We arrived at 730pm on a Friday, and began our dinner a little worried as to why we were only the 2nd table to be occupied. But our fears were quickly laid to rest when Gunthers became full house by the time it reached 830pm. With 7 types of appetizers, 3 Caviar specials, 3 soups, 3 seafood-themed rice & pasta dishes, 7 meat dishes, 1 cheese dish, 7 desserts, 3 types of coffee, the ala carte options available for selection available wasn't particularly anything to shout about, but I thought that this was perhaps testimony to Guthers preference to bet on more on quality & consistency, then to pull any risky new stunts.
Service was professional and polite, which while something to be expected of a fine dining establishment of Gunther's standing, was worthy of our thumbs up when the waiter offered to split each of our dishes into two portions without us asking. While browsing the menu, the waiter charmed us further by pushing a trolley to our tableside and introducing us to their freshest imported produce which included Lobster, crab, oysters, scallops, mushrooms, tomatoes, pumpkin and sole. He then took pains to explain how they could prepare these items. Of these trolley items, I took 4 oysters which costed me $48. I think that price included the price of the caviar I think I added. More plus points for giving us a complementary frozen fruit atop vanilla ice-cream dessert with a lighted candle when I asked during the meal whether Gunthers offered any desserts that could be suitable for a birthday.
For dinner, we had:
- Carpaccio of Japanese Omi beef, Tartare style, crispy potato
- Cold Angel hair pasta, Oscietra caviar
- Seafood consommé
- Truffle soup with pumpkin Veloutè, sabayon
- Squid ink flavoured rice, grilled abalone
- Dry aged Entrecôte, confit of shallot, bordelaise sauce
- Fine apple tart “à la dragée”, Havana rum raisin ice-cream
- Badoit sparkling water
- 2014 Pouilly-Fume Boisfluery Domaine A. Cailbourdin
And I opted to upgrade my Angel Hair Paste with Sea Urchin, a decision which costed me $45 more.
Everything was very good, but the Cold Angel hair pasta, Carpaccio of beef and the Squid ink flavoured rice, grilled abalone were par excellence. And saying that our oysters didn't disappoint is an understatement.
The dinner started off well with the Carpaccio dish, the highlight of which we felt was not the beef, but the potato. The potato was so thin & crispy that even while savouring every bite, we were left trying to figure out what it was. We only came to realise what it was potato after revisiting the menu.
But what topped my list was the pasta. Ooooooh! The heavenly Cold Angel hair pasta! A model of al dente perfection harmonised by an infusion of sharpness & profound intensity. It was so good that I have no other words!
Squid ink flavoured rice. Frankly, I didn't expect much of a rice dish, but this one took me completely by surpise. It had flavours so deep and aftertaste so unami that the memory of that experience still lingers till today. I can't recall any other rice dish ever leaving such a deep impression.
Btw, some diners have complained that Gunther's prices are too high. But just like restaurants with outdoor menus & menu boards that forewarn patrons beforehand, Gunthers has similarly published their ala carte offerings on the Internet. Excluding the outliers, on average Hor D'oeuvres cost $22, Caviar specials $63, Soups $35, seafood-themed rice & pasta $38, meat dishes $72, cheese $30, dessert $23 and coffee $25. So except for the meat dishes, careful selection without ordering any specials from the trolley shouldn't be that shocking. Hence, while the eventual bill might surprise some diners, I thought that complaining about their prices might be seem a little unfair.
The fact that the restaurant was in Singapore Tatler's 2008's Best Restaurants list with a food rating of 10, while not appearing at all in the 2016's edition has left me all the more curious about the underlying reasons for such a drastic change in opinion.
Lastly, coffee lovers might be interested to know that the Kopi Luwak listed in the menu is no longer available due to ethical reasons.
In all, a very satisfying and memorable experience.