Singapore Restaurant Week 2011 - October Edition (9 to 16 October 2011)

Singapore Restaurant Week 2011, the October Edition runs from 9 to 16 October 2011. Singapore Restaurant Week is now a bi-annual event. If you missed out on booking all the restaurants you wanted last March, try to get the deals this time. I managed to book 2 restaurants last March and enjoyed my meals at the restaurants.

I read that the March Edition had 24000 bookings! Organiser DiningCity.com has worked hard and got 87 restaurants on board for the October Edition. New restaurants include: Au Jardin, Bistro du Vin, Buyan Russian Haute Cuisine & Caviar Bar, Bronte, Casa Tartufo, Da Luca Italian Restaurant, Eco Gourmet Café, Le Tonkin, Gaia, Lucas restaurant @ Klapsons, La Cicala, The Lighthouse, Table At 7, Town Restaurant, Trattoria Lafiandra, and The Lounge (Hollandse Club) among others.

Thanks to the creativity of DiningCity Singapore and their PR folks from Sixth Sense Communications, I had the opportunity to try out some of the offerings that Singapore Restaurant Week 2011 will offer last week.

It was very interesting as we had our 3 meal course in 3 different restaurants! Thanks to one of the sponsors BMW Asia, we were chauffeured restaurant to restaurant in the sleek BMWs. (If you are a BMW customer, 9 October 2011, Sunday has been wholly set aside only for BMW owners!)

Starter:

Garibaldi Italian Restaurant and Bar

Chef Roberto prepared the starter, Capesante Al Caviale E Crema Di Zucca Tartufata for us.
In English, it's Sea Scallops with Cauliflower Puree Smoked Caviar and Truffle Pumpkin Soup.



It was really delicious. Look how just nicely the scallops had been seared. Those caviar popping salty essence in your mouth. The Truffle Pumpkin Soup was something rather different too. Do you want to try it as well? You know which restaurant to book!

Culina paired the dish with Torres Fransola Sauvignon Blanc 2008.

Main:

Novus Restaurant and Bar.

To get to Novus from Garibaldi, we all hopped into BMWs. A long line of it waiting for us.



Novus is such a nice, classy place to dine at. I love the high ceiling and the overall architecture of the building. The restaurant itself reminds me of my university days! I had breakfast and dinner in a proper dining room that had high ceilings and the design of the windows and doors were so similar! It was also when all of us had to observe the way we eat. The only difference was we had to queue to get our food, usually an Asian or Western selection.

Back to Novus. For the mains at Novus, Austrian Chef Stephan Zoisl who has worked with several Michelin Star restaurants, prepared two mains to choose from.

It was a difficult choice to choose between the two mains. Fellow diner, Brad and I decided to share our mains.



The Duck Confit - smoked to order. Boneless crisp duck leg confit smoked with hickory wood. Seasonal wild mushroom, potato gratin and circle of herbs. How could you resist that?



The other selection was Berkshire Porkbelly Meets Saffron Risotto. Thin sliced pork belly on creamy saffron risotto. There was this piece of pork crackers that was just so enticing and it's topped with parmesa, chargrilled capcisum, garden cress, red radish and Joselito ham. Chef Sous Vide the porkbelly ;-)

Culina paired the dishes with Ruffino Lodola Nuova, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2007

The dish above will be served as part of the Novus Restaurant Week menu. Ahem, you know which other restaurant to book. If you are a mushroom lover, Novus has a new menu starting this week that features seasonal mushrooms!

Dessert:

Boathouse

The chef had prepared for us Savarin of Caramelized Apples with Vanilla Ice Cream.

Thanks to the organisers, we were all seated on the rooftop (or where Prel.ude is.) The view was wonderful, there was absolute clear skies last week and we could see the beautiful Singapore skyline and upcoming F1 track all litted!

Culina paired this dessert with Torres Riesling Vendimia Tardive 2008.

How to book?

All 87 restaurants will offer exclusive three-course dinners at an irresistible price of S$35++ and three-course lunches at S$25++ (Note: Some restaurants may charge a supplement of S$15 for lunch and S$20 for dinner, thus the set lunch or dinner may cost $40++ and $55++ respectively. Terms and conditions apply).

All bookings can be made online from 21 September 2011 at www.restaurantweek.sg

American Express Cardmembers (excluding DBS and UOB issued American Express Cards)  enjoy exclusive pre-booking privileges from 14 September 2011.

Subscribers to the DiningCity.com newsletter enjoy pre-booking privileges from 19 September 2011. To sign up for the newsletter, just log onto www.diningcity.com/singapore.

Earth Day Menu at Novus (at National Museum of Singapore)

How many of you know about Earth Day? You might say hey, didn't we had something like that a few weeks ago? Where we turned off all the lights and stuff? Well that was Earth Hour.

Earth Day is celebrated every year on April 22. It started long ago on April 22 1970 in the US. In 2009, the United Nations adopted April 22 every year as International Mother Earth Day. They have a theme every year too. This year’s Earth Day theme, A Billion Acts of Green, recognises the power of millions of individual actions, both small and large, in making a difference towards sustainable living.

