Iggy's (Lunch)

Iggy's is voted 60th in the world by the prestigious British Magazine, Restuarant, and is only 1 of the 3 to make it into that list from Singapore. So expectations were naturally high when we sourced it out for the meal. To know how it fared in our minds? Read on.

Address: Level 3, The Regent Singapore, 1 Cuscaden Road

Contact: 6732-2234

Price Range: $50 - $60 per pax (3 course lunch only)
$125 - $150 per pax (8 course dinner)

The unassuming and rather simple entrance

The interior counter bar and table setting

The interior of Iggy's is rather small but cosy. Attendants were practically standing next to you as you feast but never intrusive which is a plus. Other than that, we had a reasonably good time and felt at ease in this setting.

The excellent free flow in-house made olive sourdough bread

The complimentary deserves some mention simply because i had in excess of 5 of this before i felt that it was enough. It is definately not available outside and it simple tastes wonderful. The butter provided also doesn't feel overwhelming as i gulped down one after the other. IMHO, this is already a great start. (or so i felt at the time anyway) Have as much of this as possible before the actual meal. You'll thank me for this advice if you are having lunch here.

Pumpkin Puree with Soy

Another complimentary item. This tasted nothing out of the ordinary to me though so i wasn't very impressed.

Sakura ebi cappellini with konbu and home made scampi oil

For this dish, i never got the chance to try it apart from one measly spagghetti so the following review is quoted from my friend's blog. Picture also courtesy from him.
"I had to steal it off the more expensive set menu as the set that I was going for didn't offer it as one of the appetisers. The waiter was nice enough to allow it and I am grateful for that. Why so? Because this dish is one of Iggy's signature dish and I'm quite impressed by it to say the least. The cappellini was cooked to perfection with the right about of bite and the tiny but fresh sakura ebi, together with the scampi oil, provided the necessary saltiness and fragrance. Just a short introduction about sakura ebi. It is a tiny shrimp found exclusively in the waters of Suruga Bay in Japan, which explains its price. Overall an excellent dish, but I must say that it reminded me uncannily of maggi mee, albeit a finer version."

Linguini with black truffle salsa

Another dish that wasn't ordered by me, this belonged to another friend and all i can say is he only had praises for it though he didn't quite like the squid ink portion of it.

Prawn croquette with watercress and soy tarragon butter

Now this one is mine finally. The middle leaves were rocket leaves that Jeremy hated with a passion. Its actually quite fragrant though of course, its an acquired taste. The thing about this is the taragon butter served to make the leaves very palatable indeed. Personally, i found the prawn croquette's a tad too small. Taste wise, the butter still covered up a huge portion of it. I couldn't much taste the prawn in its pasty form but its good nonetheless. A decent start.

Wagyu beef burger with white truffle sabayon

This main belonged to FatPig and the following review is in his own words. Personally though. 4 fries!!!?? The horror! Oh the horror!!

"Wagyu beef and white truffle sabayon - now that combination is enough to make me dribble all over my shirt. Sadly, it didn't turn out the way I hoped it would. For one, the wagyu beef was minced up and made into a patty, which is a sheer waste for such an expensive beef. I honestly couldn't taste any difference between the wagyu patty and a normal beef patty. The white truffle sabayon didn't impress me much either, coming across as rather tasteless. The bread was nice and evenly toasted though.

Top marks goes to the side of thick cut fries though, which were nicely stacked up and a tad hard on the outside yet moist, steaming and smooth on the inside.

On a side note, the burger was really small and reminded me of a toy burger. Such was the size of it and its colour homogeneity."

Breaded Kurobuta pork Schnitzel with tarragon salad

Well, my main course, as is Jeremy's. Kurobuta pork is the pork equivalent of Kobe beef in the pork hierarchy. Maybe that explains the ridiculously small serving we had for the meat. It came with an equally small terragon salad (ie. rocket leaf) which only served to vex us abit. However, taste wise, the pork is indeed succulent. Even the ultra thin version we had managed to absorb its seasonings and exhibited a smooth, tender and chewy texture that is otherworldly. I wouldn't have expected it from such a small piece. It is that good, but pity about the small portion.

Champagne jelly and sorbet with elderflower foam

This is my dessert and to quote taste tests from my buddies: "it tastes like eating toothpaste!"
Well, almost but not quite. I found the champagne jelly hidden beneath the elderberry foam served to give the dessert a very nice complementary taste that refreshes as well as intoxicates. You could taste the champagne but it wasn't overwhelming. Quite nicely done.

Vanilla panna cotta with candied tomatoes and basil ice cream

I didn't get to taste much of this but Jeremy hated it. The basil ice cream tasted like rocket leaf and that didn't go too well with him. He did however, finish the panna cotta so i'll assume its pretty good.

Baked chocolate molten cake with Java vanilla ice cream

Another item for FatPig. "The chocolate cake was very spongy yet compact and came across as light on the palate. It could do with more molten chocolate in the core and a more concentrated one at that. I personally found the Java vanilla ice cream quite good as it had a tinge of the Java bean. Nice and smooth as well."

Bill

The bill came up to about $52 per pax for a nice tasting but not fulfilling meal.

Score:

Ambience: 7.5/10
Food : 7.75/10
Value for Money: 6.25/10
Service : 7.75/10
Overall: 7.5/10

Last Word:

To be fair, the food on this highly acclaimed restuarant is indeed above average and decent. However, i tend to like having meals that actually fill me up instead of leaving me wanting and Iggy's did just that, leaving me wanting more food. This was solved by having yet more food at cheaper establishments and in my opinion, that is not the way a $50 lunch should have left me. Try the place for the experience knowing you had a meal in one of Singapore's finest restuarant, but unless i am insanely rich in future, i will probably not be back for another non-filling meal. (If i'm insanely rich however, i will be back for more.)