Restaurant Ember

A good restaurant is one who keeps her customers and Restaurant Ember has been doing that for more than a decade (12 this year)! With a chic face lift and a change in chef (Chef Sufian Bin Zain, previously from Iggy’s and Waku Ghin), Ember has kept its rich classics and added refreshingly light new dishes to the mix. We sampled some items from the lunch set menu, as well as others from the main menu.

Taste buds were awakened with the amuse bouche of crispy sakura ebi and the loveliest freshly baked bread. 

I love cheeses and the Burrata ($14) was a great way to start. Milky and creamy fresh cheese with nutty, smoky and slightly bitter endives, cherry tomato, arugula, pesto. Well Chef had me at burrata.

For a lighter tasting starter, the Flan is a classic that is well loved by customers. Steamed egg custard with generous chunks of mudcrab, asparagus and Aonori (seaweed). It was every bit Japanese with the silky curd and light earthiness from the asparagus.  

I can never say no to Duck Confit and this 36 hours twice cooked leg with mashed potatoes and caramelized onions ($32) was delicious. Certainly my top 2 choice for mains at Ember. I loved that smokiness of the cured meat and it wasn't overly salted as well. My way of eating this? Remove meat from bone, mix things up a bit. You'll get that light creaminess from the potatoes and the sweetness from the onions along with the savory leg. Yums. If you wish to have this for dinner, do order in advance for the a la carte item.

My other favorite was the Pan-roasted Barramundi ($28), with tomatoes, fine beans, Avruga caviar, clam jus ($28). Loved the light flavors of the barramundi and the salty bacon-like avruga caviar. 

For dinner, you could do the 60 hours slow cooked Angus Short Rib ($38), with a special charred onion puree (which doesn't taste like onion at all), confit of cherry tomatoes and beef jus. Cooked to perfect tenderness, the marbled meat was paired perfectly with the sweet onion puree. I could love onions like that.

The Bouillabaisse with NZ Langoustine, Hokkaido Scallops, Barramundi, Garlic Aioli ($32) was sadly weak in the umami seafood flavor and tasted a little flat in my opinion. Perhaps a little too delicate? The clams were rather flavorless and the langoustine was limp. I would rather a firmer shellfish and fish.

I'm not a fan of Ember's dessert due to the lack of balance in their sweets.

Our Valrhona chocolate fondant had a mysterious burnt taste. It's a safe dessert but it's nothing wow. 

The deconstructed cheesecake with figs, crumble, Tahiti vanilla ice cream was light in flavors but not in texture. The creamy cheese would do better with fresh figs than the processed jelly jam.

The Texture of pistachio, sponge, crumble, ice cream, ginger milk foam ($15) was refreshing enough only because I love ginger and the hint from the foam added that light perfume at the end. The dish was as transient as the foam, so light that you don't even taste or feel it, with the exception of the really sweet ice cream. 

The best part of dessert was the dessert wine actually. Well if you need something sweet, just go for the Torbreck The Bothie 2011.

Hits and misses at Ember but there are sufficient options in the set meals to ensure a good meal. The 3 course set lunch is only priced at $42 and the 4 course dinner at $88. I would bookmark this for business lunches. :)

Restaurant Ember

50 Keong Saik Rd, Singapore 089158
Tel: +65 6347 1928
Weekday Lunch: 11.30am - 2pm
Dinner (Mon - Sat): 6.30pm - 10pm
Closed Sun