Iggy's (Singapore) - HE

Traveling  through the Southeast Asia and after long walks, cultural visits and enjoying local cuisines, we arrived at Singapore feeling like a fine dinning restaurant with oriental influences. We looked up at the Michelin red book and no stars have been awarded to a restaurant in Singapore. We decided to look at the St. Pellegrinos' 50 world's best restaurants table (which actually goes up to the 100th best) for guidance (as reliable and subjective this can be), three were listed: Iggy's (27th), Jaan Par André (39th); Les Amis (55th) and Restaurant André (100th). This did not take into account the newly opened restaurants at the Marina Bay Sands, such as Guy Savoy, Santi, db Bistro Moderne by Daniel Boloud, Osseteria Mozza by Mario Batalia, Cut by Wolfgang Puk or Waku Ghin. After analyzing each website, reading their food philosophy and studying the menus we opted for Iggy's. 

Iggy's chef, Ignacios Chan also known as Iggy, is a former chef of Les Amis, the source of all the great Singaporean cooks in the country, such as Iggy or Gunther Hubrechsen from Gunther's. 

Iggy's practises a modern natural Asian style cuisine with international, in particular French, influences. It is located at the 3rd floor of the Hilton in the busy Orchard Road and is a quiet, medium-sized (but with less than fifteen tables) and well designed space. 

Service: 18/20
Service was polite, correct and friendly. Attentive to detail and available. Coordination between front of house and kitchen was excellent. The complimentary sake and the nice conversation was the perfect combination to a wonderful dinner.


Restaurant décor and ambience: 17/20

Simple and sober decoration.  The restaurant lays soft music which creates a good ambience without it being too noisy. 

The service door opens directly to the dinning room and some of the tables end up as close as two meters from the pass. This is not a plus aspect of Iggy's even though it can be interesting for who wants to know what is going on in the kitchen.

Food: 17/20

The tasting menu is the only option available and you could characterize it as a balanced and light food "journey" through Asia with occasional detours to France. 

The trip begins with two amouse bouches:

i) trio of a) Tuna fillet with ginger; b) smoothly torched Toro; and c) lightly fried beef. All of these on top of soya infused merengue (right picture). 

ii) Oysters with tomato ice cream, tomato gelatin, cherry tomato and unknown herbs.

The menu started off with "Eel (avruga, yuzu, silver)", a spot on smoked eel parfait with a perfect creamy consistency, mandarin coulis (what a sweet combination) and an additional touch of class and luxury with avruga and a piece of edible silver (left picture).

The "Eel" was followed by the "Chlorophyll (sea and soil)", a great combination of green uncooked and cooked ingredients. It is particularly noteworthy the array of textures and different flavours. Not my favourite but extra points for the harmony and presentation (right picture). 

The "Kinmedai (seasonal vegetables, sudachi)" was right next in line, a grilled fillet of Kinmedai, not a remarkable piece of fish, in a bed of crunchy and masterly cooked vegetables and an enjoyable cold gelly sauce (left picture).

Here comes the "Sea Urchin (cauliflower, abalone, shiso)"!!! Wonderful presentation of a sea tasting urchin covered in a thick gelly sauce and over a smooth cauliflower pure (right picture). 

After was the most expected, but unfortunately the greatest disillusion of the dinner, the "Alba White Truffles (tajarin, poultry jus, parmesan)". Truffles are the "diamond of the kitchen" as once said by Brillat- Savarin and therefore I am always genuinely happy to have them on the plate and sense that amazing oily fragrance  but at this level serving a simple tajarin with shaves of white truffle is the one creativity stain in the menu. The white truffles deserve always to be the queen of the plate (and are they not always with their intense perfume?) in an elegant display of class and exquisiteness. Bottom line, it is a far less than what I was expecting at this level, but the quality of the product saves the day in a tasty dish (left pictures). 

The last main was a "Pigeon (beetroot, hickory, lentils)" was a voyage to France for a fine cooked piece of pigeon breast the rest are fait divers, shame the bone found on the dish (right picture)…

Moving to the desserts, we had a pre-dessert "Cantaloupe (raspberry, peppermint)". 2 textures of cantaloupe and nitrogen raspberry, techie, harmonious, but once again not my cup of tea (right picture).

Last dish on the menu, a "Watermelon (pepitas, goat's cheese, milk ice-cream)". I wondered why cantaloupe and watermelon on the same menu? Anyway, this one was amazing (some similarities with the one had at Mugaritz earlier this year), a great blend of textures from the creaminess of the ice cream and goat cheese to the watery fresh and the additional points earned with the crunchiness of the caramelized pepitas. One of the best (left picture)!

My wife, had the "Strawberry Three Ways"beautifully presented, incredibly tasty...you got to try it (left picture).      

The Grande Finale with a variety of luxurious detailed petit fours predominantly based on chocolate with a complimentary sparkling sake.

Wine list: 14/20

We asked for the Sommelier's recommendations for the tasting menu and he came up with very appropriate and wines. I can not recall the brands, but we had a riesling wine from Germany, a red Burgundy, a cabernet sauvignon from Australia, a 5 puttonyos Tokay from Hungary and a complimentary sparkling sake from Japan. 

Genre: Modern International Cuisine (in particular Asian influence)
Price: €210 / person
Michelin: N/A (2011: 27th S. Pellegrino World's Best Restaurant)
Date of visit: Autumn 2011

Overall: 17.5/20
Pros: Food (freshness, textures, creativity, plating, flavours), service
Cons: Music and the kitchen door in the middle of the dining room

Iggy's
581 Orchard Road, The Hilton Hotel,
Singapore 238883, Singapore
Tel: +66 67322234
http://www.iggys.com.sg/