had with Wild Honey was the service. At a hawker centre I know what to expect and can do with dispassionate staff, but at an all-day, cozy breakfast place I would expect the waiters and waitresses to be more attentive. As it was, more than once we had to wait for quite a while and eventually wave and flag down someone to refill our empty water glasses or to ask for the bill. This is definitely an area Wild Honey can improve on.

Overall, I think Wild Honey is very much worth a visit, for decent to excellent all-day breakfast. While prices are not cheap, they are not particularly steep either, especially considering that you are on Orchard Road. For our two mains, one side dish and drinks we paid slightly above SGD 70.

4/5 Stars 

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Restaurant Review: The Marmalade Pantry (Saddle Club)

Restaurant Review: The Marmalade Pantry (Saddle Club)

55 Fairways Drive
Singapore 286846

+65 6467 9328

Recently, on a lazy Sunday afternoon, I went to The Marmalade Pantry at the Singapore's historical Saddle Club on Fairways Drive. As the name indicates, the Bukit Timah Saddle Club comprises a sizeable estate with stables, training grounds and also a few restaurants. The ambiance at Fairways Drive reminds of the 1950s when the Saddle Club was founded.

Initially, we had intended to go to Ryder's Cafe, located between the Marmalade Pantry and the Saddle Club, but unfortunately when we arrived around 3pm they were no longer serving lunch and their snack/tea time menu is rather scarce if you are looking for a proper meal. Instead, we decided to give the Marmalade pantry a try.

Marmalade Pantry has a relatively big outdoor seating area with fans, but we decided to sit indoors, where besides us only one couple and a family of four were having a late lunch. The interior is comfortable, yet a bit too dark for my taste. As in many Singaporean restaurants, there were quite a few staff around and after being shown to our table, iced water was served (an topped up occasionally during the meal).

We ordered the Crabmeat Linguini, Steak and Eggs, as well as a Strawberries and Cream Cupcake, Sea Salt Caramel Cheesecake, together with a Summer Smoothy and a white wine. I was quite pleased to see that the waitress taking our order didn't write anything down but seemed to memorize it instead (if I had known what was to come, I'd have made her write it down). After a short wait, the Summer Smoothy arrived, but a first sip revealed that it was quite thin for a smoothie and also lacking in flavor, so we we sent it back and told them to make it thicker. Usually, I'm not the type to let food/drinks go back, but in this case it was quite merited. A while later, the smoothie came back, apparently with some more banana in it, but the flavor was still not there. I settled for it anyways.

When the food arrived, it was decent. Neither the linguini nor the steak would win a price anywhere, in fact the meat was quite average. Having heard some quite positive reviews about the Marmalade Pantry (about the Orchard branch), this was rather disappointing.

After the plates were cleared, we started waiting for our dessert. This should really not have taken long, as the cupcakes were all exhibited close to the entrance (you can see them in the pic above) and so we were rather surprised when the minutes just ticked by and no one came to bring us our desert or asked whether we were lacking anything. Again, this was not due to the fact they were flooded with customers, as by now we were only one of four tables (indoors and outdoors) that was occupied. Finally, after at least 20 min I called over the waiter and asked him where our deserts were, he then asked his colleague, who told us they'd be coming shortly. Indeed, someone went and picked a cupcake from the exhibit and brought it over to us, by then it was quite clear that they had totally forgotten about our desert. The cheesecake arrived 10 minutes later.

Again the desert was rather average, the cupcake being on the dry side (no surprise, as God alone knows how long it had been sitting out there) and the cheesecake with little sea-salt caramel was also just okay.

The Marmalade Pantry is not a cheap eatery, and definitely disappointed my elevated expectations. To get back, we tried getting a cab for ages, but as it was close to 6pm by then we were out of luck. Therefore, we decided to have a drink at Ryder's Cafe during the wait. I must say, I regretted not having eaten there instead: the food they served was ample and looked very appetizing on the other tables, pricing is very reasonable and the iced mocha I had was very good.

I'll be definitely back at the Saddle Club to try Ryder's Cafe, however, if I try the Marmalade Pantry again, it certainly will be at the Orchard branch and not the one at Fairways Drive.

3/5 Stars

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Restaurant Review: Tong Le Private Dining @ OUE Tower

Restaurant Review: Tong Le Private Dining @ OUE Tower

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.

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.

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

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