Hello! Trying to restart my blogging momentum but my schedule (and energy) doesn’t allow it. lol. Anyway, had lunch with a friend to celebrate her birthday and we decided on Imbue, a fairly new restaurant located in the Keong Saik area. And it was fairly quiet for lunch with not many diners around. Not sure if it was a year-end thing (cos everyone else is busy travelling) or otherwise

The dining area is divided as such – the cocktail area, main dining area, counters and the private dining area

So they could actually close this whole space up and catered for private dining if one would like

I was actually confused they didn’t seat us here. I thought that was the best seats of the house. Then my friend commented maybe not much cooking going on today. lol

We went for the 5-course lunch menu priced $158 and food was served pretty quickly

Oyster Mousse, Jellyfish, Fennel, Citrus White Soy

I liked the oyster mousse. The creamy, foamy texture with the jellyfish and citrusy dressing makes it really enjoyable

Drunken Chicken, Doubanjiang, Shaoxing Wine

We were quite impressed with the taste. It did taste like drunken chicken though it was tad salty towards the end. They could have cut down on the doubanjiang a teeny weeny bit. But I thought this dish as a whole was pretty creative

Century Egg Crab, Kelp Paste, Kaluga Caviar

Presentation on point. You could taste the century egg and the sweetness of the crab meat, finished off with the slight saltiness and creaminess of the caviar. There were definitely different layers of texture in this dish as you finished them off in your mouth

Personally, the oyster was my favourite

Smoked Yellowtail, Plum Ginger, Lapsang Souchong, Mountain Yam

The fish was sweet yet you could taste the smokiness overall and the plum ginger gave it a citrusy finishing to the dish

Abalone, Ginko Nut Custard, Preserved Green Chilli, Pine Nut

I enjoyed the sweetness of the abalone and I thought it was cooked well. But I felt like the dish was a little heavy overall and that spoilt the beauty of the abalone

‘MALAI’ Bread, Malt, Ginseng Honey Butter, Thyme

Bread was good and we liked it with the pure butter. We thought it would go well with honey but it was somewhat strange

21 Days Aged, Fermented Bean Wagyu Rump Cap, Daikon, Macademia Morel

Yuba Pavlova, Sesame Oil, Meyer Lemon Curd, Black Lemon

This was actually quite an interesting dessert and not one we expected. The meringue-like texture melted in your mouth with a lingering sweetness, complemented by the citrusy taste of lemon

And lastly finished off with some petite 4, which we were so full by then

Each individual dish at Imbue was unique and tasted good on its own. But when you put them all together, I felt like generally it was pretty heavy on flavours and there wasn’t any standouts. Personally, I thought they could redesign the menu a little with a little more variations. But till then, there’s definitely room for improvements

Restaurant Imbue

32 Keong Saik Rd., Singapore 089137