For my fourth stop of Restaurant Week in March 2011, I was in luck to be able to reserve a table for 2 at Blu, Shangri La Hotel. I requested for a window seat.

Chef Kevin Cherkas has a track record garnered from some of the world’s most outstanding Spanish restaurants, including the three-star Michelin Arzak Restaurant, the three-star Michelin El Bulli and the two-star Michelin La Broche. He also left his footprint on New York City at renowned restaurant Daniel, owned by world renowned Chef Daniel Boulud. He will invoke the senses of diners with a progressive dining concept that sees him present traditional cooking with a twist.– from their website.

I arrived at 6:20pm and the sun has yet to set. It was pretty glaring but still bearable. To avoid UV rays you may want to arrive after sunset instead.

We started off with complimentary bread. This was replenishable. The bread looked prettier than most of its counterparts, but not the best. I think the spread was sour cream or cream cheese. It was a little sour, but I liked it.

Roasted foie gras mousse between crispy pineapple meringue was the first course of the set dinner. This was very unique and tasty. It melted my mouth instantaneously.

Poached farm egg with roasted onion broth, crispy crubs and black truffle essence. I suppose this was meant to be like a soup. Unique indeed. The egg was beautifully poached.

Slow-braised beef cheek with gnocchi, pumpkin and red wine sauce. The serving of the beef cheek was rather generous. It was soft, tender and flavourful. However, I still prefer steak to beef cheek, so I would have been more impressed if they served me steak. But that doesn’t mean that this wasn’t good.

Breakfast? Lime frozen yoghurt with mango, passion fruit sabayon and coconut. From the description, who would have thought this was going to look like an egg. It’s indeed very creative and I’m still in awe at how they managed to make that egg yolk. The proper method to have this is to burst the yolk. The taste of this dish was as pretty as it looked. The sweet mango and passion fruit flavour complimented the bland coconut and yogurt really well.

Strawberry blossom with bitter chocolate soil. Who would have thought it would look like a tree! I wouldn’t. At first sight, I thought this was just an ornament. I least expected it to be edible!

Bittersweet chocolate. not too sweet and sick. The ‘leaves’ were edible too.

For this meal during restaurant week, it cost $55++/pax. This restaurant usually serves a 6-course Experience Set Menu for dinner at $148++/pax. The courses are not fixed and would be customised according to your preference. In conjunction with their 40^th anniversary, if reservations were done online there will be a 40% off the total bill for Experience Set Menu and beverages only.

I would definitely visit this restaurant again when the occasion calls for it.

*****

Ambiance: 8/10

Food: 9/10

Value: 8/10 (for restaurant week)

Overall: This was one of the best restaurants I visited during restaurant week and it was probably one of the best decisions in my life! Revisiting during the next restaurant week is a must.

*****

Blu

22 Orange Grove Road,

24F Shangri-la Hotel

Tel: (65) 6213 4598

*****

6.30pm – 10.30pm (Monday to Saturday)