Julian Teoh

If you are talking Singapore seafood, I am guessing you might like to try the chilli crab, which is arguably the national dish here? I like No Signboard Seafood, 414 Geylang Road. Jump on the green line train to Paya Lebar station or catch a cab; cabs are still quite cheap here. The best chilli crab I've had in Singapore by a long way. Also try the steamed large clams. By weight, it's marginally more expensive than the other players such as Jumbo and Palm Beach, but well worth it. Try as I might, I could not spend more than S$25 a head; rice tea, towel, dessert etc included (around USD$19). Go at lunchtime as it's quieter and service is much less rushed. If you are in the area, "Sin Huat", which Anthony Bourdain turned into a tourist trap, is just around the corner. Recent reports are that it's WAAYYYY overpriced and overrated. You're looking at around S$85 and above. I used to like Jumbo East Coast but they've declined in the last couple of years - the last time I went there, my crab order came out in around 3 minutes, which suggests that it was pre-cooked and reheated. The texture of the flesh also bore this out - tired and with cornflour slush gilding the crab claws.

I can't personally vouch for any of these, but I have heard good things about: Lafite at Shangri-La: they had a chef change sometime last year and the classical Alain Ducasse-inspired food has now been replaced with molecular cuisine. Some writers in Malaysia have lauded it to the skies, though I'm unsure as to the context of the writers' experience with this type of cooking or whether it's just the big new trend. God knows, every aspiring international city needs at least one elBulli clone. Third Floor at J W Marriott - the original chef at Cilantro who made its name now cooks here.

I had exactly the same reaction that you had! Robyn ← He won't have far to to either!! ← Julien, I know it's to be confirmed, but have you heard anything about whether the front of house team will be transplanted as well or just Briffard and cooks?

Sandra, I would strongly second gmerrall's Prime recommendation. Compared to the Kingsleys at Woolloomooloo and King Street (which one is actually still owned by Kingsley?), Prime wins hands down for pure meat quality, as well as precision of execution. Obviously more expensive, but well worth it in my opinion. They also have a very good wine selection. The food guides also praise La Grillade in Crows' Nest, though I have never been.

I heard from the manager in December last year that they were looking to re-open in the Gardens at Mid-Valley with the same chef and crew pending the MiCasa re-opening. I can't find any information on the Gardens website though.

Nicolas le Restaurant; 35 Keong Saik Road, Singapore 089142 Peter Green had recommended the restaurant "Le Vendome" elsewhere on eGullet, and I was hoping to check it out on my coming trip to Bangkok. Then I read that Nicolas Joanny, the chef at Le Vendome, had moved back to Singapore and had opened "Nicolas le Restaurant." He proposes two tasting menus only at dinner time, a standard menu (six courses plus tea / coffee, with a choice of main course) at $95 and a "Surprise Menu" (eight courses plus tea / coffee, with significant variation from the standard) at $125. There is no a la carte option, so eaters of rabbit food or little food should prepare to put up. The food is really very good, and Nicolas has a light hand, very respectful of the produce he works with. Out of the six dishes on the standard tasting menu, I would rate four of them as excellent. These were the asparagus with 36-month old prosciutto di Parma and aged balsamic dressing, fried whiting with clam (amazingly fresh, sweet and clean-tasting), the lamb main course (again, a great piece of meat, perfectly cooked and well-seasoned) and dessert, a simple poached pear with chocolate sorbet. I think it may be safe to say that Nicolas' strengths do not lie so much in sweets, but working within those constraints, he is still capable of producing a very welcome finish to a meal. The two that did not wow me were a langoustine tartare (in Nicolas' defence, I am not really one for tartare of anything) and seared foie gras, which I found to be under- or unsalted. This threw out the balance with a rather sweet tomato marmalade. A warning for the wise: Nicolas is not a "really big night out" kind of place. This is obviously no reflection on the food, but the fact that the room and accoutrements are quite stock standard. The former is really a white box that seats 40, with the lighting turned on a little too high, and a mix of paintings which do not create much of an impression. Service is also not the most knowledgeable, they know about what's coming out of the kitchen, but not too much else - for example, only one of the three staff working the floor knew about the contents of the tempting cheese trolley near the entrance ($22 supplement). The wine list is also not the broadest in town, with quite a few entries also no longer available. I strongly get the impression that Nicolas is striking out on his own, without any wealthy backers, and I suspect the bulk of my criticisms in the paragraph above are due simply to this fact. But what this means is that one can eat great modern French cuisine comparable in quality to the offerings at more swish and pricey places. On the night I went, the Surprise Menu included a large oyster with wakame, confit of salmon and a prawn pastilla with prawn bisque, so there's certainly enough incentive to come back and sample more of his cooking. Joanny worked in Singapore sometime back to general acclaim, and whilst I never tasted his food then, I'm glad he's back. And I will be back as well, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Julien, Holly, Thanks for your comments; it's going back a while now, but my lunch at Les Ambassadeurs in late December was an absolute treat. The produce was simply excellent, especially the bar de ligne. I did not taste any of the dishes that Julien commented upon, and did not have truffles prominently featuring in our dishes. However, I note with interest that your criticism of his food do not centre around any subjective views on his cooking style, but on the quality of produce, the very factor I thought was an absolute standout during my meal. If nothing else, it may suggest that Les Ambassadeurs may not be very consistent. Service was a bit stuttery at the start, but settled down nicely, incorporating even a little sense of humour and delight in proceedings. I found the completely Francophone waiters more stiff and humourless (matter of body language, rather than my elementary French) than the English-speaking ones, and I fully understand how it may have seemed ill-suited to the intended irony of the dishes etc. And the lunch menu price has jumped again to 88E; getting steep now compared to some others but still great value in my view.

