Since staying at RWS ocean suite will set one back by $2000 a night, I decided to enjoy the same underwater effect by dining at Ocean Restaurant. Keke. Ocean Restaurant is opened by Cat Cora, a renowned celebrity chef and first female Iron Chef in Singapore.

My friend and I came on a weekday evening. Reservation is definitely a must. I underestimated their popularity. I called 4 hours prior to our intended 7.30pm visit to learn they only had a 9.30pm slot left.

  

My friend and I decided to go ahead with 9.30pm although the lady on the other end informed the restaurant closes at 10.30pm with last order at 10pm. Worried that my friend and I wouldn’t be able to finish our meal within an hour, I asked if we could continue to linger after 10.30pm. However, the lady must have thought I wanted to hang around to see the fishes cause she replied “But they switch off the aquarium lights at 10.30pm. So you won’t be able to see anything.”

We were also informed that we are required to spend at least $58 per person.

With that, we (actually) arrived earlier at 9pm. Luckily, they were setting up our table and had us seated by 9.10pm. We were also given a table just beside the aquarium. So I guess if one really wants a good table, do state one’s preference when making reservation.

And it could be because we were given a corner table, coupled with the fact that we arrived pretty late, we did not have any issue where our view was blocked by other diners who would stand between the table and glass to get a better view of the fishes.

And from the menu, we ordered:-

1) Amuse bouche, Complimentary (above) – Egg with bacon foam, caramelised onion and a slice of blood sausage which the staff said was pork when I asked.

2) Tartare of pink shrimp, $28 (above) – Dashi jelly, compressed watermelon, avocado & yuzu-soy reduction. I did not like the taste of the chopped shrimps against the watermelon. It was an odd combination. The shrimps left a weird aftertaste in the mouth too.

3) 42 degree sous vide salmon, $32 (above) – Salmon mousse, citrus minestrone, ikura & shaved fennel salad.

4) Beet & cheese tartlet, $22 (above) – Layers of puff pastry with fontina cheese & beet puree. Surprisingly, of our choices for appetizers, it was this dish of non-seafood that stood out. Think layers of crisp, buttery pastry for the tartlet. Nice.

5) Lobster milk, $25 (above) – Raw marinated lobster & creme fraiche. We were first served a bowl without the soup so that we could see the ingredients nicely plated within it. But what took me aback was how the staff roughly poured the soup instead of slowly into the bowl. To the extent that the soup actually spilled over the bowl. That aside, we felt it was weird eating raw lobster meat. We preferred if it was cooked.

6) Seared hokkaido scallop, $62 (above) – Pumpkin bulgur wheat, sea urchin cream, pickled baby fennel, crackling pork skin & apple slaw. One of the better dishes. I would recommend ordering this. Four pieces of fresh, succulent scallops.

7) Roasted monkfish, $60 (above) – Black olive oil, chorizo puree & ratatouille. This was really salty. I’m not one who would ask for my dishes to be replaced, but it was so salty that (for the first time) I sent the dish back to the kitchen to check if it was intended to be this salty. A few minutes later, the staff came out and said the chef could redo the dish or we could change our choice of main. We decided to go for the latter cause from the initial bite, while it was really salty, we also concluded we did not like the texture of monkfish.

8) Buttered fried red gurnard, $52 (above) – Scottish mussels, mussel-basil emulsion, dill cream & preserved lemon. The dish which we opted to replace our monkfish dish. This was much better, although the fish was a little overcooked.

9) Vacherin, $22 (above) – Textures of strawberry & creme fraiche. This was really pretty with its different shades of pink in the dish! And it tasted as good as it looked too! It was indeed a dish of different textures. Really interesting and yummy.

10) Black forest, $24 (above) – Valrhona chocolate sponge, kirsch, caramel ice & cherry compote. This was good. Wrapped within the chocolate were layers of sponge cake and cream. Really nice.

I guess due to the really disappointing appetisers and mains, dessert was the highlight of our dinner. Which was a great shame cause one would think Ocean Restaurant would do well in terms of dishing out seafood items especially with their menu centering around seafood.

The lights for the aquarium starts to dim out by 10pm. So if one only manage to get a late time slot like me, do try to take pictures early! =)

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