Guy Savoy, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

[Julian Teoh]

I popped in to Guy Savoy for lunch over the weekend. Executive Chef Eric Bost, who previously earned two Michelin stars at Guy Savoy in Caesars Palace, Vegas, helms the local operation.

Guy Savoy offers a TGV menu, four courses for S$150++ (around US$140), with two choices for each course. It's called the TGV because they can serve it to you "express" within 90 minutes, presumably as a draw to potential business clients. However, 4 courses plus trimmings within 90 minutes kind of misses the point of a restaurant like this, so we opted to "go slow" and had a leisurely 3.5 hour gastronomic journey instead.

If you are on a limited budget, the lunchtime TGV is a great way to sample some of Savoy's signature dishes, such as the crispy seabass with spices and artichoke and black truffle soup.

Food was excellent, with a genuine sense of playfulness and humour. I had the following dishes with my TGV menu:

First Entree: Oyster "Two" Ways

Oops, sorry, that was three. But the afternoon was replete with various surprises. Gelee didn't do much for me, but the oyster puree set off the very fresh vegetables, and the dashi broth added a nice umami touch to the third preparation.

Second Entree: Artichoke and Black Truffle Soup

I didn't photograph the soup, but soup is never much to look at in the best of times. The brioche is very good, and the servers present you with a second piece just as you finish your first. As they say, "one piece is never enough".

Main Course: Crispy Seabass with Spices

Seabass is beautifully cooked, and the scales, still on, are fried until they are crisp and edible. The dish is on the verge of feeling a little "wet", but is rescued by crunchy batons of Swiss chard.

Afters: Cheeses by Bernard Antony

The cheese is in good condition, but due to the extreme heat and humidity here, they need more refrigeration, so they aren't as oozingly ripe as some might be used to in Europe. They are very good, however, and are accompanied by an apricot-rosemary and raspberry-cassis conserve. I chose a two-year old comte, brie de Meaux, pont l'eveque, fourme d'Ambert and mimolette.

Coffee and Mignardises

Guy Savoy does not present the dessert trolley at lunchtime. Instead, a perfect little selection of five mignardises is presented: poached egg white with strawberry coulis, lemon and yuzu macaron, praline of raspberry and coconut, apricot caramel bonbon and mascarpone coated with dark chocolate and almonds.

Overall, an excellent experience. Lunch is served only on Fridays and Saturdays, and when we were there, only three tables were filled. Guy Savoy got some bad reviews at the start, particularly in relation to tobacco smoke and the noises of poker machines drifting up from the gaming floor. I'm happy to report that none of these problems were evident as of the date of my visit, and you could do much, much worse if you were looking for a decadent Saturday lunch.

More photos and commentary at: http://julianteoh.bl...-singapore.html

RESTAURANT GUY SAVOY

10 Bayfront Avenue

#02-01, Casino Level 2

Marina Bay Sands

Singapore

Tel: +65 6688 8513

Email: guy.savoy@marinabaysands.com

URL: http://www.marinabay...hefs/Guy-Savoy/

[KennethT]

I saw that there was a Guy Savoy there... we have been to the one in Paris a couple of times over the past few years and loved it. I have not been to the Vegas or S'pore and have always wondered how they compare to the original. One of the aspects that I really appreciated was his attention to product and his suppliers. The oysters, for instance, (for the Paris restaurant, at least) come from a specific producer who only gathers oysters for GS. There were many pages at the back of the menu that had introductions/descriptions of the various small farmers and suppliers that in part, made GS what it is. Do you know if he is using the same produce as the Paris branch, or is he sourcing locally?

[Julian Teoh]

I didn't get confirmation from the staff but I suspect that like most international level restaurants here, most of the produce would be brought in from France, Japan and Australia. Local sourcing, and by that I include regional SE Asia, will be quite limited as they don't produce the ingredients typically required for French cooking, and the warm climate can play havoc with the quality of the seafood. On the oysters, I was told they came from Brittany - I couldn't quite decipher the staff's pronunciation of the variety (French pronunciation in Singapore generally is pretty atrocious) so cannot help further on that point. Spices do play a prominent role in the cuisine here, however, and I am sure that those would be sourced "locally".

It's an odd thing about the dairy, though. While the Singapore branch sources its cheese from Antony, I understand that the Paris branch gets its supply from Quatrehomme. It may well be that Antony already has an importer here and Savoy thought it made sense cost-wise to tag his order on. Also, there is the effect of labels - there is a general worldview (to which I don't necessarily subscribe) that Antony is better than Quatrehomme, and people may start comparing etc., especially when Savoy's local rivals, such as Robuchon, Les Amis, Andre, just to name a few, stock Antony. On the other hand, Bordier butter, which is No. 1 for foodie snob value, is similarly getting overexposed here, yet Savoy chooses to use Echire, instead of the Bordier that he uses back in Paris.

Might just be a mix of happenstance, convenience and pre-existing relationships that his personnel here may have?