Pollen Singapore
Not that i minded the change in restaurants. Pollen is Michelin star Chef Jason Atherton's second venture in Singapore, following Esquina (read review here). It also is the second outlet of his London flagship restaurant, Pollen Street Social. The food here is supposed to be Mediterranean-inspired modern European cuisine but really, i don't see or taste the Mediterranean at all.
Dinner started with 3 little amuse bouche, all of which distracted us from the important task of creating our menu for the night.
Choux bun filled with cheese and truffle.
Cracklings served with an apple puree and arancini (breaded rice ball with cheese) served with hummus. Adored the arancini with the creamy risotto style rice.
White for the night. Chardonnay and Malagousia.
The greedy girl insisted on ordering 3 starters because she wanted to try them all. Over ordering and over eating are typical features in our meal dates. The Mosaic of foie gras and confit duck with cherries and tangy apple puree ($40) was quite different from the usual that is served with berries compote. Very yummy.
I highly recommend the Trip to Japan 2012 ($38). Stellar succulent and sweet scallop sashimi were served atop marinated daikon in a lemony and saltish broth of sake and mirin. The sea urchin didn't make a difference to the overall dish. Kinda seemed like it was thrown in just to glorify the dish. More snow in this one (horseradish) but it melted when we were happily snapping away.
The Scottish lobster ($55) was an elaborate dish. When it was served, we were wondering if we accidentally ordered extra food. This was a 3 course dish and it consisted of an intense lobster bisque, a lobster 'burger' and chilled lobster with fennel cream and sea urchin.
Our favorite was the bisque which was served in a wine glass. Exactly the way it should be savored. Next was the burger was done a la atas lobster roll style but with a buttery brioche bun. These were way better than the tasteless rubbery lobster chunks that were served with fennel cream and sea urchin. Again, the sea urchin was purposeless.
Our mains- Kurobuta pork belly, braised cheek, charred spring onions, butternut squash, Sudachi lime ($67). There was a great balance of fat and meat though i still removed the obvious squishy bits. Take away all the sides and you have pork belly done Asian way. This is really good roast pork with kong ba essentially. The caramelized and smokey leek with sweet pumpkin puree were great accompaniments. The overall dish was delightful with the various textures and flavors.
I would do beef anytime but the Halibut ($70) was recommended. Decided to be nice and ordered fish since the SG doesn't do beef. This is a lightly flavored dish and i'm more a fan of strong flavors. Despite that, the simply pan fried fish held up on its own. Again, the sea urchin cream was irrelevant though you could taste a little sweetness as compared to the bland sea urchin complement for all the other dishes.
We were stuffed but we had to have desserts to conclude our Pollen experience. We had the Pollen "Tatin" which was made of Verjusm creme fraiche, caramel jelly, red and green apples ($20). This is a really small dessert and i thought the caramel jelly was an interesting touch. Anyway, i'd much rather a pot of tea with their stellar petit fours. For that i had the moist matcha cake, perfect lime macaron, smooth coffee chocolate and a piece of candy to end the meal.
Overall, the Pollen experience was great. Lovely ambience that was comfortable and cosy. Great service as well though they could be a little more attentive. Plus the food was pretty good too. Certainly would recommend Pollen for a special occasion.
18 Marina Gardens Drive
#01-09 Flower Dome, Gardens by the Bay
Tel: +65 6604 9988
Daily: 12 - 2.30pm; 6 - 10pm
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