Bread Street Kitchen

When news first broke that Gordon Ramsay was opening a restaurant in Singapore, I was fairly excited. The last time I had a meal at one of his restaurants was in July 2012, during my first trip to the UK, where I visited The Narrow with my choir friends. While I didn't find the food there absolutely spectacular, I was ready to give this one a go. Several months passed and I began reading quite a substantial number of poor reviews of BSK Singapore. During the Epicurean Market, I did not try any of their dishes, but two weeks ago when my friend suggested checking it out, I was all set and ready to go.

For a Tuesday night, the restaurant was quite busy. At about 8pm, some walk-in customers were told that the waiting time was an hour. Fortunately we had made a reservation. Overall, I thought that service was quite decent, but generally on the slow side. The assortment of breads to start were pretty ordinary. In order to sample more dishes, we decided to share all our orders among the 5 of us. With some recommendations from the waiter, we decided on 2 starters, 4 mains and 1 side dish.

To start, we had the spicy tuna tartare (B+). It was actually my first time having tartare and I thought it was quite tasty with the chili, garlic and sesame oil providing a nice kick of flavours. The wanton crisps, however, were really bland and didn't go well with the tuna. We also got the tamarind spiced chicken wings (B-), which paled in comparison to the tamarind spiced pork ribs from Adrift that I tasted during the recent Epicurean Market event.

Spicy tuna tartar, chili, garlic, sesame oil, wonton crisps ($19)

For mains, the Dingley Dell pork belly (A) was by far the best savoury dish we had. The meat was tender and slow-roasted to perfection, with crispy crackling skin, and the spiced apple purée just elevated the dish even further. The worcestershire sauce that they provided also complemented the dish really well. The shepherd’s pie with braised lamb (B+) was also really good, hearty and rich in flavour, with the brioche garlic crumbs adding a nice crunch to the dish. We also got the roasted duck breast (B). The olive oil mash and port wine jus were delicious, but the duck meat was slightly overcooked. Finally, we had the traditional fish and chips (B-), and although this is probably the most commonly pictured dish from the restaurant on Instagram, it did not live up to expectations. Well, it was just mediocre in my opinion, though I did really enjoy the crushed peas that came with it. We might have been better off ordering the black cod, which has been pretty well-reviewed. Our side dish of mac and cheese (B+) was actually quite tasty. I haven't really had this anywhere else so I don't have any basis for comparison, but I don't really have any complaints about this.

Slow-roasted Dingley Dell pork belly, spiced apple purée ($28)

Shepherd's pie with braised lamb, onions, carrots, potato purée and brioche garlic crumbs ($38)

Roasted duck breast, olive oil mash, spinach, roasted céps and port wine jus ($38)

Traditional fish and chips, crushed peas, tartar sauce ($26)

Macaroni cheese with garlic roasted crumbs ($16)

With that,  it was time for dessert. Did a quick search on Instagram to see what most people were posting and it appeared that the popular choice was the chocolate fondant, with multiple videos of the oozing chocolate. We couldn't decide on another dish, so we decided to ask for a recommendation. Although the waitress named the Ricotta and Dark chocolate cannoli as her personal favourite, after much hesitation we eventually went with the cheesecake which was also one of the more popular choices there.

Thechocolate fondant with salted caramel and mint chocolate chip ice cream (A-) was delicious. Apparently my friend's attempt at taking a video of the oozing chocolate was a failure. It did ooze out very nicely though! While it's far from the most visually appealing dessert I have seen (having watched multiple seasons of Masterchef US and Australia), the fondant was really good. I also thought that the refreshing mint ice cream complemented the chocolate flavour perfectly. The Monkey Shoulder Cranachan cheesecake with raspberry sorbet (A-) also did not disappoint; The cheesecake was light and the sorbet was really quite tasty! Both desserts we tried were quite simply presented with only two main elements each, but both packed quite a lot of flavour.

Chocolate fondant with salted caramel and mint chocolate chip ice cream ($20)

OVERALL THOUGHTS

Without having high expectations, I was fairly satisfied with the entire experience. The meal cost $52 per person. The best dish of the night for me would have to be the pork belly, though the desserts were really enjoyable as well. I think service could have been slightly faster. We ended up spending well over 2 hours there. I don't think I will be visiting again though, especially since there are so many other celebrity chef restaurants in Marina Bay Sands. On the other hand, Bread Street Kitchen is actually one of the more affordable choices there, so it's time for me to save up!