Corner House (Singapore, SINGAPORE) ★★★★☆

After my highly enjoyable meal at Asia's Number 1 restaurant, Odette yesterday, I knew I would be hard-pressed to come up with something more exciting today but at the very least, I will try. I have lined up a double header today, starting with Michelin-starred Corner House, Asia's 49th ranked restaurant in 2019 at lunch followed by another Michelin starred and Asia's 10th ranked restaurant, Burnt Ends for dinner. A very good line-up to wrap up my 4-day trip in Singapore.

I have never been to Corner House or Singapore's Botanic Gardens before so prior to this meal, I called the restaurant asking for their advice on how to get there. I was told it was going to take a 15-minute walk from the Botanic Gardens MRT station which simply won't cut for me (with my sore back). That left me with one option only, taxi.



The 160-year-old Singapore Botanic Gardens span over 80 hectares of land so it's important to let my taxi driver know exactly where to drop me off. Thankfully, I already got some tips from last night's call. It's the Nassim Gate Visitor Centre, which is the main entrance to the botanical garden.



Corner House is just a comfortable 5-minute walk from Nassim Gate. I guess I won't be needing their buggy service after all.



Housed in a colonial-style black-and-white bungalow in Singapore Botanic Gardens, Corner House offers a unique dining concept of ‘Gastro-botanica’, a contemporary cuisine created by Chef Jason Tan emphasizing on the refinement and balance of the proteins and the botanical elements on the plate. Chef Tan started his career at Les Amis Singapore before honing his skills overseas at Robuchon Au Dôme in Macao. He returned to Singapore in 2007 spending time at Le Saint Julien (2007-2008) and Julien Bompard at Ascott (2008-2010) before joining Sky on 57 at Mandarin Oriental Hotel in 2010, rising to Executive Chef in 2012. After nearly four years at Sky on 57, he became the chef patron and co-owner of Corner House in 2014.



After turning myself in at the ground-floor reception, I was escorted to the second floor where the main dining room of the restaurant is situated. This is a beautifully maintained historic architecture. Difficult to imagine that it's been around since 1910.



Since its opening back in 2014, the restaurant has played host to some of the most distinguished guests in Singapore including the visiting Chinese President Xi Jin Ping and his wife in 2015 on a welcome lunch organized by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. I guess if it's good enough for the president, it's definitely good enough for me.



My journey into Gastro-botanica started off brightly with a brioche baked with five spices.



It was served on top of a lovely piece of French baguette.



 That was followed by today's amuse bouche.



The pair of small nibbles included a fish roes cracker topped with perilla flowers.



Cucumber jelly with mustard seeds. This came with a burst of lovely acidity.



I had a little too much to eat yesterday so instead of going all out with their 5-course degustation menu, I went with their basic 3-course lunch menu (SGD$78).

Kicking off the meal for me was Japanese botan ebi (spot prawns) marinated with ginger flower, beautifully decorated with seaweed chips, coriander purée and green mango sorbet.



I managed to squeeze in a photo before they finished things off with a shower of horseradish snow.



This was a great way to get my palate ready for the meal. The exotic flavors from the ginger flower, green mango and coriander all did their parts in lifting the flavors of the spot prawns. It would have been a perfect start if the horseradish snow could accomplish its expected task of bringing an extra kick to the dish.



My main dish was Wagyu beef cheek served with maitake mushrooms and caramelized shallot.



This was one of the most expertly cooked beef cheek I've ever tasted. Very tender and juicy. 



The Indonesian long pepper sauce added some nice smoky flavors to the cheek.



The original "Speculoos" dessert came with some grapefruit so again due to my dietary restrictions, I had to swap it with something else and that "something else" turned out to be Soursop, a dessert made with different textures of watermelon, rose and rambutan.

 

Watermelon granita and compote randomly plated with rose cream and meringue, rambutan sorbet and lychee. We all know how well rose, lychee and watermelon work together but rambutan? I don’t know. It’s a little bit rich and strong match against the refreshing flavors of rose and watermelon.



Petite fours all came with some local inspirations. Rosemary flavored madeleines, jackfruit mochi and salty egg yolk macaron. Not every one worked but I like the ideas behind.





Food Rating: 7/10
Price: $$$
Address: 1 Cluny Road, EJH Corner House Singapore Botanic Gardens, Singapore
Closest Metro Station: Botanic Gardens
Tel: +65 6469-1000
Website: www.cornerhouse.com.sg
S. Pellegrino Asia's 50 Best Restaurants: 49th (2019)
Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 2:00pm, 6:30pm - 9:00pm (Tue - Fri), 11:30am - 2:00pm, 6:30pm - 9:00pm (Sat - Sun)