Restaurant Ember

The chef and owner behind Restaurant Ember, Sebastian Ng, is the reason for Restaurant Ember's success. Having honed his culinary skills at The Marmalade Pantry's Pierside Kitchen & Bar, and the kitchens of world-class Raffles Hotel and Four Seasons Hotel, Sebastian Ng single-handedly put Restaurant Ember firmly on the gourmand's radar when he was crowned the Rising Chef of the Year at the 2004 World Gourmet Summit. Chef Ng's modern take on European cuisine is effortlessly nuanced and balanced. For a fine-dining establishment, the food is incredibly understated and uncomplicated, whilst the ambience is friendly and unstuffy. However, just because the vibe is convivial doesn't mean that you can enter in slippers and/or shorts, there's a dress code to adhere to here. Also, it's best to make reservations to avoid disappointment at the door because the restaurant is so tiny.

We've always had wonderful dining experiences here at Restaurant Ember, and we brought Kang here for dinner one night. Suffice to say, he was completely blown away by the food here.

We started off with the Pan Seared Foie Gras ($25) with caramelized apple lightly dressed with fragrant clove and a dazzling drizzle of port and raspberry glaze.For anyone not particularly fond of foie gras, I daresay Restaurant Ember's version will change your mind. It totally melts on the tongue, with a delightfully thin crispy crust from the searing process. Sweet but tartish diced apples help keep the goose liver light.

This is my favourite starter, delicate succulent Pan Seared Scallops ($19) wrapped lovingly with rich salty Parma ham atop a bed of crunchy mesclun greens tossed with a tangy orange tarragon vinaigrette

The Fiance had the Cold Tofu Salad ($85 as part of the Set Dinner) with avocado, Sicily date tomato and a savoury sesame dressing. The soft and smooth beancurd was served refreshingly chilled, with a tangy sweetish Japanese-inspired sesame dressing for flavour.

The Crispy Maine Lobster (2nd course of the Set Dinner), with lobster beurre blanc and mesclun was delicious. The lobster had a nice caramelized crust, but remained plump and bouncy inside.

We were served complimentary crusty and crispy Foccacia. I'd have liked some olive oil to go with this but it was so good on its own I didn't even need the accompanying butter. 

The Fiance had the USDA Prime Beef Tenderloin (main course of the Set Dinner) pan roasted to a perfect medium rare, served with forest mushrooms, and new potatoes set on top a bed of mash, wilted spinach in a pool of caramelized onion-thyme sauce.

Kang had the house specialty, Marinated Cod with Black Miso ($32) herbed potatoes and par-boiled sugar snap peas. The fatty oily fish was balanced with sweet miso that lent a smoky accent to the flaky moist fish.

I had my usual, the Chilean Seabass ($34), clean and clear, pan seared to retain all of its moistness, alongside wild mushrooms simply seasoned with smoked bacon ragout, and an aromatic truffle-yuzu butter sauce.

We shared the Warm Valrhona Chocolate Fondant ($14 ala carte but part of the Set Dinner as the dessert) with vanilla bean ice-cream. Because I was eating with 2 extremely metrosexual men that are watching their weight, one portion was enough to share between all of us. Oh, this was soooo good, the chocolate fondant was rich without being saccharine, and the gooey chocolate oozing out of the moist dense cake juxtaposed nicely with the iciness of the creamy vanilla bean ice-cream.

Restaurant Ember
50 Keong Siak Road
Hotel 1929
Tel: 6347 1928
Open Mondays to Fridays from 11.30am to 2pm for lunch
Mondays to Saturdays from 6.30pm to 10pm for dinner
Closed on Sundays