Indulgence, 14 Jalan Raja Di-Hilir, Ipoh Perak 30350 This is supposed to be Ipoh's most exclusive restaurant. Julie Song, the owner, purchased an old colonial mansion and converted it into a restaurant with a boutique hotel attached (from RM500 a night!). From afar, this is perhaps as close to a rural Michelin-starred restaurant as you will get in Ipoh. How wrong my impression proved to be. For a start, this post does not belong in this thread because it is most certainly NOT fine dining. Staff are dressed in very casual shirts, the chairs and tables scream "CAFE!" at you, and the service is incompetent and uncaring. To wit, ordered cakes do not arrive for almost 23 minutes (these are shelf display cakes!) and staff are clearly overstretched. The crowd is as much large family groups as grown-ups. Someone wrote on a blog that you will see as many gweilos in Indulgence as you will see anywhere else in Ipoh. They may be right - this is the only restaurant in Ipoh with a gweilo chef. I came in only for a dessert, particularly their signature tiramisu. Disaster - if there is any mascarpone or alcohol here, I didn't taste it. It's topped with crumbly cheap-arse chocolate nibbles and has as much textural interest as a soggy pile of cardboard. Appalling value at RM9 a slice. A fruit-like cake my friends share is thrice as sweet and just as ordinary. This is the kind of place that charges KL prices, but I am afraid that it just doesn't quite hack it, even at a much lower price point. As an Ipoh boy, I really hate to say this - the Emperor really has no clothes. Go to Citrus instead.

Try Sisters' Char Kway Teow, Lam Heng Cafe, 185 Macalister Road. Char Kuay teow is one of Penang's classic dishes and Sisters' is arguably the most famous vendor. The two sisters are in their late 60s (I think) and their unique version, redolent of smoky wok hei, is topped with crab meat. It's a little bit pricier than the average and is popular to the point of being a little touristy, but it's so only because it's pretty darn good. The wu tao ko (savoury yam cake) sold from the stall out the front of the cafe is also good. Also try Penang prawn mee - my favourite is opposite Pulau Tikus police station, in a corner shop lot. Bones are boiled down from scratch for the rich stock and you don't get the MSG buzz afterwards. You have to get there between 6 am and 8 am as they sell out quite quickly - definitely worth skipping a sleep-in for. You can go for a walk in the adjacent street market after breakfast and see what little snack treats tempt you as well.

Julot, It looks like we will have to disagree on Piege. We had some stunning quality bar and foie gras when we visited in December. OK, he wasn't serving the 4-year old comte, but the cheeses were in perfect condition. However, your assessment of the room is spot on, and the service is also precise and courteous. Taillevent offered Antony's 4 year-old comte, but perhaps cutting off my nose to spite my face, I refused, given the catastrophic progression of our dinner to that point. And yes, John, Taillevent is doing wonderful, wonderful business, despite the loss of the third star. There must have been at least twice as many people there than when I went in 2003/4, and this time, the seating was a lot more proximate, so there may have been even more, who knows?

