冠華 Majestic Bay Seafood Restaurant ... Novel Cantonese Live Seafoodat the Flower Dome, Gardens by the Bay

The Majestic Bay Seafood Restaurant is another attempt by Chef Yong Bing Ngen to reach another pinnacle from his previous successes at The Majestic Restaurant and Jing. This almost 2 months old live seafood restaurant takes a spot in the Flower Dome, Gardens by the Bay. Along side Pollen, a fine diner just round the corner, The Majestic Bay Restaurant provides the Chinese dining option to Singaporeans and tourists alike who flock the Gardens like bees to flowers. Hotelier and Restauranteur, Loh Lik Peng, has gotten out of his comfortable Bukit Pasoh and Keong Saik empire in a big way. He seems to want to work on the dining scene around the Marina Bay. Jing is his collaboration with Chef Yong and Pollen is his venture with Michelin star chef Jason Atherton and now The Majestic Bay Seafood Restaurant, another partnership with Chef Yong.

As we walked into the restaurant, live fish and seafood were stocked up in tanks waiting for hungry folks to pick them up.

Emptied Geoduck shells used as a decor as a water feature among the tanks.

The Majestic Bay Restaurant has a seating capacity of 110 and is a good dining option for a gathering of family and friends.

The round mirrors lining one side of the wall  reminds me of portholes in a ship and quite befitting of a seafood theme of the restaurant.

There's even a private dining room at the far end with a round 14 seater table.

辣椒蟹生煎包 Seared, chili crab meat bun. We've seen and tasted seared meat buns before but chilli crab meat buns is a first for me. For someone who thinks chilli crab is exotic, may be this can be a little sampler to the taste of chilli crab. I liked this dish for I'm a lover of chilli crab. The taste wasn't too fiery for the uninitiated so it'll be nice for tourists who doesn't have a stomach for chilli and yet wanting to try the chilli crab.

Here's what you see in the meat bun revealing the obvious colors of the chilli crab.

上海小笼包 Steamed, shanghai dumpling, pork. In fact I had steamed Shanghai dumpling from Ding Tai Fung a few days before I tried The Majestic Bay Restaurant's rendition of the dumpling. Even though we spent sometime shooting the food before we come to actually taste it, the soup in the dumpling still didn't dry up. Like my usually style, I'll place the dumpling on the spoon, bite a hole in the skin and suck out the soup to taste before I chomped up the rest. I thought the soup in these dumpling has all the essence. The soup is more flavorful than that from Ding Tai Fung, slightly more intense and savory. The skin was thin which is essential for a good steamed shanghai dumpling.

叉烧焗餐包 Baked BBQ pork bun. When these buns were served, I knew they were buns but they looked too uniform in size and have that "polished" finish just like when I got my car out from the car spa. The bun was soft, not the normal soft, but exquisitely soft. The sweetness of the BBQ pork filling was perfect for me. However, I thought the filling portion a bit too little. 

瓦煲老火汤 Soup of the day. We tried the soup of the day that is a familiar taste that my Cantonese mother-in-law would cook for me and regularly. When I tasted it, I knew that a few of the main ingredients would be pork bone and dried oysters with a melon. My MIL would usually used 老黄瓜 Old Cucumber as the melon for this soup. Chef Yong uses the 节瓜, translated to be zucchini, or hairy melon. Sometimes, MIL would add too much of the dried oyster which made it taste too much of seafood. This is one of my favorite home cooked soup and this one was executed perfectly with good balance of dried oyster and probably some red dates..

When the ingredients was scooped out on a plate, I see the familiar ingredients that were added to my MIL's soup. I thought I saw red dates as well, possibly used to sweeten the soup.

金银蒜蒸开边生虾 Steamed, live prawns, minced garlic. These live prawns were steamed with garlic, light soy sauce and egg white and then topped  with a sprinkle of spring onions and coriander. Steamed fresh prawns is the best way to taste the best of live prawns. The flesh was sweet and I regretted not grabbing more to eat.

冠华咖啡焗肉蟹 Live crabs, Bay’s signature “Kopi” sauce. Folks are familiar with Chef Yong's cuisine at The Majestic Restaurant in Hotel Majestic and his days in Doc Cheng's in Raffles Hotel would know that he has a flair for creativity. This signature crab dish is probably seen in only The Majestic Bay Restaurant. As the dish was served, everyone of us can smell fragrances from the coffee. When the dish was lighted up with a flamboyant fanfare, some caramelization seemed to take place. Many of us smelled Butter Caramel Popcorns and this is definitely unique for a crab dish!

