Iggy's Singapore Lunch - Tasting Menu Review

Iggy’s Singapore restaurant at Hilton Hotel along Orchard Road is one of the stalwarts of the fine-dining scene in Singapore. We were there to try the Iggy’s lunch menu recently.

Picture of Les Amis founders (Ignatius Chan on left), source : Singapore Tatler

Established in 2004, Iggy’s Singapore is a compact restaurant on level 3 of the Hilton Hotel. It is a one-Michelin Star restaurant in the Michelin Guide Singapore. Its founder is restauranteur and sommelier Ignatius Chan. Among his many achievements is being one of the founders of leading French restaurant Les Amis in Singapore.

Iggy's Singapore Gastrobar — Iggy’s Gastrobar

Iggy’s Singapore Restaurant and Gastrobar

The restaurant had undergone some transformation along the way. In addition to the main dining area, there is now an Iggy’s Gastrobar (picture above) located adjacent to it. It showcases “accessible and innovative plates” to go with the wide range of Burgundy wines in the cellar. There are apparently 25,000 bottles in the cellar.

Iggy's Singapore Lunch - Tasting Menu Review

The Iggy’s main dining area is a squarish, windowless room. There is a large glass panel that provides a view into the spacious kitchen. The glass appears to be fitted with one of those electronic shutters that can change it from clear glass to opaque at selected times. There are a couple of small private dining rooms at Iggy’s Singapore.

Iggy’s Singapore Lunch Menu

For lunch, there are two options in the Iggy’s lunch menu: a $105++ Table d’Hote menu and a $150++ Tasting menu. We selected the latter which was a five course meal with a choice of cod or prime rib for the main course.

Once the ordering and drinks have been selected, the preliminaries started arriving. The was no over-flowing basket of bread at Iggy’s but each person received a couple of slices of bread. We were told it was made with Guinness Stout but its taste was quite imperceptible. A series of small snacks followed. I can’t remember their descriptions but they were delightful.

Wines at Iggy’s Lunch

The Iggy’s Singapore wine list is not on the restaurant website. We were handed an iPad at the restaurant to scroll through. We did not navigate through all of it but suffice it to say that it is pretty extensive, with bottles starting from around $100. Like Odette and La Dame de Pic, Iggy’s has a “one-for-one” policy for BYOB. Buy a bottle and bring one from home without any corkage fee.

We selected a bottle of white wine from the affordable end of the Burgundy section of the Iggy’s wine list. The 2010 Domaine Arlaud Bourgogne Hautes Cotes de Nuits ($90) was very good – and even better if we consider that it was one of the cheapest on the list. For contrast we had brought a bottle of Bordeaux red wine – 2012 Chateau La Conseillante.

The Iggy’s Starters

Iggy's Singapore Lunch - Tasting Menu Review - starters

The first two starters featured premium seafood. Raw Hokkaido scallop was prepared with Oscietra caviar and apple snow (picture above). Following that was a consomme dish featuring somen (very thin Japanese noodles) and greenlip abalone. Both starters were delicate and exquisite.

Iggy’s Singapore’s signature dish – capellini prepared with Sakura ebi, lobster oil, kombu, sorrel looked like a humble noodle dish but was a highlight of our meal. The tiny shrimps had an expectedly powerful seafood taste to lift the entire dish.

The Iggy’s Main Courses & Dessert

There was a choice of fish or beef for the main course. One cannot go wrong with either choice. The Chilean white cod was perfectly seared to produce a golden surface while retaining its rich oily texture inside.

Angus prime rib was served in two parts. The smaller piece was more fatty and was described as the best part of the beef ribs. Both main courses were good but they were predictable and not as memorable as the starters.