Ms Skinnyfat

I would fly anywhere for food (sorta) but currently there isn't much of a need to with Citibank's $100Gourmet. Since April 2015, Citibank has been bringing in the foreign star chefs to Singapore and toying with creative collaborative cuisine with our local stars every month. From now till April 2016, there would be one visiting chef working in partnership with two major Singaporean restaurants to present inventive menus at a special  price of $100++ for Citibank cardmembers. 

A 6 course menu is presented over a period of 6-8 days and seats are super limited. We were lucky to bag a table for the month of July and had the dinner by Nick Bril (The Jane Antwerp, Belgium) and Takuma Seki (IKYU).

A sweet and refreshing start with the Winter of 1960 ($38), a kiwi sake by Mark of Barsmiths, Behind Closed Doors.

An amuse bouche of miso marinated foie gras by Nick Bril. Nick prefers for diners to stir each dish so that all the flavors can be enjoyed in a bite. First time having a cold foie gras and it was an interesting experience as it was more gelatinous than usual. 

Another refreshing cold dish of Marinated Oyster by Nick. This came with mangosteen, yuzu granite, seaweed salad and drizzled with a tangy ponzu vinaigrette. 

I absolutely love Nick's Quinoa Salad which featured quinoa done 2 ways- normal and puff version. It's super umami with the sour cream that has been infused with fermented seafood (scallop and clam), fish sauce and topped with Spanish caviar. The blanched and pickled vegetables added that slight acidic pop. It kinda took the attention away from the gelatinous pork belly.

A super mini Kaisen-don by Takuma with Blue fin fatty tuna (negitoro), Hokkaido Murasaki uni, tempura fish skin and marinated wasabi stem on sushi rice. Sadly, this failed to impress with the not- too-fresh uni with a distinct ammonia bitterness.

Takuma redeemed himself with his Angel Hair Pasta, which is the standout dish of the night. Chilled pasta, with crunchy young sardine bits, briny salmon roe, green onion, tossed in a dry seaweed soy vinaigrette. I can devour a pot of this any time. 

The Lamb Shio-Koji was one of the 2 dishes that Nick and Takuma collaborated on. Tender lamb, simply done, served with a malted sugar syrup with sides of crispy salted yuba, miso eggplant, bonito, and Mizuna mustard greens. Lovely meat, not so impressive sides.

We ended the night with the perfect nightcap, the Mar.Tea.Ni ($32), a soothing Sencha, Vermouth, and Earl Grey cocktail.

IKYU
Tue- Sun: 11.30am-2.30pm, 6 -10.30pm