Monday, June 21, 2010

Fifty Three

I've been wanting to go to Fifty Three for >1 year already! Can't believe that just last year I was enjoying myself so much during this period and now I'm slogging away in a place which doesn't employ enough people!!! Major manpower shortage!!! And I think the reason why I have so much inertia to blog is because during work, I have to type so freaking much that when I go home I don't want to do anymore typing. Anyway, here's my uber outdated post on Fifty Three: Starter was their signature tapioca chips with some tiny Japanese fish embedded in the deliciously crunchy batter. It's like keropok just tastier and thicker. It's prettily presented (every dish here was) in a lacquered block with charcoal pieces. The sauce in front is some cheese with ?wasabi dip.
Chicken skin glazed with honey. It's super crispy and doens't have that layer of chicken fat underneath. With freshly cracked black pepper. Its extremely fragrant and has a nice roasted honey-chicken smell.Amuse bouche - this one is smoked Iberico ham, which used to be banned in Singapore. The ham is intensely salty, and has a light meaty taste and smell. I think this must be either my first or second time eating fresh Iberico ham.Another amuse bouche - this one is some herb leaves with herb dressing on a special chip (my memory fails me yet again). It's very light and there's little flower buds amongst the greens.
Fennel and Coconut
Aloe vera and Douglas Fir
It's a very interesting dish of thinly sliced fennel, young coconut granita, little chopped bits of aloe vera with Douglas Fir oil (I really can't describe the taste of this but it went quite well together).
Amela Rubins and Basil
Burrata and Horseradish
This dish was very refreshing, and it was one of my more favourite dishes that night cos it had some of my more favourite foods in it.
The whitish irregular shaped blob on top is icy and frozen Horseradish (something like wasabi), and it's on top of a hemispherical shaped burrata (more about burrata here, it's a type of cheese that is partially fermented) and it's very creamy. The Japanese tomatoes were extremely sweet - and some of them even tasted like grapes to me. Their skins were removed and they were served chilled in the basil soup.
Fifty Three's signature gunny sack bread bag - there's plain bread as well as a black coloured charcoal bread. The gunny sack has some warm beads sewn into it, so it keeps the bread nicely warm. It's served with 2 kinds of butter - one has a special type of nut, and the other one has real bacon bits.Charcoal bread with the nutty whipped butter.
Lobster and Tongue
Textures of Apple
The next dish was a favourite amongst my mum and sister, but it caused me an allergy reaction so I wasn't able to throughly enjoy my lobster. Such a pity cos the lobster was so well done that the outside was evenly cooked, and there was a rim of slightly raw lobster on the inside. The lobster wasn't coated in any sauce, so its freshness and sweetness could be appreciated. It was served with finely sliced apple coins, apple puree as well as duck tongue and deep fried lobster brain (there's a more elegant name for it, but as usual, it has slipped my mind). Thedeep fried lobster brain was crispy on the outside, and dissolved into a tasty pool of cholesterol laden goodness in my mouth. Delicious!
Japanese Striped Shrimp
Jauk's Pumkinseed Oil and Beach Herbs
This dish was another one of my favourites. It's extremely fresh Japanese shrimp served raw, with lemon-thyme snow sprinkled over. The dish is supposed to be like a beach, and I suppose I have rather strong powers of imagination, so I thought that I could really taste the sea in the herbs and the prawn but none of my other dining companions could taste it... Oh well, then again, I freak myself out thinking about a certain Chinese girl with long black hair and red eyes (argh goosepimples on my arms now!)
The herbs used in this dish are very interesting, there's even a leaf (which is the herb I think tastes like the sea, just like how you can sort of taste the sea in super fresh sea urchin) which has litle bubbles of water on it's underside. It's not very well pictured here, but there's numerous small little watery bubbles on the surface of the leaf...
Caroll's Heritage Potatoes and Wild Yam
Coffee and Parmesan
Ths dish was like a garden - along with soil and flowers. Slow cooked potatoes which absorbed all the tasty marinade prettily presented on a warm rock, along with coffee 'soil' and parmesan cheese swirls. It was also served with potato consomme, which tasted like a very intense and concentrated Brands Chicken essence.
Kuroge Wagyu from Kagoshima
Smoked Bone Marrow and Sorrel
The main for that day - it was supposed to be Iberico ham/pig but their stock didn't come! So it was wagyu beef (much to my dismay, but not to my other dining companions). Fortunately they had an alternative to beef, which was the Welsh Lamb. Didn't try this dish (cos I don't eat beef) but everyone who ate it enjoyed it.
My Welsh Lamb, which didn't have a single bit of lamb smell/taste, served very pink.
It came with an assortment of multicoloured beetroot and sweet turnip (the little yellowish ball at the side).

Between this and my berry dessert, there's another chocolate and coconut mango and mangosteen dessert which I have no idea where the photos my sister took went! Anyway, it's a big blob of chocolate mousse, and it's probably the heaviest/creamiest dish of the day. Didn't taste particularly remarkable, but I did like the little strip of jackfruit it came with.
Mara des Bois Strawberries and Green Peppercorn
There were little spicy bits in this dish, which I suppose can be attributed to the pepercorn. There were some crunchy flakes, and a very prettily layered and sliced strawberry covering a pudding (with the ground peppercorn). This dish was served dry, and the waiter came to squirt the red coloured gravy over the dish, thus producing the frothy soup that you can see pictured above.
Pretty strawberry
A berry sorbet which came with the dessert - very light and refreshing. I really like fruity desserts especially if they're chilled.
As a suprise, they even gave me a chocolate mousse birthday cake, which had a crackling base (the crackling powder which sparkles and crackles when it comes in contact with water). Such a nice way to end off my meal.
The meal ended with their lemon and gin gummies (I can't find my picture, must be stuck in another computer, I shall retrieve it when I'm free sometime this week, cos I'm super sleepy now... )
I really like the food served at Fifty Three - It's a bit like Iggys and Blu, just that it has lighter, less salty/heavy/creamy dishes (with the exception of the Chocolate mousse thing). I like the Japanese inspired dishes, and how they use lots of flowers and herbs (all of which are edible) to decorate the dishes.n

The restaurant is located in a shop house in Armenian street, and it's designed by the chef Michael Han. I think he must be quite a stickler for details (not complaining about this tho, since the food is really delicious and presentation is exquisite), right down to the black toilet paper, the designer hand wash and lotion, and the wooden decor. He even answers the phone calls for reservations himself.
Hopefully I'll be able to come back for lunch soon! I think lunch would be really fun cos I'll be able to choose the dishes that I want to try... But it'll have to wait cos I'm saving money to buy a new handphone (and maybe I will blog more regularly)! Can't wait can't wait!!
Fifty Three
53 Armenian St S(179940),
Tel: 6334 5535

3 comments:

Miss Tam Chiak said...

i totally agree with u! i type alot during work too and i just don't want to type again when i reach home. So... i blog during work! LOL

The charcoal bread looks interesting. Is the food there expensive?

Singaporefoodlover said...

lovely looking food

m said...

Jaime: lol I'm too busy to do that! But typing so much is tired work. At least I can type faster now... The dinner's really ex but lunch is $53 for 3 courses (If I'm not wrong - gotta check it out again)
SgpFoodLover: thanks!