This is the brand new year, 2011, my husband and I decided to indulge a little in some expensive food.
Recently, we had quite a number of celebrity chefs in town due to the opening of some fine dining restaurants at the Integrated Resorts (IR) a.k.a. the casinos. While surfing through the IR websites, the well known Spanish chef, Santi Santamaria, caught my eye. Both my husband and I became big fans of Spanish food since we returned from a long vacation in Spain some years ago.
We were aware of the price tag at the Santi and were rather hesitant at first. Not just because of the price but also because we felt that there were not that many good Spanish restaurants in Singapore (if at all). It is partly because the Spanish ingredients are too costly to bring in and many Spanish restaurants in Singapore have to compromise leading to a less than acceptable outcome.
We ordered the ‘discovery’ set menu, it’s the most expensive set menu and the menu is not pre-defined. So we don’t know what we are going to get till each dish is served.
All the dishes turned out very well and I must say that Chef Santi Santamaria has redeemed Singapore from not having a good Spanish restaurant. But all these come with a high price tag. The 2 set menus, some still water, 2 glasses of champagne, a bottle of red wine, and a decent tip come up to S$1,500.
Our Spanish food experience at Santi starts here:
1) Scallop carpaccio with clementine and caviar
I liked both the raw scallop and caviar, and the entire combination went well together with the clementine.
2) Oyster escabeche with pickled cabbage and Iberic ham
The 3 ingredients (Iberic ham, oyster, and pickled cabbage) have to be taken all together to give you the optimum taste. I got to eat my favourite Iberic ham again, YEAH!
3) Surprise truffle “Santi Santamaria style”
This was a special dish indeed as the foie gras terrine was coated with a layer of dark truffle. A great dish.
4) Abalones “a la plancha” with pears and white truffles
Again, all ingredients have to be taken together to bring out the optimum taste, another success.
5) Zucchini with gamba, chestnut and white butter sauce
The prawn was sweet and the butter sauce was very light.
6) Lobster bisque
Yummy!
7) Sword fish with artichokes and black truffle
Okay, I must confess that I didn’t like the sword fish. It smelled like ‘stingy socks’ to me. But my husband loved it and happily finished up my share.
8) King crab with seasonal mushroom tortellini
Another great dish.
9) Wagyu rib eye with endives and red wine
This was a 7-pointer wagyu (rather high-end wagyu) and was cooked very well (as you could see from the picture). I actually prefer the less marbled (less fat) wagyu and anything below a 3-pointer would be better.
10) The Cheese Platter
SANTI has a wide selection of cheeses and a fair part of them came from Spain. The Assistant Manager (from Spain) took his time explaining the different cheeses to us.
This was the chesse platter chosen for my husband, I was already too stuffed and decided to skip the cheese course. He was supposed to enjoy the cheeses from the lightest to the strongest tasting, which were laid out in a ‘clock-wise’ manner.
12) Water melon granite (pre-dessert)
This was for cleansing the palate before going to the dessert and was very refreshing.
12) Warm chocolate cake, white coffee ice-cream
Nice!
13) Petit Fours
These were the mini cakes, an additional dessert indulgent.
The Red Wine – EL PUNTIDO, Rioja 2005
We wanted a bottle of Spanish red tonight and this wine was recommended by the Sommelier. He told us that even though 2005 was not such a good year for the Rioja, this one was good. We tasted the wine and had no doubt to his recommendation.
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Marina Bay Sands
Santi Santamaria
10 Bayfront Avenue
S (018956)
Tel: 6688 5592/ 8501
Tags: Fine Dining, Santi Santamaria, Spanish food
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