The weekend before Valentine's, Hubby took me to Singapore for a weekend of shopping and dining :) Since we were only there for 2 days, we had to plan our time (or rather meals) properly. Since Hubby wants to treat me to some nice food, we looked in The Miele Guide for some guidance. We picked Gunther's Modern French Cuisine (listed No.14 on Asia's Top 20 2011/2012) as our venue for lunch. This restaurant is part of the Garibaldi Group. They are also listed as no.84 restaurant in the San Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants 2010.
Reservation was a breeze, the restaurant accepts SMS reservations and we got a response pretty quickly. The restaurant was also easy to locate, if you're taking the MRT, alight at City Hall station, walk towards Raffles Hotel, and the restaurant is located two streets behind Raffles. It is located in the Talib Centre, in one of those nice colonial-looking buildings.
The decor is minimalist, dark grey walls, designer lamps and leather chairs from Frag. When we arrived, we were seated down, given the menu and the waiter brought out a tray of fresh produce and placed it on a stand next to us. One of them came to describe al! l the di fferent produce, some just arrived on the day and how it can be prepared if you choose to select them. It's definitely a first for us to have ingredients brought out to us at the table - quite interesting! There was kinmedai, scallops, sea urchin, oysters, pear, pigeon and lobster. After they have finished explaining each ingredient to us, it would be taken away and brought back into the kitchen. We actually got to talk to Chef Gunther after the meal and he tells us he is very proud of showcasing his fresh produce to the customer.
Decor
Fresh produce
While waiting, we were served some bread. The menu consists of a la carte, 5-course degustation menu (S$128) or 3-course lunch menu (S$38). We decided to order the lunch menu and also add on a dish each from the a la carte menu. For the set lunch, it changes weekly, so what you see here may not be on the current menu but you can go to their website to check the current set lunch menu. There are 3 choices each for the starters and main.
From the a la carte menu, I ordered the Carpaccio of Wagyu Beef (Grade 9), tartare style, crispy potato (S$30). The wagyu beef was sliced very thinly, carpaccio style and placed on to! p of a c rispy potato sheet and then topped with chives, tartare sauce and other garnishes. It has clean, fresh flavours.
Look at the marbling on the beef!
Since Hubby's order from the a la carte was a soup, we asked if he could be served his starter from the set lunch first and they obliged. He had the green asparagus, ravioli foie gras which was very good. We both loved the texture and taste of the ravioli which was served with two giant asparagus spears and hollandaise sauce. Aesthetically, Chef Gunther's dishes were all very beautiful to look at and we took time to admire them too.
Hubby's next course is the Floating island of champignons de Paris on consomme of poultry (S$18). This was definitely a very pretty soup to look at, see h! ow the c hef has carefully arranged the thinly sliced mushrooms to resemble a flower. The waiter told us that there is an egg yolk served with this (at the bottom of the bowl) which Hubby carefully lifted - it looks even more like a flower now! Pretty, right? Anyway the mushrooms are lightly cooked by the hot consomme broth and we were told that we could mix the yolk with consomme before consuming (it tastes richer when mixed together). Hubby gave me some to try, and the soup tastes very much like a comforting chinese chicken soup.
I had the grilled scallop, mushroom cappuccino from the set lunch. Despite it looking quite ordinary, it tastes really lovely.. full of flavour and rich. The grilled scallops were hidden treasures inside this soup.. I found two :)
For mains, Hubby had the tagliatelle pasta with tiger prawn, again another simple looking dish but it tasted so good. The pasta which is homemade had a lovely texture and each strand is coated with the wonderful essence from the prawns. The prawns! itself were so fresh, Hubby was most impressed with this pasta.
I had the Gunther's creation, which is lamb stew served with mash potatoes. The lamb stew was flavorful and the mash was creamy and rich. By now, I was stuffed since all the dishes I ordered were really rich in flavour.
Dessert of the day was roasted bananas with chocolate and vanilla ice-cream. For S$38, I would say the set lunch is very good value for money, very well executed food with great service. I definitely wouldn't mind coming back here again on our next visit to Singapore.
Petit fours. I loved the canele and mini madeira cake here. So yummy.
Chef Gunther came out to speak to us after we finished our petit fours, he's such a nice and friendly guy. He chatted to us about his food and he even showed us around the restaurant (private room/kitchen/wine cellar) - it was so nice of him to do that! And we were delighted when he offered to prepare us his signature dish - the cold angel hair pasta served with white truffle oil and oscietra caviar (S$60). I was actually very full by now, but he said I have to try, just a mouthful. So glad he insisted because it was really amazing - the smell and flavour of the truffle oil was just heavenly.
The flavours are just amazing
Chef Gunther Hubrechsen with moi
Private room
Nice light fixture in private room
This painting is by Chef Gunther himself
After a great lunch, we took some photos of the famous Raffles Hotel. Our original plan was to have a Singapore Sling here, but just too full to fit anything else in our stomachs. A very nice, classy hotel.
Thanks to Hubby for the first of many Valentine's treats :) Stay tuned for more of our Singapore adventures.
Verdict: Great tasting food, very well-presented and good service.
Full set of photo available to view here.All photos taken with iPhone4S since I did not want to travel with a heavy DSLR.
Opening times: Mon to Sat 12.00-2.30pm; 6.30-10.30pm.
Service: Excellent.
Price: S$38++ for 3-course set lunch, including petit fours and coffee/tea.
Location: Gunther's Modern French Cuisine, 36 Purvis Street, #01-03, Singapore, 188613
! Tel: +(6 5) 6338 8955, or +(65) 8655 0208 for SMS reservation.