Novus celebrates Earth Day with “The Elements of Life”, a special 4- course menu crafted by Executive Chef Stephan Zoisl. Inspired by the four natural elements of Mother Nature – Earth, Water, Air and Fire, diners can expect a feast that triggers the senses as each course unfolds.

For this menu, Executive Chef Stephan Zoisl has taken care to incorporate organic ingredients and supplies from sustainable sources. Chef Stephan says, “This menu will showcase the beauty of nature on a plate. We want to trigger the appreciation of Mother Earth through the diner’s senses - taste, sight, smell and touch.”

Sounds good? Well, I had that meal recently at Novus and here's my experience of it.

Sicilian Olives, Butter and Olive Oil.

Momo and I with Aromacookery and Maemeemoomoo together with the HungryCow tasted the Earth Day meal.

Notice those olives? Don't be deceived by it's greenish looks. They taste really really nice! I read somewhere else that they have lesser calories than the black olives too. When we tasted it, it gives a nice corn like flavour to it. Very unique!

Bread Basket

The bread's all baked in the restaurant itself and the soft rolls are probably the one I enjoyed most! They were just so soft and I just had to grab another one when I finished the first one. There were mini baguettes and rye bread too.

I had my soft rolls with the butter that had some herbs and nuts on it. Very nice!

“The Elements of Life” - Earth 

When this was served, it was totally unexpected! All of us were so intrigued by it! We did not expect anything like this!

We were all jokingly asking:
- Do we have to harvest our own veggies?
- Is that real soil?
- Is that grass from the grass patch outside the National Musuem?



Name of dish: TRUFFLE UNDERGROUND & MORNING DEW



The bottom most of what I call the 'petri dish' was jellied mushroom consomme. 
The white layer is Jerusalem artichoke puree.



The 'soil' was dough infused with molasses, black sesame and black winter truffle. Can you imagine the taste? I am sure you have touched soil before.

The texture was almost like soil! I really enjoyed eating it, tasting it slowly to try and guess what it was. It was familiar tasting, but I just could not get it all.


The small piece of vegetables and mushrooms on it, made it look so interesting! You just got to try it!

“The Elements of Life” - Sea

So 'atas' eh? Food being served in a big shiny cover!
It was to keep the dish nice and warm.



Name of dish: CANADIAN SCALLOPS & SEA ELEMENTS

The dish stayed warm because the sea shells on the bigger bowl that the smaller bowl rested was filled with warm water.  I can't remember if they used purified sea water with the sea shells, but you can smell the 'sea'!



The main ingredients: Canadian scallops, borage leaves, salted fingers, seaweed, oyster leaves, caviar d’ Aquitaine.

The scallops were so succulent. We were told the dish was not cooked with salt added as the salted fingers (that has the texture of bean sprouts but is naturally salty) and seaweed and caviar already gives it a salty taste. Interesting eh?





You got to try this leaf! It's called Oyster leaf and when you bite it, you will think you have just eaten fresh oyster! How amazing can it get? You can do an online search about it.
(This leaf shown has been partially 'cooked' brown by the hot liquid.)

p/s Ferran Adria before closing El Bulli for renovation, had a dish that uses Oyster Leaf too! So you think it's worth a try here in Singapore? I am wondering where I can buy this leaf!

“The Elements of Life” - Air

Name of dish: SNOW COD & ZUCCHINI FLOWER


You should try Chef Stephan's 'airy' creation!
It's shellfish foam, potato & saffron espuma, stuffed zucchini flower with Snow Cod.

Inside the stuffed zucchini flower was zucchini sauteed with tomato. Oh, I love that taste! It goes so well with the cod.



I quote them: "The shellfish foam and potato & saffron espuma represent air by providing this dish with a flavourful dimension of airy textures."

Beautiful eh? The japanese cucumber creates such a beautiful 'scale' for the cod fish. Look at the details too! Oh yes, the foam will disappear, so have the foam quick!

“The Elements of Life” - Fire

Name of dish: BURNING SORBET

Wood chips, Staub mini cast iron cookware on tiles, doesn't it looks cool?



It's made from Elderflower sorbet, Grand Marnier, fresh seasonal fruits and Champagne jelly.

How to execute this dish?
Step 1: You pour the shot of Grand Marnier in.....




Step 2: You light the match!



Step 3: Enjoy the flames!

There you go....
A very visually appealing flaming sorbet showing off the element of fire in this dessert. After the alcohol burns off, enjoy the delicious dessert!


Are you tempted?

“The Elements of Life” is a 4-course menu priced at $128++ per person. The menu is available for dinner only from 15 - 23 April 2011.  Hurry if you want to try it! I am sure you will be equally surprised and intrigue as Momo and I was!

For reservations, call 6336 8770



After note:
If you like cheeses, you can order a cheese platter too!



I am not a fan of cheese, so you can imagine me with twisted funny face when I tried it!
I can't remember the names of all the cheese, but I think there was 2 of them which I thought was nice.


Novus
National Museum of Singapore
93 Stamford Road, #01-02,
 Singapore 178897

Tel: Restaurant- 6336 8770
Tel: Bar, Courtyard, Café- 6337 1397

Website: http://www.novus.sg/