Restaurant Review: Dinner with a VUE at OUE Bayfront, Singapore
PUBLISHED November 7th, 2019 06:00 am | UPDATED May 18th, 2020 03:14 pm
If you take a look at the Fullerton Bay area, not many places offer a view as great as OUE Bayfront’s Penthouse. Italian restaurants Monti and Caffe Fernet serve well if you’d like to stay close to the water, but VUE is the quayside’s newest fusion concept that affords sweeping views of the bay — complete with a rooftop spritz bar, an extensive wine curation from award-winning sommelier Joel Lim, and peak-season binchōtan-grilled meats.
The dining hall is fronted by an open-air Spritz Bar, a great place to start your experience by catching the blazing sun set over Marina Bay Sands. If aperitivo cocktails aren’t really your scene, VUE‘s 1000 bottle-strong wine cellar isn’t something to scoff at, either.
The sun-soaked al fresco pavilion wraps around the dramatic main dining area, complete with wall-to-wall windows and high ceilings. Here, Executive Chef Sam Chin cultivates a menu of hand-selected ingredients, and his reverence for quality produce translates to thoughtful, delicious dishes that come from the heart. “Beyond flavour and technique, I want my creations to also reflect the respect I have for the origin and purity of the ingredients I use.”
His many creations include a Ceviche of diced Ibaraki halibut, Norwegian diver scallop, and New Caledonian prawns bathed in homemade tiger’s milk emulsion and topped with pine nuts and shallots for texture. The Marbled Potatoes and hand-cut “Kokuou” Black Wagyu Beef Tartare also make for fantastic sides, if you’re feeling fancy.
But we struggle to fit Chef Sam’s food to any one cuisine; whether it’s the Kelp-cured Japanese Halibut* and French Chicken and Duck Liver Mousse Tart* for lunch, or the Amelia Park Lamb Rack at dinner — it’s a well-rounded menu, to say the least. But the undisputed thread that runs consistent through the menu can be summed up in a word: exquisite. Not quite sure what to get? There are four-course Tasting Menus and vegetarian options available for a fixed price of S$108++.
There’re also premium meats grilled over binchōtan — kilned Japanese white oak that creates a deep smokiness, sans char. For a real treat, you can’t miss Chef Sam’s Sunset Carving Ceremony*: think 20 portions of choice cuts from a 20-hour binchōtan-smoked Kokuou Wagyu (also known as the pinnacle of Japanese beef), carved exhibition-style by the man himself. Mouthwatering and marbled like a Rococo church, this grass-fed beef hails from Kyushu Island, and needs nothing more than a touch of rice salt to bring out incredible layers of flavour. If not for anything else, this alone made our virgin experience at VUE immensely memorable.
VUE is located at OUE Bayfront, 50 Collyer Quay, Level 19, Singapore 049321, p. +65 8879 0923. Opens for dinner Mon-Fri 6pm-10.45pm. Lunch service commences January 2020.
*The Kelp-cured Japanese Halibut, French Chicken and Duck Liver Mousse Tart, Black Truffle Risotto, and Chef Sam’s Sunset Carving Ceremony will kickstart only in January 2020.