John, I presume from your Taillevent "obvious" reference that the demotion is due to M. Vrinat's passing and not a decline in quality? If so, does that not make (another) mockery of Michelin's insistence that the star rating is based purely on the food?

Let's start some rumours now - notwithstanding Julien's dislike of all things Ducasse-related, I think it's time Les Ambassadeurs made the final ascent to the summit.

My last experience of Taillevent can be found elsewhere on this board. Unfortunately, it was not a good experience and as I noted, I wrote a pointed letter of complaint to Mr. Vrinat, stating how disappointed I was, especially in view of the excellent meal I had in 2003. I was awaiting a reply when I heard the very sad news this morning. Mr Vrinat was, as some have said, the last of the great restaurateurs, whose job was to make people feel comfortable, at home, and to perfect the art form that is the finest of French hospitality. I remember after my dinner at Taillevent in December 2003, as a young punk kid fresh out of University, I asked whether I could interview him for an article that I was writing. An article that had no guarantee of getting published, as I had never written anything before in my life and my (then) potential editors were, understandably, a little under lukewarm about my proposal. Without asking for business cards, identification or credentials, Mr Vrinat graciously agreed, his only proviso being it would have to be in the New Year as they were booked solid for the last two days of 2003. I readily agreed. So about 84 hours later, we returned to Taillevent on a bitterly cold morning. Mr Vrinat gave us well over an hour of his time, before taking us on a tour of the restaurant and the kitchen, where we got to meet Alain Solivérès and his crew of 19 busy doing prep for the lunchtime service. My article was published a couple of months after, and as I didn’t get the chance to see him again, I never got to tell him personally how grateful I was for his kindness. That my last contact with him was a complaint letter is something that saddens me greatly. Many people, of whom I am but one, have been touched by the grace and elegance of Mr Vrinat. Indeed, a big reason why I was so sorely disappointed on 29 December 2007 was that my expectations were astronomical, but I realised they were so in the first place only thanks to Mr Vrinat. My condolences and sympathies go out to Sabine and Valerie Vrinat, along with my sincerest hopes that Valerie can restore Taillevent to its rightful place.

John - Yes sir. If I recall, get to Rue du Colonel Fabien (on the western fringe of town) and keep going. I should qualify that by saying that I do walk rather fast, or so people tell me! Julien, is Trois Etoiles accessible on the Internet for those of us unfortunates who don't live in France?

