Roasted Duck Breast infused with Truffle, Seared Foie Gras on Braised Red Cabbage....... absolutely divine! Believe the hype, it is worth it.I really enjoy visiting Singapore for its food, the street food in particular, arguably the best in the world. With so many places, it is difficult to know where to eat. Do some research on the net and you get many opinions. As soon as I arrive and discuss options on where to eat, everyone had a different opinion. Who do I listen to? The best solution is to trust the opinions of people who have been there a long time and who love to eat. Luckily for me, my sister has been living there for six years; my parents lived there for three years making friends with people who have a genuine love for food.
Next stop was Maxwell Road Food Center. I had to come back here because I still remember having the best congee ever at that food court. I also wanted to try the Chicken Rice at the Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice stall. According to Anthony Bourdain and the Makansuntra Guide it is one of the best, if not the best in Singapore. People believe the hype, there was a very long line on a Sunday at 2pm. Verdict: Wee Nam Kee still rules.
One lesson I learned, before visiting a food court in Singapore is to make sure to visit all the stalls because the court maybe bigger than it is and you might miss out on something special. As I entered the Maxwell Road Food Center, I walked both ends looking for the corner stall selling the best congee ever but I couldn’t find it thinking it closed down because the last time I was there was 2001. I went straight to order chicken rice and carrot cake as my sister orders claypot chicken and another noodle dish. I am stuffed. As we leave we see a connecting pathway to another part of the food court. I then find the corner congee stall!
On my last day, I met up with my sister late afternoon at Orchard after a full day of shopping. She insisted I meet her at the food junction of Wisma Atria to try the Hokkien Mee (Fujian style fried prawn noodles) at the Thye Hong food stall. I was reluctant because we were scheduled to have black pepper crab for dinner and I didn’t think a food court in a big mall would have anything good to offer. Hunger from walking all day caved in and I ordered the noodles. Another lesson to be learned: listen to your older sister who has been in Singapore for almost ten years. The hokkien mee was just perfect: savoury tasting sauce with noodles cooked just right with ample amount of prawns.
My food trip in Singapore fell short of achieving all its goals: I did not get to eat black pepper crab, chili crab and prawn noodle soup. There was also an interesting Bak Kut Teh (pork rib herb soup) House near my sister’s apartment that looked interesting because it was always full, but was closed the day before I left. Two restaurants that have also been recommended to me are Crystal Jade and Oso. Someone swears the eight-hour roast lamb in Oso is to die for. Five days is definitely not enough for a food tour of Singapore. Next trip needs more planning and hopefully more friends to share the food experience with.
It is not all the time I have the opportunity to eat at one of the world’s finest restaurants. It is my dream to someday eat at El Bulli, The Fat Duck or The French Laundry but time, money and many other constraints will not allow it just yet.
A long awaited trip to Singapore has finally happened, sparked by my sister’s sudden change of address coming this July. Singapore is world famous for its street food and it is arguably the best in the world. Recently though, Singapore is getting well known for some of its fine-dining cuisine as evidenced by the entry of Iggy’s at the 2009 list of S.Pellegrino’s World’s 50 Best Restaurants (http://www.theworlds50best.com) at number 45. The Meile Guide (http://mieleguide.com), a new regional guidebook showcasing Asia’s best restaurants, listed Iggy’s at number one (with our very own Antonio’s listed in the top ten). A visit then to this highly hyped restaurant became essential to this Singapore trip.
Inside the taxicab on the way to Iggy’s, I felt a little fear. I have never eaten in such a restaurant. This is the stuff I read, watch and dream about. My fear and anticipation reminded me of Anthony Bourdain feeling the same way right before eating at El Bulli. As a cook, I try to keep things simple and basic, perfecting age-old recipes and not veering away from the classical style. I try to be creative but not in such a way where I will fuse two or several cuisines or even deconstruct the chemical composition of an ingredient. I didn’t know what to expect from a meal from Iggy’s but my expectations were very high… and boy, was I not disappointed at all.
As a DJ and music lover, I always use the analogy of making a mix tape or a long DJ set to a nice meal, especially if it is a ten course tasting menu. There is a story to tell. The meal should have flow and build up in a nice order with some surprises. There is a beginning, a middle, a climax, and an end (this is the reason I am not a fan of this new mash-ups we hear in dance clubs).
I think I’ve written enough for a warm-up. Let’s get straight to the dining experience at Iggy’s.Warning: reading on further might be a spoiler to those planning to eat at this restaurant just like a movie, there is an element of surprise in this meal.