As we go at the crab, the fragrance of caramelized pop corn lingers with a faint aroma of coffee. The Sri Lankan crab was fleshy and sweet by itself (I tasted some be picking at some flesh with my chopsticks without tainting the white flesh with the sauce) The sauce was mostly sweet and the fragrance follows you on your fingers. If you'll like to go for a unique crab dish, this is definitely the one.

蒜茸野菌炒芦笋 Sautéed, wild mushrooms, asparagus, minced garlic. The most understated dish of the evening was this vegetable dish but I thought it was simplicity at it's best. Though I'm not a fan of vegetables, I ate a lot of the asparagus as it's sweetness peers through the flavors of mushroom enhanced by the fragrance of the minced garlic. This was light, simple, yet delicious.

海鲜大烩焗饭 Baked rice, assorted seafood, chef’s recipe sauce. Chef Yong got inspiration for this baked rice dish from Macau and it's Portuguese influence from the colony days. There was distinct curry and cheese flavors with this dish and the seafood like crab, mussels and scallops added a layer of seafood flavor. This was my favorite dish as I am a curry lover and I thought this baked rice tasted like Japanese curry rice.

Here my portion of the baked rice. Notice the little scallops that was mixed u in the rice. The rice seemed to be pre-fried and then baked and every grain of rice was coated with the chef's recipe sauce. 

甜品诱惑 Sweet’s temptation. This includes the Glutinous Rice Dumpling with Yam Paste Stuffing, Shredded Coconut; Glutinous Rice Dumpling with Fresh Cream Stuffing; Steamed Custard Bun, Salted Egg Yolk; Bay’s Chinese Pancake, Red Bean Paste. My two favorites among the four would be both Glutinous rice dumplings. The dumpling with the yam paste stuffing tasted like burbur hitam consolidated into a kueh kueh. I was most impressed with the dumpling with fresh cream stuffing for the light mochi texture that almost melt in your mouth.

As it was fusion style Chinese cuisine, it's almost predictable that eveyone of us have their own favorite dish. My choice was the baked rice and several chose the Signature Kopi Crab. It goes to show that everyone got a different palate and at The Majestic Bay Seafood Restaurant, Chef Yong understands that and provide a galore of creative taste to suit each and every one. So will you be adventurous enough to try his novel Cantonese cuisine? I know I will and definitely be back for their dim sum as I had caught a glimpse of their dim sum menu.

Thanks to Janice and Sherman from Foodnews for the invitation to this Food Tasting.

18 Marina Gardens Drive #01-10 
Flower Dome, Gardens By The Bay
Singapore 018953
Tel : +65 6604 6604

A Chinoiserie Season at The Halia @ The Halia Restaurant

The last time I visited the Halia restaurant was my birthday in year 2008. I recalled HY bringing me to this ulu part of the Botanic Gardens. We parked our car at the coach parking along Tyersall Avenue the last time (parking at the coach parking bays is alright after 6pm), just like I did this time. Follow the path that starts with a sign that reads 'Halia Restaurant', you'll pass the lush green foliage of the Botanic Gardens, a man-made waterfall and be right in front of the restaurant in less than 5 minutes. There's something magical about the Singapore Botanic Gardens, at least to me. It was in the evening, the short stroll with HY from the car park to the restaurant felt so romantic. This time I was back alone, retracing the same path to the Halia Restaurant for an invitation to a preview of their seasonal menu for Chinese New Year, "A Chinoiserie Season at The Halia"

The preview menu was so nicely presented to us like an opened Chinese scroll. 

At the helm of the Halia Restaurant's kitchen is Chef de Cuisine Reynaldo Arriola who brings with him experiences of stints in France and Singapore which he aptly applies to his European creations with Asian touches. At this preview, these European Asian creations were presented to us in a special menu to celebrate the Chinese New Year festive season. This special menu will only be available for lunch and dinner from 18th January ~ 7th February 2012. 