I visited L'Assiette Champenoise last week. It is a 15 minute walk west from the heart of Reims; given this was our first visit to Reims, we thought we should take Shanks' Pony and earn our calories - little were we aware how prescient this move would be. The walk from Reims does not show exactly an attractive side of Tinqueux; mostly a bunch of shops, petrol stations and a medical complex built along a multi-lane carriageway. So it's very hard to miss the Lallement family property; a fenced-off grand estate with the name proudly emblazoned across it: "J P Lallement," being Jean-Pierre, current chef Arnaud's late father. The dining room is spacious and luxurious. It does not reach the whimsical Versailles-like extremes of Les Ambassadeurs, but it is plush in a more conventional and modern way. When you are seated, you are presented with the champagne cart and four champagnes by the glass; on my visit, they were Drappier Rose, Henri Abele Brut, Dom Ruinart "R de Ruinart" 1996 and Mumm's Cuvee Rene Lalou 1998. Start off with an hors d'oeuvre of crispbread with onion confit and goat cheese, and a cromesqui of molten parmesan cheese. A great beginning to the meal; the cromesqui literally exploded in my mouth, filling it with tasty parmesan goodness. We opted for the 65E lunch menu. Great value, but the only con with this one, as opposed to the slightly more costly Les Ambassadeurs and the equally-priced Les Elysees, is that you don't really get a choice, except when it comes to dessert. Amuse-bouche of carrot foam surrounded by cucumber foam was next. We had the same scallops that Fibilou had. Perfectly cooked, and the different sauces enhanced the different aspects of the character of the scallops. For example, you had the acidity of the champagne vinegar, freshness of the "salad cream" and the woodiness of the ceps: (From left: ceps foam, champagne vinegar, salad cream) During lunch, there were only six tables (roughly 16 covers), so there was plenty of manpower to go around. Each time we finished a plate of scallop, the waiter was on hand to whip the plate away. Despite this unnervingly close attention, we never felt like they were intruding into our space. We also had the same venison as Fibilou, except they must have run out of artichokes, and substituted orange marmalade instead. I appreciated how they opted out of the now overdone chocolate sauce, instead interpreting the chocolate as a paper-thin crisp, and how all the elements complemented each other in absolute no-brainer combinations - slight savouriness from the coconut elevating the chocolate; game and fruit; and obviously, chocolate, coconut and fruit doing their thing together. Phillippe Olivier's cheese was next, rolled up to your table in two wooden carts with special "buckwheat" bread - I cannot recall too well what we selected as we had been eating cheese all week, but I do recall a Coulommiers which had so much more flavour and character than the insipid versions I tasted in Australia. If I needed any more convincing of the value of raw millk or the influence of a great affineur, this was truly the clinching argument. For dessert, you are given a choice: declinaison du fruits or declinaison du chocolat. What else were we to do? We opted for one each, firstly, the fruits: (Left to right: lemon tart dusted with pink sugar; mango meringue with sorbet "exotique"; (foreground) marinated apple with green lemon jelly and caramel; and something I remember as a pineapple and rum milkshake, but that might just be my imagination getting carried away) Then the chocolate: (Clockwise from top left: chocolate mousse with peppermint ice cream, chocolate and coffee foamshake, moussey chocolate something with nuts (you will note A Lallement's signature on the chocolate discs) and dark chocolate tarte with chocolate ice cream) If these desserts came out one at a time, we may not have minded. But they also came out with the following: (Clockwise from top left: cinnamon marshmallow; chocolate cream eclairs; the finest caneles I've had; something crispy and sweet) And these: (Clockwise from top left: lolly tin filled with little caramels, barbe de papa or cotton candy; dark and milk chocolate pralines in a cocoa-bean shaped vessel with the inscription roughly reading as "this chocolate container was made for Jean-Pierre Lallement") This must have been Lallement's version of "shock and awe" tactics; if nothing else, the fact that these all fitted quite confortably on the table showed how large the table was. I looked queryingly at the waiter and asked "Are we meant to finish all of this?" And he smiled back mischievously "If sir pleases." And it shamed me to see how much damage we inflicted on the sweets, it really did. It was a fantastic meal; I won't go into the forensics as Fibilou has done a fabulous job on that front, but will comment briefly on a few aspects. I can see how some may baulk at the repeated use of foam. But in my view, I think in all the circumstances, it was justified. I don't think the venison could have stood up to a non-foamed coconut sauce, or the scallops to the ceps for that matter. I believe the foam was used as a lighter medium to deliver just a light hit of the desired flavour into the dish. Whereas most of the Les Ambassadeurs sweet treats were for adults, this was unashamedly a trip back to your childhood fantasies - cotton candy, lollypops, marshmallows. I cannot remember when I last had them and without coming here, really would not have minded if I never had them again. However I was happy to find that each of the items was of good to great quality, and the kiddie nostalgia angle does not make it any less worthy as a dessert course. Interestingly, the other tables (all French speakers during the tourist low season) scarfed the lot but left the cotton candy untouched. The service was friendly, very English-literate and were happy to play along to the tempo of the guests. When my wife discovered the orange marmalade (she is allergic to citrus), despite the fact that the dish was half-eaten, the captain took it away and had the lot re-plated with fresh saucing and croustillant chocolate. When we apologised for the inconvenience, he merely said "No, if you think it is difficult for us, we can only imagine how difficult it is for you not to be able to eat citrus. If you need any help or have any problem at all, just let us know." Lallement himself is an elegant softly-spoken young man. Apparently, he is angling for three stars next year and I wish him all the best. This is a superlative dining experience coupled with a surprising generosity and caring service. And as you would expect of the great restaurants in Champagne, a great list of champagnes and its derivatives; I also enjoyed a red Coteaux Champenois and a snifter of Louis Casters Vieux Marc de Champagne to finish. And if we can keep the Trip Advisor users away, this place might remain a little more of a secret just for that little bit longer. Edited for typos, as usual

