A New Season At FiftyThree

Yesterday was a very good day. I kick started my birthday celebration with a lunch organised by a very good friend of mine. It was a "surprise" lunch as I didn't know which restaurant till I was being driven to the the location. It turned out to FiftyThree - one of my favourite restaurants in Singapore.

Chef Michael Han has introduced some new dishes and we were treated to a special menu he created for my birthday lunch. Check it out.

A special menu created by Chef Han for our dining party of four.

Pot of carrots,radishes and flowers. Everything is edible except the flower pot. No kidding.

The "soil" is the yummy part. It's not real soil but crunchy edible malt-tasting bits.

A good restaurant is one with freshly baked bread. I love the bread at FiftyThree... potato flour bread. The black ones are delish and are made with added charcoal powder. I also like the way they are presented in a sack with hot stones at the bottom of the sack to keep the bread warm.

Mud crab and kohlrabi, apple and chickweed. A very refreshing appetiser to start the meal.

Sweet shrimp from Japan with wild seaweed and cultivated coastal herbs. The sweet shrimps were cured but still retained the taste just like sashimi style.

Red Gunard (a tasty white fish) and hazelnut (drizzled at the side), Beluga lentils and smoked eel (that tasted like bone marrow bits).

Charcoal grilled Iberian black pig and black garlic, with stems and vegetables and ramson "capers". This was our favourite. I had black pork done Tonkatsu-style at Japanese restos before, but never charcoal grilled. These look more like beef than pork to me. The taste is excellent without a bad "porky" taste. The crunchy vegetable stems (I think it is Kang Kong) gave a very good texture to the dish. The black garlic sauce is sweet but not overly pungent.

This is the prettiest dessert I ever had. It is like a fantasy garden with an explosion of colourful flowers. The malt ice cream, rich chocolate twist (shaped like a sculpture) and the crunchy "soil" bits tasted very good together.

The birthday cake with raspberry sorbet and peanut butter decor. What a great way to end a meal and to kick start a two-week long of birthday feasting.

Official Site : www.fiftythree.com.sg