Celebrity Chefs and non-celebrity Dim Sum

The Marina Bay Sands complex officially opens this week, with its impressive Skypark, casino, shopping mall and celebrity chef restaurants, I headed down there a few days ago to check out progress.

Obviously what intrigued me most was the celebrity chef restaurants – there’s been a lot of excitement in the Greedy Glutton house about the arrival of world-famous names such as Santi Santamaria, Guy Savoy, Wolfgang Puck and Tetsuya Wakuda. Such is their status, they have been awarded their own ‘wing’ within Marina Bay Sands, reached by dedicated lifts.

It’s an impressive setting when you emerge from the lift – an enormous atrium, with views down over the entire casino, so you can watch the old ladies lining up their chips on the roulette tables.

Out of the celebrity chef restaurants, only Santi and Guy Savoy are currently open, although both were closed for lunch. There was no menu displayed outside Santi, but we did spend a few moments marvelling at their wine collection displayed in the window. Guy Savoy’s peepy-hole windows provided another entertaining diversion, as did the menu – or the prices displayed on it to be more precise. Crispy Sea Bass main course? $120.00++. Five course degustation menu? $340.00++ (without drink). Not for a cheap night out then.

Also sharing the celebrity chef wing is a new branch of home-grown favourite Imperial Treasure – Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine. Realising that this was rather more within our budget, we took a table for lunch.

The restaurant’s décor is modern and opulent, with its deep-sofa booths and contemporary floral centrepieces, and befitting of its glam surroundings. Its high-end aspirations are evident as soon as you cross the threshold, when you are greeted with wafts of truffle – which is liberally applied throughout the menu.

We, however, opted for rather more humble selection of dim sum, including Barbecue Pork in Honey Sauce, Baked Char Siu Bao, Har Kau, Crispy Beancurd Roll with Shrimp and Custard Buns with Salted Egg Yolk. All of it was delicious – fresh, hot and tasty – and even served with a smile.



The chefs at Imperial Treasure may not enjoy the international stardom of their next-door neighbours, but the food they produced today for our lunch certainly kept this Greedy Glutton more than happy… and perhaps more importantly – it was affordable!

You can read more about Marina Bay Sands opening on my NileGuide blog here.

Imperial Treasure Fine Chinese Cuisine - http://www.marinabaysands.com/Restaurants/Imperial_Treasure_Fine_Chinese_Cuisine.aspx

Best Chicken Rice in Town?

I recently checked out Tian Tian Chicken Rice at Maxwell Road FC to see what all the fuss is about... actually I have been down to Maxwell Road on several occasions to try it out, but I always seem to go there when Tian Tian is closed.

This time I lucked out, however and had the opportunity to try out this legendary stall's offerings, which has had my fellow food bloggers and local chicken rice fanatics rhapsodising for years.



Of course there was a big queue, but we all know that means it’s worth the wait! And yes, I should say it was – the rice was full of stock-y flavours and the chicken was as moist and tender as you would hope.



So a big thumbs up from me, and definitely worth checking out if you haven’t already.

You can read more about Chicken Rice on my NileGuide blog here.

Tian Tian Chicken Rice, Maxwell Road FC

NileGuide Local Expert

I have a new blogging position - I am now the Local Expert for Singapore for NileGuide. So if you are interested in all things Singaporean other than food - come along and follow my NileGuide blog!

Over at NileGuide they have local experts from around the world updating their blogs and the website content, so it's a great resource for when you're planning a holiday, to get on-the-ground local insight. I am slowly updating all the content on Singapore within the travel resource section for them, so come check it out if you're planning a holiday to Singapore!

Of course I will still be updating the Greedy Glutton blog - and if there are any food-related posts on my NileGuide blog, I'll add a link here too.

Can't hang around - I'm off for some Chicken Rice for lunch...