Robyn, I second Holly's recommendation of Les Ambassadeurs - at lunchtime, they offer 80E menus with three courses (two options per course), cheese and an avalanche of gourmandises. The dishes they offer are also part of their full-priced carte at night, so lunch is not a poorer cousin by any stretch of the imagination. The wine list is somewhat poorer value. At Reims, well actually, a three minute cab ride to the west in Tinqueux, is the excellent L'Assiette Champenoise aka Restaurant Arnaud Lallement. Again, great value lunch menu at 65E and somehow even more sweet treats at the end than at Ambassadeurs. It is very fine food but has a lot of fun and theatre as well. The dining room is vast and comfortable and naturally, the champagne selection is superb. My eGullet review with photos is here. Julotlespinceaux alerted me to Les Elysees du Vernet, run by Eric Briffard, a Robuchon alumnus. I have never eaten Robuchon's food, but those in the know say Briffard's food is in the same mould. Given your Jamin memories, it might be worth a try? Seasonal menu and truly flavoursome food. If it matters, I ate at these places in the week after Christmas and all chefs were on board.

Ameiden - I have never met Valerie Vrinat in the flesh, but having seen her photo on the website, I can say she wasn't there on the night. True that it's not the easiest job replacing Mr Vrinat, but she hasn't completely assumed his roles and responsibilites yet (not that I am aware of) and I'm not sure how much of the decline can be attributed to her. Perhaps it was the complete absence of the proprietors that led to a lapse, though I note your unhappy experience even with Mr Vrinat present. Obviously, I hope and pray that all other eGulleteers who do decide to go to Taillevent get an experience worthy of the name, but it seems I am not the only one who has suffered from the inconsistency in service and food.

I would also second Le Gallopin. Good hearty food and an interesting small selection of grands vins which you can order by the glass or carafe, including an Echezeaux and a Hemitage, if I recall correctly. Felice, the memories of the fish soup haunted me on the 13 hours return to Singapore. The duck parmentier and salmon croustillant were also excellent. I noted a couple of their fish dishes (think tranche of flesh, not oysters or soups) had a certain monotony of saucing. That is as harsh criticism you will get from me about this place. The service is more than gracious and the decor - well, I'm no aesthete, but it gave me the impression of dining in a luxurious old train car; green leather seating, wood panelling and the golden overhead rails to hold your coats and bags also reinforced my impression. A perfect Parisian experience, with a predominantly French crowd on the night I went - the only English words I heard all night were from me trying to construct sentences with my broken sub-kindergarten French.

Alas, Taillevent underwent some major renovations around 2005, which I think has robbed the dining rooms of much of their majesty. The resplendent old chandeliers and the charming Coromandel screen separating the Trianon Room from the kitchen were removed - the new lighting designers were "very young, exciting Parisian designers" at a firm called Ozone, according to a quasi-manager type. He was noticeably taken aback when we asked him about the old fittings, perhaps destroying his illusion that we were young once-off-fly-by-nighters-who-may-be fobbed-off-ne'er-to-be-seen-again. He may actually now be right on that count.