Meal starts with a choice of bread, baguette or tomato basil (I had both) with the finest and fruitiest olive oil I’ve ever tasted. If I am correct, I assumed the olive oil is French and not Spanish or Italian. It tasted very much like the bottle I purchased fourteen years in an olive farm in a travel to Provence. The very accommodating server showed us a copy of the tasting menu and it lists the meals on the left column and what’s on it on the right column. No description on how it is prepared, which does give the meal a feeling of excitement and anticipation.
The Amuse Bouche arrives and we are told to eat the four items clockwise starting with the one on the lower left-hand corner, the caviar on somen. Every item was delectable. The caviar on somen’s texture was like a soft steamed dumpling with several strips of somen giving an added dimension in the texture. Worth mentioning was the uni where it was converted into a jelly like substance. I could taste the full flavor of the uni but without that gooey and fishy taste. The Amouse Bouche did its job; our taste buds were so tantalized and our expectations were sent even higher.
Then came the Spanner Crab with white tomato foam on top. At this point, my sister mentioned that she doesn’t really get this whole “molecular gastronomy” where the molecular structure of food is reconstructed. Surely as we bite into the jelly like substance that had a hint of crab flavor, we asked ourselves where the spanner crab is, but this is where the heart of Iggy’s genius is. After devouring the crab and having a sip of the fine wine (Henshke, Julius Riesling 2006), suddenly a burst of flavor appears in my mouth. After an estimated twenty seconds, the after taste of the crab appears on my taste buds! The element of surprise is what makes art great and fantastic.
The next two courses were the blue fin tuna and the Iberico ham. A glass of the elegant wine arrives (Domaine Gerard Gauby La Souly 2005). The crab was difficult to top and it was unfair to the blue fin tuna. A very simple and elegant preperation but knowing how toro sashimi tastes, this dish lacked a superstar effect. The same goes for the Iberico ham. It was served on the best tasting bruchetta I’ve ever had but you really can’t go wrong with Iberico ham. If I had this in another restaurant with low expectations, this would surely standout.
Konbu is edible kelp or seaweed. It is used in Japanese cooking and is a natural source of glutamatic acid, not in its synthetic form (MSG) that can cause headaches when consumed in large doses. In the next two courses, the konbu is added together with the freshest ingredients to give an exclamation point of savory, mouth-watering sensation on the taste buds. The sakura ebi (shrimp) on the cappelini was of the freshest and finest quality with no fishy bite or strong aftertaste you usually get when eating whole shrimps. The Konbu worked very well too with the chicken with egg yolk. Yolk and chicken should work well together, they both came from the same source. How Iggy got that saucy almost mustard like consistency on that yolk, I really do not know.
The main course arrives. Smoked and char-grilled Wagyu Blade steak served with the smoothest, the creamiest and the most truffled mashed potatoes this side of the planet. A blade steak or an oyster blade is an inexpensive cut and is part of the chuck or shoulder of the cattle. It is usually used for braising or long cooking but is also very flavorful because of its rich streams of gelatinous tissue, but as for Wagyu (or Kobe and some USDA Prime grade), it becomes tender enough for fast cooking. The right tenderness (a bit meaty) and the smoky bacony and slight charcoal flavor on that meat left me flabbergasted and in disbelief. A simple idea of a simple process on that meat in coordination with the best mashed potatoes I’ve ever had….Incredible!
How do you top that? Dessert arrives and like the amuse-bouche, there are four items that will be devoured in order, clockwise. First (and not on photo and eaten) was the vanilla pannacotta with basil ice cream and bits of caramelized tomato. It was total bliss. Iggy’s version of a French toast had the same exact texture of agedashi tofu, simple again but very good play on texture. The last one was mascarpone ice cream.
The Petit Fours, the final course arrives. The maitre’d says its Iggy’s version of a lemon tart. Now how can you be creative with a lemon tart? After eating it in one bite all I can say is that it is a very good lemon tart using fillo pastry… big deal. But wait…. there is a sudden sensation in our mouths, a sensation that suddenly surprises us. Bits of small pieces exploding in your mouth like a ‘watusi’. It is Pop rocks! We fell silent for almost a minute with amazement, surprise, evoking childhood memories, all this from a lemon tart.
The meal at Iggy’s was probably the best I’ve ever had in my life. Everything was just succulent and it was an unforgettable experience. All night, I was still remembering the sensations and tastes in my mouth. After a night of bar hopping, I was in bed and I was still on a food high remembering my dinner. I could not sleep! There are some events in life where you still remember the feeling when in bed such as a wonderful date with someone special a concert of a great band or a big night out dancing to a world-class DJ. Dinner at Iggy’s is one of those events.
