“We have between 12 to 18 amuses which we send out to guests” chef Ryan Clift of Singapore’s Tippling Club and former head chef of Melbourne’s Vue de Monde says. He’s only half joking. We’re somewhere in between the seven complimentary amuses bouches that have come out to us (and these are typical of what a diner will get). In one area there is the test lab which in fact looks like a designer laboratory complete with all of the chef toys. And why the name Tippling Club? Ryan explains that tippling means to eat and drink in small portions.

Chef Ryan Clift

Apparently in the 18th century tippling clubs were exclusive clubs where food and alcohol enthusiasts would eat and drink the rarest alcohols. The club members would go on missions in search of these rare types of alcohol and there was reports of one ultimately doomed mission where a tippling club would visit Peru to acquire Pisco and only one returned. And so Tippling Club with its emphasis on finding rare ingredients exemplifies a modern day version-except without risk of perishing of course.

The Cutlery rest, a plastic pouch of herbs in liquid

It is a restaurant that can serve only 30 each night and true to the name, Ryan sources ingredients from as far flung as the Himalayan mountains. There are two tasting menu costing between $140SGD (classic) to $240SGD (gourmand). However if you want, each course in the tasting menu is matched to a wine or cocktail for $230SGD for the classic menu or $390SGD for the gourmand. And we’re getting a combination of their classic menu and their gourmand menu this evening, all matched with cocktails and wines. And I’m quite lucky to be getting these pics as they have a strict no photography policy for their food!

Amuse bouche #1: potato and leek vichysoisse with a square of confit potato and avruga caviar

But let me start with my first amuse bouche described as “daily surprise snacks from the test kitchen”. It is an amuse of potato and leek vichyssoise with a square of confit potato and avruga caviar. We pick it up eager to try it and some spill a  little on the table. It is housed in a slender glass vessel which has a spout at either end. We put one end of the spout into our mouths and take in the little square of potato confit topped with avruga caviar and down the hatch! It’s creamy, salt, poppy and rich. A perfect start.

Cocktail menu

The cocktail menu is cleverly designed so that the four parameters of sweet, spice, sour and dry are measured against the cocktails on offer. The “MB’s apple pie” is a rectangular glass in a cardboard sleeve designed to mimic the McDonalds’ apple pie in flavour and look. And if you look at the diagram above, it is firmly in the “sweet” category.

Gomashio Kampai

We are all having different cocktails although we all swap and try each other’s. Mine is a refreshing cucumber cocktail that has a distinctly Japanese feel to it and a favourite for many in our group. Japan is a country where Ryan spends a lot of time finding and researching ingredients. In fact he was in the underground during the recent earthquake.

DIY Negroni

5 Borough Sour

Amuse bouche #2: Carrot curry

The second amuse is a small glass pot of carrot curry with freeze dried raita (cucumber yogurt) and features a blanket of furry green powder. A spoonful of everything gives a complete textural and sweet and savoury sensation with the mixture of freeze dried and powdery greens.

Amuse bouche #3: charred pepper embers

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Welcome to Alice in Wonderland…

When you think of Bali, you may think of cornrows, humidity and Australian tourists. You don’t really think of Alice In Wonderland. But when the lovely local blogger Sinead from Airy Fairy Cupcakess told me about Divine Wonderland, an Alice in Wonderland themed restaurant, I knew I had to pay it a visit. I am admittedly rather obsessed with Alice In wonderland and all things to do with her and her merry and mischievous companions.

Peering inside the window

Formerly open for breakfast and lunch, Divine Wonderland is only open for dinner nowadays from 4pm (we learned this the hard way when we arrived for lunch to find it closed). There is valet parking outside and the green Astroturf lawn is a colourful contrast to the white walls, chairs and tables outside. We walk inside and the Alice banded waitress asks us where we would like to sit. I look around and the answer hits me instantly. There are two enormous chairs at least double the size of regular chairs. ” We’ ll take those please!” I say happily.

Mr NQN in a giant chair!

