Whitegrass Restaurant @ CHIJMES

This year the sister picked Whitegrass for her birthday and I had this on my list for awhile now, especially with its Michelin starred status now, it did make it more enticing.





Reservations were easy peasy and we scored a table in the separate dining hall and a corner to ourselves.



We had an array of starters, array would be the right word since they arrived all at once and it was definitely more than a morsel.








Deep fried fresh water crab looked perfect for Halloween with its last motion frozen in a deep fry and dusted with herbs that made this the snack of the meal. Now why was I only offered one, I would have wanted a basket at least!





Zucchini tart with yuzu cream is a gorgeous creation of cucumber and zucchini swirled into a tart. I love how pickled this tasted with the tangy yuzu cream.





Choux puff with cheese is probably the most pedestrian of the three, not that it was not tasty just that with two very outstanding starters, this just paled in comparison.



We were served this equivalent of steamed egg with ikura and edamame beans.



So smooth and delicious!



Hand shelled Sri Lankan mud crab, fresh cob nuts, lemonade fruit, Mexican turnip, danmuji, green chillip ponzu




We finally started our meal proper with the first course and it was a light yet very refreshing crab salad. Presented like a flower, it blossomed into a complicated bag of experiences. It did taste like coleslaw at some points, a really luxurious salad actually.






Red braised Challans duck, eggplant cream, kanten noodles, water chestnut, Chinese jelly mushrooms


Duck slices lined the dish beneath a canopy of noodles, chestnuts, mushrooms and what tasted like fish maw. Delicately flavoured and well, portions are a tad petite.



The second appearance of steamed egg custard with furikake.



Strangely so good still though it was same same but different.






Slow roasted pork jowl, fermented cabbage, braised lotus seeds, scallop cheong fun, pork rib broth



Theatrics of soup served separately aside, the scallop cheong fun was ingenious. Rolled into a tasty sheet, it was a blanket over the pork jowl, cabbage and lotus seeds.








By this point, two of us inhaled two loaves of their sour dough bread - so crusty and the smell of freshly baked bread is just heaven on earth. Paired with their iberico lard, I swear I could just eat bread and lard forever.



Australian black angus beef, braixed ox tail, young spinach, land seaweed, 20 year old kamebishi soy



Those precious few drops of 20 year old kamebishi soy was the finishing touches to the spinach puree and beef dish. Superfluous if you ask me since the beef was already well cooked and spinach puree just a carbohydrate for me and those drops of overly salty soy. I probably did not appreciate it as much as it was intended.






Dragon eye blossom honey, hokkaido milk jelly, burnt honey whip, milk icecream, dried milk curls






Single origin Peruvian chocolate, wood roasted coffee, Pedro Ximenez prunes, shaved macadamia nuts, frozen chocolate






Both were failing in the presentation and taste department, underwhelming if I may add.






Thankfully they remembered we were celebrating a birthday and presented her a chocolate dessert - this was majorly yums!



Not forgetting their impressive petit fours too. Those watermelon lamingtons are a first in this flavor and that balance between a juicy fruit and cake without the sogginess. Top notch deliciosity.





Freshly made fortunate cookies with a twist.


And last but not the very least hazelnut pralines.


I had my mind blown at Whitegrass and while I am not sure if this is the doing of their Michelin accolade, the team is truly talented.



5 courses $176++


Whitegrass Restaurant
CHIJMES