I should be circumspect in making any overtly critical comments on Taillevent, which seems to have many admirers in this forum. I counted myself as one of those admirers too, until an awful experience on 28 December 2007. I had written to Mr Vrinat, telling him what fond memories I had of Taillevent from my last visit and that I was keen to celebrate my first wedding anniversary there. My wife had not been to Paris before, so I thought I may cap our holiday off with a nice romantic dinner. Mr Vrinat wrote back in his flowery prose, saying how honoured he was that we were returning to celebrate such an occasion and that he would do everything to make sure that Taillevent would meet our expectations on the night. I could bore you all to tears if I listed every single grievance, so here are some selected lowlights: 1. There was no acknowledgment of our anniversary whatsoever from the staff to my wife; the welcome was not even as warm and friendly as during my first visit. (Vrinat was not there on the night). I should point out that I would not be as ungraceful as to expect free gifts etc. I got enough of that from Les Ambassadeurs a couple of days before, and would get much more at Arnaud Lallement a couple of days later. 2. I was placed in the middle of a room surrounded by noisy large groups with young teenagers, and was seated directly next to a family group divided only by a one foot wooden panel. I was so close to the woman across the panel that I could have seriously clocked her with my elbow if I decided to stretch out. 3. The normally charming Jean-Charles Chareyre hemmed us in tightly against the banquette seating with his amazing moveable table, presumably to make room for another group to squeeze in. I'm 5'11"and weigh in at 74 kilos dripping wet, to give you an idea of how tight a squeeze Jean-Charles administered. We should perhaps have left at this point, but decided to give them a chance and asked to move to a different dining room (which was thankfully acceded to). 4. When we ordered wine by the glass to pair with our entrees (immediately after placing our food order), the wine managed to arrive some 5 minutes after we had finished our entrees. After our entree plates were cleared, my wife's cutlery was half-reset for the main course (think one knife and no forks); no waiters, busboys or sommeliers, let alone cutlery, arrived for the next 15 minutes. 5. The staff were clearly over-extended and took far too long to respond to our queries or subtle attempts to call them over. 6. Amuse bouche of lentil veloute was salty and one-dimensional. A pumpkin garnish with some duck was undercooked and barely edible. Lamb was between medium and well-done when we had ordered it medium-rare. We complained to the waiter, but were so underwhelmed at this stage that we could not be bothered waiting further for the meat to be re-cooked, and decided to make a break for it as soon as possible. I know that Taillevent's food is not top-rung if you are expecting anything exciting or creative. But from past experience, I know they can prepare very good dishes, albeit more in the classical tradition, such as the epeautre risotto, lamb with espelette peppers and a cabbage and bacon-stuffed tourte with sauce perigueux. The food this time was frankly ordinary. I am not going to draw distinctions between assembly-line three(or two) -star meals versus the food of a passionate and mercurial masterchef; the debate does not even get to that level. This was marginal one-star fare at best. As for the "legendary service", I found them uncaring, unresponsive and distant. They were quite clearly understaffed and overstretched for the number of covers. I had better and more solicitous service at numerous brasseries and bistros during my trip. I used to be a believer in "rebound" theory, where if a restaurant believed it had been demoted or downgraded unfairly, that it would redouble its efforts to excel. This is perhaps part of normal human psychology and may not be restricted to restaurants. Regardless, I remember Vrinat saying he was wronged by Michelin and that they had based their decision to demote Taillevent on bad intelligence / wrong information. Yet my dinner there confirmed much of what was said, namely too many tables with floor staff struggling to cope, inconsistent run-of-the-mill cooking etc etc. Perhaps Taillevent are now beyond caring and were happy to turn the tables, keep the numbers churning and the cash register chiming. I have since written a complaint to Michelin and Mr Vrinat in the strongest possible terms. This was the worst meal of my Paris trip by a long shot. If you are after a classic meal of higher quality with truly excellent and caring service, may I recommend a short stroll down to Les Elysees du Vernet, Alain Soliveres's former digs, where the vastly underrated Eric Briffard proposes a delicious and very seasonal menu. Edited for typos.

