Thursday, December 12, 2013

Skyve Wine Bistro

Skyve, a bistro and wine bar in the former tuckshop of the former Monk's Hill School. Playing on the school theme, the menu is superbly creative, a good read, with lots of inferences to being a naughty kid in school.

The restaurant underwent a facelift, and now with a new chef, the menu is revised. The new chef has a preference for cooking sous vide style, so we can expect beautiful soft, tender, flavourful meals.

I was recently invited for a tasting there. Many thanks to Kelly at Food News for hosting.

We started with a trio of oysters...three different oysters, served in 3 different styles.

The oysters were Mentaiyaki oysters - with mentaiko, ebiko, lime juice and airoli; Chilian oysters - with serrano, lime juice, red wine vinegar and cilantro; and Kilpatrick oysters - with lardon of bacon, worchestershire and chive. I found the Kilpatrick most suited to my palate...rich, plump. Very satisfying.

A beef tartare was next

Truffle egg yolk, cooked sous vide, cilantro, flat bread, ancho chilli aioli and thyme sea salt accompanies the tartare. The steak itself is chopped beef, with spices. With the egg mixed in, it is rather rich tasting.

Seared petuna

Looking a bit like salmon, I understand the petuna fish to be an ocean trout...hence a kind of salmon. The pink meat is slightly flaky...cooked perfectly sous vide...so very tender, moist, full flavoured, and then crisped on a skillet to achieve a crisp crust. Served with ebiko, mango, chilli, sesame yuzu dressing, cold somen and mesclun.

We also had the Sous Vide Poulet

The chicken leg was extremely tender, moist meat. Very nice. And the skin very crisp. With the glazed apricot, baby vegetables, candied pecans and pommes puree, makes a nice main course.

Short ribs were next

Again the beef short ribs were cooked sous vide, then a spicy Kalbi glaze is applied, Served with sauteed brocollini and crispy rood vegetables. The beef was tender, very good beefy flavours. The glaze gave ample support by perking it up slightly with a spicy kick. Nice.

We also tried the polanta mushroom stack

The polanta cake is intended to be crispy, but I found the first disappointment for the evening as the polanta was a bit greasy, and soggy. Served with a mushroom fricasse, grilled portabello which was superb, and vegetables.

And desserts were served..

A deconstructed snicker bar...home made with salted caramel pudding, peanut butter, chocholate ganache, feuilletine, flambe bananas and vanilla gelato. I found the choc to be very rich, very satisfying.

And a second dessert...

A mango and cheese semifredo, fippled frozen mousse, frozen lime foam and sable cookies.

Overall, the restaurant is very beautiful, service was prompt and courteous. And I spied many a table out for a romantic evening. The food is good, but I did not find anything spectacular...so perhaps more fitting of a nice neighbourhood local restaurant than one for special occassions.

Thumbs up.

Skyve Wine Bistro
10 Winstedt Rd, Singapore 227977
6225 6690

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