We climb up onto the chairs and feel like kids again. “We’ve been shrunken like Alice!” I tell a confused Mr NQN who hasn’t read the book or seen the movie. “Mmm right” he mumbles while climbing up into the chair. I suspect that at 188 cms tall he  hasn’t felt this small in a long time whereas I at 155cms have never felt tall. We start with some lovely drinks. Most restaurants in Bali are open air and it’s usually quite pleasant but today is particularly hot so we need a lot of thirst quenching. The music selection it has to be said is great and on some nights they have a DJ. It’s a shame there isn’t afternoon tea served here.

Red queen 59,000 rupiah (approximately $6.66AUD)

Mr NQN orders the Red Queen which has gin, sweet vermouth, lime, apple, cranberry and grenadine which is sweet and very fruity.

Strawberry juice 18000 rupiah (approximately $2 AUD)

I love the strawberry juice which tastes just of sweet, fresh strawberries. Although the menu does say at there isn’t any sugar added I would have to guess that there is some sugar syrup as strawberries are never this lovely and sweet.

Carne platter for two 78000 rupiah (approximately $8.80 AUD)

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I once dated a guy who halfway through our relationship was grumbling about having taken me to the best restaurants in Sydney and the expense that I had incurred on his credit card.

“I should have started in the mid price range and then I could have worked my way up to the top. Now you’ll be expecting 5 star 3 hat restaurants all the time.”

I looked at him like he was crazy. “What makes you think I would have dated you if you had started in the middle range?”*.

*it’s not strictly true. My first date with Mr NQN was bad take away pizza. But then I thought Mr NQN was much more fabulous than this guy.

But in any case, I couldn’t help thinking about this ex of mine when I arrived in Singapore to be whisked away to my hotel and to dinner at Waku Ghin, Tetsuya’s new restaurant in Singapore. With food completely unlike his Tetsuya’s restaurant in Sydney and only seating a  mere 25 people at one time, it was something that I was more than curious about. And when Mr NQN took my place at the Waku Ghin dinner in Sydney there was much gnashing of the teeth and moaning  as I was committed to another event. But no matter, I finally got to try it here! It’s no ordinary dinner costing about $400SGD per head but it has a clear emphasis on Japanese cuisine as opposed to the French Japanese cuisine at Tetsuya’s.

The swirls in the carpet echo the swirls in his custom made knives

We walk into the Marina Bay Sands complex. There are shops from Miu Miu, Gucci, Chanel and the motherlode, a Manolo Blahnik shoe shop. We make our way up to the second floor where we look down and see floors and floors of the casino. I’m not much one for gambling but because they allow for smoking here, some of the cigarette smoke does end up in all areas and that does include Waku Ghin so there was a bit of sniffling throughout the night from yours truly who is allergic to cigarette smoke.

The casino floor below

There is an illuminated sign above the doors and white drapes on the outside giving it an almost “closed” look. But then the doors swing open and a battalion of staff greet us. And given that the restaurant seats 25 there has got to be at least 25 staff in both the kitchen and on the floor.

The restaurant experience was said to be one where one moved from one table to another but in reality it is much less complicated than that. There are two seatings, one at 6pm and one at 9:30pm. The diner is lead to a room where the savoury courses are brought out (about eight savoury courses) and then you adjourn to another room for the dessert courses. I was envisaging much more getting up and down so I am relieved given my heels!

Sous chef Inoue with Wagyu (marbling score 9)

We are seated in front of a long grill plate and facing a wall with protruding wood blocks. Ghin means silver in Japanese and for this restaurant it is represented in the knives, the grill and even things like fish which features so predominantly on the menu. Even the logo of the two horizontal lines represents the grill. The courses start shortly arrive we settle in with a glass of N.V. Pol Roger to soothe the nerves after travelling.

Sayori with Nanohana and Japanese strawberry

The first course is a seasonal Japanese fish called Sayori or needlefish with Nanohana and Japanese strawberry. Now I usually run screaming from savoury dishes with strawberry in them. I don’t mind some fruit but strawberries are not a favourite with savoury. This  changed my mind completely. The diced strawberries imported from Japan (and yes they come from the South where the earthquake hadn’t affected things) are sweet but subtle and paired with a sashimi of sayori which is a firm white fleshed fish with the iridescent skin still on and it is served with nanohana which are mustard flowers which give it a savouriness that the sweet strawberries need. There are also the subtle flavours of chives and basil.

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