Gunther's, 36 Purvis Street, Singapore (near City Hall MRT) www.gunthers.com.sg A better writer once said that when a chef opens a restaurant that bears his name, not only has he arrived at his destination in terms of his professional status and aspirations, but also in the minds of his customers. I find it funny to be saying this of Gunther Hubrechsen, whom I last wrote about in this thread over a year ago. During his lengthy and eventful tenure with the Les Amis Group, he had to endure the humiliation of closing two restaurants (Amuse Bouche and The Lighthouse, which is currently prospering under the stewardship of Emmanuel Stroobant) before settling in at the flagship Les Amis. Even the early years of his stay there were marred by harsh criticism of his Passard-esque cooking style. I have always been an unabashed admirer of his cooking, which was subtle and emphasised the teasing-out of the essence of his ingredients, more often than not with slow-cooking. He was fond of saying that the simplicity and lack of adornment in his style made it harder to disguise any mistakes. Singaporeans did not take to this simplicity-first policy, believing his food lacked impact and flavour. For palates raised on the spicy sandblastings of Singapore laksa and the assertive flavours of other hawker fare (this is not meant as a criticism of Singaporeans, but merely an observation), this was perhaps unsurprising. As I recounted before, the ship has steadied in recent years and at the peak of his powers, Hubrechsen has left the Les Amis Group to set up this, his eponymous restaurant, as a joint venture with the Garibaldi Group (which owns the Italian fine diner Garibaldi next door, and a couple of Italian delis and caffes, Menotti and Ricciotti - the latter serves divine pastries and coffees as bad as the pastries are good). It does not take much to realise that Hubrechsen has settled into his groove with this first independent venture. The carefully measured cooking remains - sweet yet meaty Norwegian scallop with egg confit is signature Hubrechsen. He has also taken many of his recipes with him, such as the langoustine carpaccio with oscietre caviar, which I did not sample, and roast sucking pig with confit leeks and Bellevue Kriek sauce. The crackling on the last was as good as any you would ever see in a top Cantonese restaurant. Lobster pasta was as much a sop to the expensive tastes of his clientele, and salt-crusted sea bass was excellent with a side serve of nutty pilaf rice perfectly complementing the fish's slight savouriness. His souffles are a treat, as usual. A couple of remarks on the side - service here lets the team down, as is rather commonplace in Singapore. The waiters, with the usual exception of the token white guy on the floor (or maitre'd, if you wish) are uniformly mumbly, not very knowledgeable and robotically uncharismatic. One of the mumblers also tried selling me a magnum of Bordeaux at $700+ on the first go when I asked him for a light red, which was the best way to make a bad impression. Which leads me to the wine list. There is literally nothing here beneath $130, unless you are looking at half bottles, and the wines by the glass are similarly expensive. At $130, you will find a 2005 Chateauneuf du Pape, which my waiter actively tried to dissuade me from ordering as it was too young to be enjoyed. The flip side to this is that the food from the old Les Amis has been successfully transplanted at a significantly lower price. A tasting menu here costs $125++, as opposed to $185++. Dishes that I recognised from Les Amis may cost anywhere from 15% to 30% less. What Les Amis makes in food, perhaps Gunther's seeks to recoup in wine markups. When Hubrechsen walked around the corner out of his kitchen and saw me, a flicker of recognition crossed his visage, though I doubt he could put a name to the face (I was dining with a group of my wife's work colleagues, and the booking was not under my name). He looked pretty worn out, wearing an uneven 7-day ginger stubble. It has been lunch and dinner 7 days a week since he opened, he told me. The place was packed out, buzzing and lively, testament to the following he has built up. He always struck me as a quiet and shy person, and at the best of times, I found it rather difficult to talk to him. Now, although clearly tired with the effort of opening a new restaurant, he seemed very happy, and spoke with a newfound sense of pride and confidence. After the very rough start to his Asian odyssey, I can only say that Hubrechsen wholly deserves the good things that will come to him. Gunther's is a very welcome addition to the Singapore scene.

Hua Ting, Orchard Hotel, 442 Orchard Road, Singapore OK, I'm going to take a deep breath before posting about my recent Sunday lunch here. I will hedge it with the following observations: our party of four was on the waiting list for the waiting list, such is the popularity of Hua Ting, often proclaimed as the finest restaurant, Chinese or otherwise, in Singapore. I was hungry and narky, though that may have been due to the fact that I had to wait for 45 minutes after the time the phone wench told us to arrive, before we could finally be seated. In the midst of our interminable wait, my dear wife walked up to the front desk and asked if she could have a table for four. The receptionist went to check, and came back and told her she could, if she would please follow this waitress. My wife said "OK, I'm with these people here." And the receptionist suddenly lost her smile and said "Oh," before turning away and impliedly retracting her previous offer. The moral of this story is quite simply this: if you are a white person in Singapore , the locals will bend over backwards to please you. If you are Chinese, or worse still, an Indian, you may as well prepare to get taken from behind (figuratively, as a literal rendition of this will land you in jail) as they stretch out your waiting times to see what greedy Singapolians you really are. My rant is over. On with the rest of the post. Chef Chan Kwok is the golden child of the Millenium Copthorne Group of hotels, and Hua Ting is his pride and joy. He has twice been declared the Asian Ethnic (oh the irony) Chef of the Year at the World Gourmet Summit, the annual back-slapping knees-up that recognises the efforts of the men and women in white in transforming the Republic into a dining hub. There's that word again, hub... So we were seated at 2.30, having placed our orders whilst we were in the queue. The food arrived immediately, as they were clearly trying to get us out in time for chefs' smokos. I was unsure of the wisdom of starting a meal with (complimentary) honey-glazed deep fried pretzels and now realise there is none. Some food here is excellent - double-boiled lotus root soup, and mango and chicken puffs. We ordered something like perch in egg white, presuming it was going to be like a puffy chiffon-y thing. They asked if we would like it to be divided into individual serves, so we said yes. Mine arrived as a souffle-like blob of egg whites with literally two 0.5cm cubes of fish. I ate away, before the taste of the dairy-mixed egg almost caused me to... Before long, one of my party was heard to say "Where's the egg in mine?" Well, bugger me, because I was looking for some fish. A simple stir-fried dish of asparagus was good, but nowhere near the revelation of freshness as the veg at Tien Court. Deep-fried beans with deep-fried enoki mushrooms were good, but descended into an oily mush after a few minutes. Service was abysmal. When we asked for rice, the waiter exclaimed with big eyes "What, you want your rice now?" This was when the fish came out with the beans and a dish of really good roast pork. I said "Um, yes." He said OK. No rice came out. We repeated our request to a different waiter, which was greeted with the same incredulity. Apparently, Chef Chan's dishes are too delicate and sophisticated to be enjoyed with rice. The final insult was then the rice came stone cold. This was one of the least enjoyable meals I've had since arriving in Singapore. Ok, I'll accept the blame for being a rube and willing to wait in line, but one of our party was leaving the country the next day and we had to give her a treat before she left. And maybe the reverse racism of the early encounter gave me a sour taste, but then again, why shouldn't it? Some of the dishes were good without being superlative, and service was absolutely appalling. If you cannot divide a dish up properly, I suggest you serve the platter and let us help ourselves, the way Chinese food is traditionally enjoyed. And if you can't bring us rice to enjoy with our main courses, you are obviously in the wrong line of work. Even if I was being completely objective, the food here did not measure up in any way to any of my meals at Tien Court. Skip the queues and head there instead. For a country that lives off so much culinary hype, this experience might have some educational value in relation to treasuring substance over style.

