Adventure #75: db Bistro Moderne (Marina Bay Sands)

One of my cousins was getting married in Singapore on May 18. As it is also the older one's birthday, the whole extended family decided to meet in Singapore to celebrate.  One of the meals we had in Singapore was at db Bistro Moderne at Marina Bay Sands.  G was there a couple of days earlier and thought that the food and service was excellent, so we booked a table for the whole extended family for Saturday.

db Bistro Moderne is said to be Chef Daniel Boulud's renowned re-interpretation of the Parisian classic. Among his many achievements, Chef Boulud is credited with elevating the simple burger into an art form--a new sophisticated take on an old classic. Sadly none of us felt like having burger that night. Actually we were all rather full from the very long wedding lunch.

Still, amongst us, we sampled the following dishes.

Starter - Heirloom tomato salad was well presented, tomato fresh, didn't quite like the mozzarella which was mouse-like

Starter - Lobster salad was much better with large chunks of lobster and fresh greens

Starter - Grilled foie gras was very good

Main - Veal hanger steak with foie gras, creamy spinach and fries was from the daily special. G had it a few days ago and highly recommended it. However, this one did not turn out as good. The beef was not as soft and the fries not fully cooked.

Main - Hanger steak from the dinner menu.  Tasted good but a little too cooked for our liking (despite asking for medium rare).

Main - New Zealand Scorpion Fish En Papillotte cooked in clam chowder with bacon and celery was also from the daily special.  It was certainly different. It was baked and came wrapped in some baking sheets.  It was very tasty, however the creamy taste became a little overpowering after a while with little carbs to neutralize it.

Main - Squid ink tagliolini with clams and mussels looked very appetising.  Mum liked this best as perhaps she is not used to too much salad and meat.

Dessert - Clafoutis Tout Chocolat or warm flourless chocolate cake with chocolate and vanilla ice cream.  Very good but no surprises.

Dessert - Vacherin made up of vanilla chantilly, hibiscus meringue and yogurt-rhubarb sorbet.  Now this was different and very very good.

And finally to compensate for the below expected service level, they gave us warm madeleines to share which by the way was very nice.

We were there on a Sat evening and the place was almost full when we left. We felt that although the food was good, it was not Daniel Boulud level and the service left a lot to be desired. G was there a few days earlier on a week day and had a completely different experience. So, I guess if you are in the area on a weekday night, this would be a good dinner choice.

db Bistro Morderne
B1-48, Galleria Level
The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands
Tel: +65 6688 8525
Lunch
Monday - Friday: Noon to 5PM
Weekend Brunch
Saturday - Sunday: 11AM - 5PM
Dinner
Sunday & Monday: 5:30pm to 10PM
Tuesday - Saturday: 5:30PM - 11PM

Adventure #74: 怡寶

It has been a while since the Malaysian road trip and the older one is missing her Ipoh ho fan.  And lucky for her, I just happened to read that a new restaurant has opened in Wanchai called 怡寶.  According to the magazine, the chef is a returning Hong Konger and had worked in Malaysia for 4 years.  Amongst it specialties (it claims) are Ipoh ho fun and bean sprout chicken!

Even if I know it will never stand up to the food we recently had, for the older one, we had to give it a try.  We here we were at Labour day.



The Ipoh ho fun looked good.  The soup was tasty (very close to the real thing) and the chicken soft.  Unfortunately and understandably the chef didn't use ho fun from Ipoh for this dish.......so, a poor imitation, only good for those really home sick days



I wish they would just called it chicken rice.  The rice is well cooked and the chicken soft. Once again this dish cannot be made without bean sprout from Ipoh!

Call me picky but once again this restaurant is for locals who have not been to Ipoh.  The specialties from Ipoh are its ho fun and bean sprouts which are both of superior quality.  To use anything else is just an insult to the taste buds.

怡寶
G/F, Kwong Ah Building
197 Johnston Road
Hong Kong
Tel: 2892-1386