It has been one evening after another of serious good eats as we had some very special guests in Singapore this week. After welcoming them with hearty Singapore fare at Sin Hoi Sai and xiao long pao at Din Tai Fung, we were tasked to think of a restaurant for the dinner before their morning departure. Delegating the decision-making to our hosts, they told us to meet at Morton’s at The Mandarin Oriental.
How would I describe my evening dining with two serious wine collectors? Let’s just say it was a night of pure decadence and new vocabulary.
With a classic gas lamp on every table, booth seats and white walls covered with framed photos of guests and wooden-paneled rooms for private functions, the culinary adventure simply began with a massive piece of fluffy Onion Roll.
For starters, we kicked off the night with a bottle of Stag’s Leap Merlot
and a small but thick, succulent Jumbo Lump Crab Cake (with great emphasis on crab more than cake) for me. It was the first time I’ve had a Crab Cake that was made with huge chunks of fresh crab meat sans the thick layer of starch.
The gentlemen had Oysters Rockefeller, Maine Lobster Cocktail and a large, flavorful-to-the-core, Bone-in Rib-Eye Steak. It was an amazing piece of steak with every area of the meat bursting with flavor that absolutely melts in your mouth.
Claire and I enjoyed a healthy selection of Broiled Salmon Fillet
as I learned my second addition to my vocabulary of the night: Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon. Let me just say that this has got to be one of the most memorable wine I’ve tasted. Incredibly, with its rich rose color sparkling in the light, the wine had the wonderful scent of vanilla and tasted as if it was laced with caramel.
Towards the end of the meal, Raymund surprised us with a little extra for the evening, adding two more words to my growing culinary vocabulary:
Duckhorn Paraduxx and
Opus One, served with two plates of Morton’s Legendary Hot Chocolate Cake
oozing with pure Godiva goodness.
Absolutely mind-blowing and truly a meal fit for a king.
Cherie Altea Bitanga finds herself constantly making food, talking about food and around people who know food. Her daily adventures go beyond her own kitchen in Singapore, spanning from the nondescript holes-in-the-wall to sumptuous dining adventures. She believes in the art of slow food and scours places in hopes of bringing home unique spices, salts and oils. She is also the occasional artist and food writer who learned how to cook early in life by inheriting culinary family traditions from her motherland: the Philippines.
For over a decade, this blogger’s career as an ESL instructor provided a multicultural atmosphere working with diplomats, celebrities, nuns, priests, politicians as well as high school and college students from all over the world. When she grows up, she hopes to cook for a living to celebrate her family’s culinary legacy.
