If you could just have ONE meal in Singapore, which one would it be?

[hanz39]

Hi

I know this is cutting it really close, but I'll be in Singapore for the next week and having a lot of trouble finding the one place to eat at with the best chance of it being a fantastic meal.

I personally work in the restaurant industry so I don't have a lot of money therefore will be mainly focusing on street food. So just one Fine Dining meal for me! Why not, it's Singapore after all.

You chowhounders seem to know the dining scene in Singapore quite well and it'd be great if I can get some input instead of reading articles after articles of biased published reviews.

Originally, I was hoping to go to Iggy's solely because they are best ranked in Singapore on the S.Pellegrino's list. (I tried a few other places on the list and was never disappointed) But I was reading some threads about how a status and connection a man has can greatly influence the rankings, despite the level of food....(makes sense I guess.)

So, (i know I'm blabbing...) juts 1 must try restaurant!

Thanks everyone in advance!

P.S. oh also, I will be most likely dining alone :(. So yeah....

[hanz39]

Oh, and if this does sway your decision, an open kitchen visible from the dining room is a huge plus. I miss the Japanese counter seatings. You just don't realize how in-intimate a dining experience is until you sit in front of the chef making your meal...

[klyeoh]

Based solely on food - my personal choice would be Andre:
http://restaurantandre.com/

[huiray]

[Steps on soapbox]

No doubt the food is wonderful but I personally found their website to be a disaster and utterly useless, besides being simply hard to read or decipher and one has to go looking for where the links are hidden (if any) on all those vast spaces of each page by clicking all over the place. Very bad web design. No menu or even an example of what exactly it is they serve. Sorry, those teeny tiny doodles of what could be design ideas for your dishes do not count. I dislike restaurants that refuse to put up *some* kind of indication of what they actually serve. That blah-blah of their trademarked (!!) "Octaphilosophy" I did not find informative and induced eye-rolling on my end instead.

[Steps off soapbox]

Peace.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/811066
http://xkcd.com/773/

[StayThirsty]

I had the exact same reaction as huiray. I "abandoned ship" shortly after arriving at their site. There are far too many good restaurants and other food & beverage venues in Sing to bother with the ones with pretentious web-sites!!

[hanz39]

Right, their website is pretty useless. I was looking for a menu of some sort (even if it's old) but there doesn't seem to be one. That being said, they look like they have a pretty cool looking open kitchen

[makanputra]

Agreed. It's "kiasu" behaviour to hide their specialties from would-be customers.

[Julian Teoh]

Based on your criteria, I definitely would not go to Iggy's. There is nothing unique about the experience at Iggy's that you couldn't get elsewhere, and I think that's true to an extent of most international fine dining restaurants here or abroad. While I do like the casino restaurants, they fall into the same trap, and have typically been cloned from international concepts.

I think you really need to tell us a little more about what you are looking for and what you think is important, e.g. where you are from, what cuisine are you looking for, etc. and price range may well be a valid consideration. "Fine dining"-wise, you could spend anything from S$80 to S$800.

[hanz39]

Hmm, I was afraid that Singapore may have fallen into the "vegas" syndrome.

To narrow it down, I don't want Japanese food (been living in Japan for the past year). I am also a classically trained in french cuisine so I don't mind eating French cuisine. Also, I don't care for ambience and views so much, just want mind-blowing food. I have eaten at Alinea, Les Creations de Narisawa, Ryugin, Sushi Yoshitake, Chateau de Robuchon, and thought they were all fantastic.

As for price, I'm willing to go S$350 for food only.
And as a side question, is the tax/gratuity included in the set menu price already?

Hope this helps!

[M_Gomez]

I'd go to Andre for that S$350 budget. Tax & service charge is an additional 7% & 10% of the menu prices.

[akated]

seconding andre. no one at his level right now in sg if you are discounting celebrity chef outposts.

[makanputra]

Same here. Andre's of pretty high standards. Other than that, I'd have done one of the celebrity chef outposts like Robuchon, Savoy, CUT by Wolfgang Puck, Mozza by Batali and DB Bistro Moderne. They really are the best things to have happened to Singapore's dining scene in the past few years.

[hanz39]

Oh, and on another note, no celebrity chef outposts. (I'm sure they are similar to every location around the world and I want something unique to Singapore.)

[Julian Teoh]

OK, that's very helpful.

It's not properly fine dining as such, but I would highly recommend Pamplemousse Bistro at Dempsey Hill. The chef-owner Adrian Ling intelligently blends local ingredients such as laksa leaves with classic French training and personal food memories and experiences. He also tries to support local producers as much as he can, so for example, he gets in fresh goat's milk (from which he makes his own fresh curd) and cow's milk from small operations. Do engage him on the dishes - he is very passionate and articulate about what he's doing. I reported on it here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/842781

The tasting menu goes for $98++ and includes a few of his signature dishes. Excellent value to boot.

[hanz39]

Thanks Julian. At $98/tasting menu, it is definitely do-able (and maybe enough room for a second meal!)

Also, I'm currently reading your food blog, it looks fantastic! (I hope my blog/writing will be like yours one day!)

Cheers

[Curt the Soi Hound]

My only "must have" used to be Roti Boy. Unfortunately, I have herd they have shut down.

[klyeoh]

They have? How sad! I didn't notice since I'm based in Kuala Lumpur for work these days - where we *still* get Roti Boy (the one at Suria KLCC, near the exit to the subway, was insanely good!) - and I don't seek this out on my monthly weekend trips home to Singapore.

[hanz39]

i'll actually be making a pit stop in Kuala Lumpur on my way home. I'll definitely put that on my agenda!

[klyeoh]

Don't miss Jalan Alor - best street food spot in Kuala Lumpur, bar none!
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/782525
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/783955