High Society at Marina Bay Sands Shoppes

The Moonberry Blog

Not long ago I was invited to have dinner with a bunch of food blogger pals at High Society, a restaurant nestled in the heart of the Marina Bay Sands Shoppes. I have walked past it a couple times before and was drawn to the beautiful array of macarons, cupcakes and other baked goods at the front. I even picked up a bunch of cupcakes from High Society during my staycation at MBS a few months back. I didn’t realize though, that behind the pastry counter lies a gorgeous space for dining, so it was my good fortune to have a chance to sample some of the dishes served at High Society with aforementioned food blogger pals.

The interior design of High Society boasts a distinctive design of chequer Italian marble flooring, golden chandeliers, and white walls adorned with golden frames of red velvet. The restaurant exudes an old world charm of the good life with a twist of contemporary lifestyle living. It’s a beautiful space and kinda reminded me a wee bit of Las Vegas actually (The grandeur! The opulence!). Meanwhile the food menu at High Society restaurant is an eclectic mix of East and West, ranging from local delights to modern European fusion.

Starter: Smoked Duck Breast – hickory smoked duck breast with romaine lettuce, orange and fresh dressings.

Soup: Clam Chowder

Starter: Crab Caesar – romaine lettuce tossed in anchovies dressing with herb crouton, cherry tomato and topped with crab meat, pine nuts, grated parmesan.

Starter: Foie Gras – pan seared, modena balsamic, petite salad and raisin sauce.

Starter: Scallop Salad – pan seared scallops topped with caramelized cod roe and parmesan cheese.

Main: Currywurst – berliner veal sausage with german tomato, curry sauce, french fries and salad.

Main: Norwegian Salmon – seared salmon fillet with lemon butter wine sauce and seasonal vegetables.

Main: Lamb Shank – braised with tomato and red wine, whipped potatoes and seasonal vegetables.

Main: Seafood Spaghetti Laksa – signature dish of pan seared canadian scallops and tiger prawns perfumed with light spicy laksa sauce

Main: Schweinshaxe – twice cooked german pork knuckle with sauerkraut, mashed potato and brown sauce.

Main: Steak Frites – classique pairing of 200-days grain fed angus rib eye steak and french fries, seasonal vegetables, red wine sauce.

Main: Oxtail Stew – oxtail stewed in red wine sauce with mashed potato, served with focaccia bread.

Dessert: Strawberry Shortcake, Casanova (dark chocolate mousse, dark chocolate creameux, praline hazelnut feuillitine), Ispahan (an oversized rose, raspberry and lychee macaron), Tiramisu.

Dessert: Earl Grey Choux – earl grey creameux on choux with chocolate chantilly.

Dessert: Green Tea Passionfruit Cupcake.

Dessert: Assorted Macarons.

As you can see, there was a lottttttttttttttttttttt of food that night, ranging from appetizers to main entrees to desserts. I had no idea how we managed to finish all of it because I personally took only small bites here and there. I mean, this was a group tasting session, not a free-all-you-can-eat buffet so there’s no reason why anyone would punish their bodies over gluttony. I firmly think that the objective of a food tasting (an invitation or otherwise – what, you never heard of it?! MANY restaurants offer tasting menus; okay… maybe not so common in Singapore) is to sample many dishes respectfully in manageable portions and not devour everything in sight as though you’ve just been released from a refugee camp.

If you were to ask me to shortlist my faves from this dinner, my top five would be:

1. Clam Chowder: The clam chowder served here is the Boston variety, ie. cream-based (instead of the Manhattan variety, which is tomato-based). I generally enjoy both equally much, but I hardly order clam chowder in Singapore. So this was unexpected and I like the clam chowder served at High Society because it’s chunky with plenty of generous bits of clams and vegetables. It also has good flavor and not the ~~lame imitation~~ watered down version that I often see served elsewhere.

2. Currywurst: I had a similar dish last month when I stopped over at Munich and the appeal to me remains the same – the pairing of sausage and curry. Flavorful combination. So simple and easy to recreate at home, yet I’d never thought of it before. D’oh!

3. Schweinshaxe: This was delicious because it was very crispy on the outside, yet juicy and tender in the inside. Bursting with flavor. I definitely enjoyed this but please note that this comes in a very generous portion and definitely meant to be shared. (I uhm, had the same dish at Munich also, hahaha.)

4. Oxtail Stew: Oooh, oxtail. Packed with collagen. :9~ This was very well done and the meat just totally melts in your mouth. The only thing I wished for would be to have more bread because the sauce was really rich and tasty.

5. Green Tea Passionfruit Cupcake: I think we’ve all come to the point where cupcakes are … just cupcakes. Is it just me or are the cupcake flavors offered in Singapore, including the popular ones, seem to always be those same old ones like red velvet, vanilla and dark chocolate? *yawns* Borrrrrring. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good red velvet cupcake and there’s been a couple good chocolate-based ones which I’d daydream about from time to time (which is saying a lot considering I’m not a chocolate person). Coming across this green tea passionfruit cupcake was a delight because I know what green tea tastes like, I know what passionfruit tastes like, but never together at the same time. The combination, however, turned out to be most enjoyable because the tartness of the passionfruit is balanced out really well by the nutty-ness (?) of green tea flavor. Yah okay, now you think I’m nutty for describing green tea as nutty. :p

Last but not least, I want to mention that the Seafood Spaghetti Laksa looked beautiful and given that it’s High Society’s signature dish, I’d want to go back to have it again. Except that I found the laksa spice too overpowering and the dish was too salty/overspiced for me. I mean overspiced as in the spice flavor was too heavy, too much; I don’t mean spicy as in “hot”. Maybe less sauce would have made the dish better. Or maybe cutting back on the spices/laksa flavor would have made the dish brilliant; the key is finding the right balance and that sweet spot such that the laksa flavor is delicate but has an assertive presence on the palate.

I really love the grand interior decor of High Society. I personally think it’ll be a wonderful place for a weeknight date! I spied the menu real quick and saw that High Society also has a tea set special (Monday – Friday, 3-6pm; $38++ for 2 pax) which sounds like the perfect treat after a session of intense shopping with the girls. Hee!