Appetizers

Gold (S$38) - Foie gras, miso, seaweed, miso and spring roll with piquillos sauce
Th spring rolls are a representation of gold bars and symbolises wealth. Befitting the symbol of wealth is the use of a rich ingredient, foie gras. The spring roll can be a little greasy but it was really delicious. It went well with the spicy piquillos sauce. We asked for second serving of these gold bars.

Prosperity (S$38) - Carpaccio of ocean trout, carrot, golden sultanas, Chinese leek with pomelo and pamplemousse, black moss, glass noodle, black & white sesame seed and green lime juice, orange plum sauce, pickled ginger.

Here's my share of Prosperity being tossed up and ready to be eaten. This version of carpaccio was nicely pieced up together to create a single portion of 'Yu Sheng', a dish that we Chinese in Singapore eat during the Chinese New Year period. In the typical 'Yu Sheng' we toss for wealth and prosperity with a huddle of family and friends. This version, I get to toss it on my own, for myself. I enjoy this more than the traditional Yu Sheng as it had the sweet and sour taste like Yu Sheng but taste cleaner and sublime. The contrasting taste of the savory ocean trout was a delight.

Mains

Abundance (S$70)- Kurobuta pork toro, yuzu and kumquat sweet sour sauce, fricassee of carrots,

white asparagus, prosciutto and chive
I love the tender Kurobuta especially the crispy thin skin that made it all so palatable. Being a self profess lover of pork belly with some experience roasting one, I can appreciate a good roast pork belly. The crispy skin was thin and the rest of the belly, a good tenderness with it's taste exalted by the kumquat sweet and sour sauce. The fricassee beautified the dish with it's dash of colors and even the flower stuck in the middle was edible. 

Dragon (S$110)- Half lobster, angel hair pasta, XO lobster bisque, abalone garnish
Lobster in Chinese translates into 'Dragon Prawn' and hence the introduction of lobster to signify the year of the dragon. Angel hair pasta signifies longevity. The lobster bisque was heavy but I thought should be rightly so as it was used as a sauce for the pasta. This mains was a generous portion and the perfectly cooked lobster and abalone can do it no wrong. One thing I've learned about angel's hair is that you eat it as soon as it's served al dente especially when it's drowned with lobster bisque like this. 

Desserts

Happiness (S$24) - Chocolate mousse, orange sesame tuile, Szechuan pepper ice cream
I was really happy with this dessert especially the fragrance of the sesame mingling with the chocolate mousse. I was enjoying the moment until the spicy Szechuan pepper hit me caught me. Looks can be deceiving as the little peppery devils lurked inside. Well one can certainly find Happiness in surprises.

Even though we section it to reveal what's inside, it still looked innocent enough to beguile the unexpected. 

Fortune (S$24) - Orange tiramisu, triple sec orange liquor gelee, pistachio nougat, orange meringue
Orange signifies wealth and we had a glassful of it! Definitely not orange juice we are talking about here. If you wish for your life to be full of sweetness, this would be your choice. 

You can piece up the dishes above into a 3 course set with prices listed below. There's even specific Brown Brothers wines to pair with each dish. Most of which are exclusive to The Halia Restuarant.

3 Course Set

Choice of appetiser, Lobster main course, and choice of dessert $168 

Choice of appetiser, pork main course, and choice of dessert $128

With wine pairing (3 glasses) add $40

Prices are subject to 10% service charge & prevailing GST.

After dinner we had some ginger tea but not from this decorative tea set supposedly used by the owner of the restaurant during her wedding. I liked the ginger tea but I prefer my own brew better.

... and I wish that I can whisk off this exquisite tingkat, tiffin carrier, to takeaway the delicious food created by Chef Reynaldo.

This is definitely a change from our typical Chinese New Year meal. It was really fun tasting, chatting and discussing about the food that we ate. When we were finished with our mains, Chef Reynaldo came out of the kitchen to sit down with us. For one, he's young, charming and was very open to sharing and our comments on his food.

As this is an invited food tasting, "We" within the context of this food diary entry refers to fellow food lovers who was invited as well as Karen from Food News who organized and invited us.

For reservations, call +65 6287 0711 (office hours)  or email alicetang@halia.com.sg 

1 Cluny Road (access via Tyersall Avenue)

Ginger Gardens

Singapore Botanic Gardens

Singapore

The Halia Restaurant Website