Putien Ion Orchard - Braised Chestnut with Sea Cucumber

Putien Ion Orchard is one of the many outlets of Putien Restaurant (莆田). Its main store in Singapore, Putien Kitchener Road is a one Michelin Star restaurant. On this visit we decided to try the braised chestnut with sea cucumber.

It has been some time since we last visited Putien Ion Orchard. It is still at the same location on level 4 of the Orchard Road shopping mall, but it looks brighter and more lively. It was a bustling place at the time of our visit on a weekday evening.

Having been to various Putien outlets we are quite familiar with the menu. Which is good because we knew more or less what to expect, but bad because it can get quite boring. Which was how we decided to try the $48.90 Braised Chestnut with Sea Cucumber.

What we ate at Putien Ion Orchard

Most of the items on the Putien menu are modestly priced such as the braised homemade bean curd ($6.90, picture below) which we ordered as a starter that day.

We also selected two comfort food dishes – the Deep-fried Eggplant Dressed with Pork Floss ($11.90, picture above) and the classic Fried Heng Hwa Bee Hoon ($10.90, picture below). We can probably eat these on every visit because the flavours are so mild yet pleasing.

Braised Chestnut with Sea Cucumber

We decided that we cannot be creatures of habit, always eating the same things at Putien. And so we scoured the menu for something more exciting. Two items stood out for two reasons. First we had never noticed them before. Second their prices. The Buddha Jumps Over The Wall costs $138 which made it way beyond the budget. The Braised Chestnut with Sea Cucumber was the next most expensive, costing $48.90 which we could afford if we forego dessert.

Pieces of sea cucumber were served together with broccoli, mushroom, roast pork and chestnut in a small claypot. The vegetables were the most prominent items and they were cooked just right with still some crunch in them. Like typical sea cucumbers they only have a mild taste of their own and mostly absorbs the taste of the gravy which was very good. We used some of the gravy to eat with the Heng Hwa bee hoon. The best part of the dish were the chestnuts but there were very few of them.

The Braised Chestnut with Sea Cucumber was a nice but expensive dish at Putien Ion Orchard. Probably not a dish we would order again because it made a simple dinner for two cost more than $100.