When it comes to Restaurant Week, certain restaurants such as Salt Grill & Bar get their seats filled up rapidly. I managed to get one of the coveted first-day slots for Salt Grill & Bar on the first day of booking for this rendition of Restaurant Week, just to see whether the restaurant lives up to its hype.
Salt Grill & Bar by Luke Mangan is situated at level 55 of ION Orchard. To get there, you would have to head to the ION Sky lift lobby where a restaurant receptionist would guide you to the Sky lift to head up to level 55. Look out for the concierge at the entrance, and the concierge staff would guide you to your table. As we arrived a little late as Cat was rushing from lessons, we weren't given window seats (which is a bit of a pity) but were instead given balcony seats at the upper level with a fantastic view of city landmarks such as Marina Bay Sands and National Stadium. We were served bread and olive oil upon arrival which we wasted no time in chomping on.
The theme for this Restaurant Week was "Feasts of the Ocean" - imagine mouth-watering seafood and flavours from the ocean. We took particular interest in the creative combination of Western produce and local ingredients in the menu. Frankly speaking, we would really have wanted to try everything.
Entrée
"glass" Sydney crab omelette, enoki mushroom & herb salad, miso mustard broth: This signature appetizer is our unanimous favourite out of the entire menu - so much that we ended up fighting over the last bit of omelette and soaking up every bit of broth with more bread! The omelette was so fluffy that it blends well with the crab meat, while the mustard broth and herb salad provided an unexpected Japanese-inspired twist to the otherwise humble dish of crab omelette. Available on the a la carte menu for S$33.
salmon sashimi, ginger shallot dressing, feta: Salmon sashimi is typically good on its own when fresh. When you add ginger shallot dressing and feta on top of fresh sashimi, it tastes divine. We were pleasantly surprised that the ginger shallot dressing is not too stinging spicy, and brings out the freshness of the salmon sashimi. Eat them all together, and you get a delicious non-fishy taste with slight hints of seasoned ginger and melt-in-your-mouth feta cheese.
Learning from our major blunder when we went to OCF last year, we made sure to ask for more bread for our mains this time.
Mains
Pan fried snapper, pearl barley risotto, coconut, spring onion: The pan fried snapper is perfectly cooked - not too raw and not too overcooked with crispy skin and amazingly soft meat. Served with pea puree and coconut-infused pearl barley risotto, this is a generally light dish which seeks to bring out the natural flavours of each component of the dish.
Confit duck leg, braised lentils, asparagus, pickled orange: This is a rendition of duck leg confit with an Asian twist - it is cooked with braised sauce, lentils, asparagus, almonds and pickled orange peel! The lentils were a little hard and does not sit very well with the rest of the ingredients, but the braised sauce did make the duck pretty tender and flavourful. The almond thins and asparagus provide a refreshing crunch to the entire dish. The strips of pickled orange peel complemented the duck well in providing a slight sweetness to the duck. Quite an interesting dish which has its hits and misses.
Desserts
Raspberry & pistachio flan: A highly photogenic dessert with exquisite plating, the raspberry flan and pistachio mousse is complemented with fresh berries and pistachio bits. The raspberry flan is not too sour, but the pistachio mousse was a little light for my liking.
"salt" chocolate mousse: A chocolate-based dessert which looks exquisite and tastes chocolate-y but is actually pretty light on the stomach. The chocolate mousse contains chocolate chips and is topped with gold-coated chocolate and cocoa powder. Not bad, but not fantastic for a chocolate dessert either.
We were served coffee/tea together with the desserts, which made the desserts a more pleasant affair.
Service staff were generally attentive - I was offered a basket to store my bag, our glasses were frequently refilled with water and Cat's napkin was promptly adjusted when he moved and dropped his napkin. We were also given ample time between courses, and a staff helped us to take a photo before we left.
Overall, we were impressed with the starters but not so with the mains and desserts, mainly because the crab omelette and salmon sashimi had already set a pretty high bar for the rest of the meal and the rest turns out to be not exceeding our expectations. The view was great, the starters were fantastic but the rest could have been better for an experience that truly lives up to its hype, even if it's Restaurant Week and diners are not paying full price.
