This is the last of my short notes on the fine-dining restaurants I visited in the past year:

Whitegrass
CHIJMES #01-26/27, 30 Victoria Street, Singapore 187996
t:  +65 6837 0402
12pm – 2.30pm, 6pm – 10.30pm, closed Sun & Mon
Visited: 18 Jun 2023

I went to Whitegrass when they first opened in 2016. They have changed to a Japanese chef Takuya Yamashita, now serving French-Japanese cuisine, and this was the first time I was trying the food. It was meek and balanced and safe and comfortable, not a bad thing, but I wanted finesse and bravery, a daring spirit to try, passion. It’s like choosing between a stable husband and a bad boy boyfriend; it’s like that song “All I want to do is make love to you:”

I said, “Please, please understand
I’m in love with another man
And what he couldn’t give me, oh-oh
Was the one little thing that you can”

Food: 6.5/10
Service: 8/10
Ambience: 7.5/10
Price: 6/10 (Not bad pricing for a Michelin-starred restaurant)

Firangi Superstar
20 Craig Road, Singapore 089692
t: +65 3129 7552
M – F: 12pm – 2.30pm
M – Sat: 5.30pm – 10.30pm
Visited: 20 Dec 2022

Firangi Superstar serves modern Indian food. Having had Revolver, which serves grilled modern Indian food, and putting it on my Top 10 Restaurants in 2022, Firangi pales in comparison. The food felt compromised, as if they were pandering to a specific audience that couldn’t take spice. By spice, I don’t mean burning-spiciness; I mean like caraway, cardamon, etc. The food was mid, but what was worse was the pricing. Food didn’t burn my stomach, but it burnt a hole in my wallet.

Given how expensive the food is, the service was… passable. Really non-communicative and hard to get attention. The place was also too dark for me, I had trouble seeing, I needed to use my phone torch although my friends said the place, which looked like a set from the series Hannibal, was sexy.

Food: 6/10
Price/value: 4/10
Decor/ambience: 6/10
Service: 6/10

Brasserie Les Saveurs
St Regis Hotel lobby, 29 Tanglin Road, Singapore 247911
t: +65 6506 6860
Visited: 30 Jan 2023

Been here a couple of times since 2011. This time, it was to celebrate my friend’s bachelorette. We had helium balloons with us and the waiter warned us very, very rudely that there was a fine if the balloon flew to the ceiling. It was the tone of his voice. Later, when we asked for complimentary parking, he rejected us and we had to cajole and beg him for it. WHY? I mean, it wasn’t HIS carpark and St Regis won’t be losing money if we were given complimentary parking. He killed the joy of a joyous occasion.

The high tea was pretty nice, I thought, quite innovative, but my friends had other opinions. Maybe the service had clouded their judgement.

Food: 7/10
Price/value: 5.5/10
Decor/ambience: 8/10
Service: 3/10

Restaurant Born
1 Neil Rd, Singapore 088804
t: +65 9270 8718
Tue – Sat: 6pm – 11pm
Visited: 27 Apr 2023

I fear that I misrepresented my own opinions on my social media. That’s because videos should be kept at about 30s for maximum effect – nobody watches after 15s, that’s the state we’re in now. So I needed to focus on salient points. But the whole truth is Born isn’t entirely bad; the food had its moments. True, the food seems to focus on the chef’s skills–which is quite supreme–and not on the customers’ enjoyment and taste. There were similar flavours across the courses and the direction (what cuisine is it?!) was confusing. But as whole, it was okay albeit too expensive at $368++. There was room for improvement but it wasn’t terrible. There is passion here. If the restaurant is a film genre, it’s art house experimental film.

Some of the servers can be clueless too. One of them sat me near the oven; if I stretch, I could cook my own food. It was hot and I would smell later. There were empty seats so why didn’t they sit me somewhere first? The oven seat should be the last option for a full house. Then I requested to be moved and they kindly did, to a 4-person table. But they wanted to seat me at the doorway where people were coming in and out, going and coming from the toilets. They could have sat me at the same table but just one chair away, further away from the doorway. That would be more convenient to everyone, servers, patrons, and me. But later, a boy came to serve us and he was brilliant. Extrovert, friendly without being obsequious, knew the right things to say, to do. I fell in love with him a bit.

Food: 6.5/10
Price/value: 4/10
Ambience: 10/10
Service: 7/10

In conclusion, I do not recommend any restaurants here, but I also do not NOT recommend them. They are all okay with their strengths and weaknesses.

You may be interested…
– Fine Dining I’ve Been For the Past Year Part 1: 5 on 25 (Andaz); Bam! (Tras St); Bedrock Origin (Sentosa); Caviar (Palais Renaissance); and Guccio (Gemmill Lane)
– Fine Dining Part 2: Lavo (MBS); Orchid Live Seafood (HomeTeamNS Khatib); Racines (Sofitel Tanjong Pagar); Rosemead (Cecil St); and Siri House (Dempsey)
– Best Food in Singapore 2022

Written by Dr. A. Nathanael Ho.