Having been back in Singapore for four weeks, I thought it might be a good time to bump this thread. Instead of doing the whole European thing, I've decided to go Chinese (well, I am ethnic Chinese and have been since birth, but you know what I mean). Tien Court, Copthorne Kings Hotel, 403 Havelock Road Singapore This is not the marquee property of the Copthorne chain; that honour belongs to the Orchard and Grand Copthorne Hotels. This is a pleasant 3.5 star place, but houses a Chinese restaurant worthy of any grand marque. And lucky you, I am not going to provide a blow-by-blow summary of any meals here. I've had the fortune of eating here three times in the past month and every single time, my experience has been absolutely sensational. You won't find too many innovative platings and sauces here, although they have made some concessions to "modernity" (I use that word cautiously) by serving some (non-soup) dishes in individual serves, European-style. But in the notoriously fickle and fashion-conscious society that is Singapore dining, this place punches well above its weight for the sheer quality of ingredients and the balance in each preparation. I never knew the true meaning of that word before I tasted Chef Ho Tien Tsai's concoction of shiitake mushrooms sliced thinly on the horizontal over lightly poached greens in an oyster sauce. The flavours were not new to me, but familiarity surprises when it takes on a new guise as perfection. You will start your meal with a dish of braised peanuts and a changing pickle selection, perhaps soy-bean noodles in a light vinegar or baby cucumbers. And maybe follow up with the unctuous goodness of double-boiled shark bone soup with sea cucumber. In a country where a chef told me 'This is Singapore, what do we know about freshness?" referring to the fact that pretty much all foodstuffs are imported into the Republic from countries more agriculturally-inclined, simply stir-fried pea shoots refreshed my palate and restored my faith in this country. You never hear anything about this restaurant in the mainstream press, and in my view, it is probably Singapore's most underrated restaurant. Chef Ho has a most beguiling way with ingredients both prestigious and humble. In the manner of most Chinese si fu, he lets his food do the talking. I could go on and on about the other umpteen marvellous preparations I've sampled, but that would be self-defeating. Some things are better experienced first-hand, and if you are on the lookout for a superlative meal of traditional Cantonese cuisine, I cannot recommend this place highly enough. PS And if you are on the lookout for some of Singapore's best Penang-style hawker food, check out the Princess Terrace buffet on the ground floor of this hotel.

After being denied eGullet access for almost a month, this was a most pleasant surprise to wake up to. The best morning's reading I've had in a long time. Home stretch now, Peter, you can do it!

Shalmanese, good to have you back in Sydney. Thanks for your account of the Kingsford Chinese restaurant. Brings back many memories of when I was a poor starving college resident. Although I should probably add that I ate there a lot more after I moved out of College! The next time you're there, try the fried hor fun with tripe, liver and spicy sauce. There was also a sinfully luscious egg dish which name I cannot recall right now but it was an "off-menu" order.