Sky on 57

 

There has been mixed reviews about this restaurant at one of the best locations in town.  Since reviews are always subjective, it might be worth trying once in a lifetime as we all knew that  that was a place that we could not possibly stepped twice.

 

With some minor slipups with the reservations, we were ushered to our tables and served with some bread ( cheese, dried tomato, french bread) and some butter. 

 
We ordered one gastronomic seven course set and the rest was ala carte. The gastronomic set included specials that featured the seasonal white truffles.
 

1st course: Fine Asian Crackers
Crunchy and not too greasy. But perhaps this might appeal to foreigners as it is not much different from Calbee prawn crackers. 

2nd course: Raw Nordic king scallops, scallops ceviche with microgreens, ginger and soy dressing

3rd course : Organic egg ravioli
Poached albufera sauce, sautéed wild mushrooms, Spanish ham, Alba white truffle shavings
This dish features the seasonal white truffle and reminds me of the nice yummy half boil egg in kopitiam

4th course: Roasted Canadian Halibut with braised savoy cabbage, lobster emulsion
 

5th course: 上汤帝王蟹米粉

6th course: Grilled Kagoshima wagyu with duck parmentier and indonesian long pepper sauce

 

This beef fell way below expectation as the texture was tough ( imagine sawing a wagyu?) something was just not right as the pepper sauce was also too little. Indonesian Long Pepper? Interestingly, the long pepper looks like this, whose flavour is much stronger than black pepper (but could not detect it in the dish though). It was the duck parmentier saved the dish. Duck parmentier is a french dish that is made up of duck meat and mash potato.

 

This dish is an irony because the beef comes from a premium source but the outcome suggests otherwise.

7th course: Duo of dessert
The coffee ganache with chocolate tart was good along with the coffee ice cream. The pandan brulee millefeuille is also an interesting twist to the classic French dessert but the pandan flavour could be further intensified.

 
The above is the gastronomic menu and now here is the ala carte . (The comments for this post are not for every dish but only those which I have tasted. )

From the ala carte menu:  chef's signature appetizer platter with foie gras ( top left hand )

salmon tartare

Deep fried oyster fritter coated with seaweed

Soup appears like cappucino and had a strong umami taste with the sea urchin and lobster in it.

 chef's signature foie gras xiao long bao  

The inner fillings were juicy and tender but the skin was slightly dry. This comes in 5 in a basket and the portion is smaller than an average xiao long bao.

Oysters : Gillardeau No.2 and Cadoret Speciale Perle Noir No.2  

I am not a specialist of oysters but it is interesting to know that Gillardeau is not a place but a family in France who farms and sells their oysters. There is an article titled : A French Family Dynasty Reinvents the Oyster by NY Times. Click here to read more about the oysters.

Sautéed Maine lobster pasta

This was one of my favourite of the day. Simple aglio olio style with garlicky scent. Angel hair pasta was also cooked al dente.

Slow cooked Scottish salmon sea urchin and champagne emulsion

This dish falls below expectation because the fish itself had no flavour at all and the champagne emulsion was faint and lacking. Perhaps the chef wanted to emphasize the freshness of fish and sea urchin but at least a dose of salt will change this dish and work wonders. It was an interesting way of cooking salmon because the texture was so soft, smooth as if it was lubricated.

Symphony of desserts : Mango on sticky rice, warm chocolate fondant with vanilla ice cream, shredded pastry on coconut cream, lime sorbet.

This dessert platter is well balanced in terms of texture and flavors, especially the chocolate fondant whose molten lava tasted like caramel milk chocolate.
 

Warm apple pie (for 2-3 person) served with ice cream

This is like an apple pizza that is not made with pizza dough but phyllo pastry. Prefer this kind of thin layered apple pie because it is not too heavy.

Nonetheless, they could have been more generous with the caramel sauce and the ice cream

Apple Mojito Cocktail 

 

Overall, I cannot really judge whether the modern Asian cuising here is really fantastic or poor for the price because this is only my first time experiencing food with a sky-high price and brand name. However, I can say that similar or even better-quality food can be found elsewhere. Certainly, this had been a rare experience and also an eye-opener. To be fair, there are both tasty dishes and rather lacklustre ones. Nonetheless, the service was marginally average and  the timing of the serving of food has a lot of room for improvement. Saw the Chef J. walking about and greeting a VIP table more than once. I think meeting one's guests is fine but that is if conditions such as efficient food service and proper management of the kitchen manpower are well assured. 

 

Sky on 57

MBS