Skyve Wine Bistro Updates Dinner Menu

Singapore Best Lifestyle Food Blogger Skyve

Skyve Wine Bistro unveils new ala carte items on their dinner menu! Tucked in a lovely courtyard filled with lush greeneries, this spacious restaurant used to be the canteen of an elementary school. The chic restaurant, with ample parking space, serves modern European cuisine imbued with Asian accents and has recently refreshed their dinner menu with new additions.

Created by Executive Chef-Owner Vincent Teng, the cuisine here features an emphasis on the sous vide technique which is one of Chef Vincent’s signature culinary characteristics. I find the sous vide cooking method has yielded very flavorful results, with vegetables retaining their natural sweetness and meats turning out juicy. Highlights of the updated dinner menu are featured below.

The ambiance of the restaurant is relaxed, with three distinct spaces – al fresco, lounge and main dining area (with separate private section for events or VIP dinners), any of which is appropriate for an evening out with friends or colleagues. To complement the updated food menu, Skyve is also introducing a new wine list comprising good quality yet affordable wines spanning over 70 labels.

Starter: A notable new addition is the Compressed Watermelon Oyster, Lychee “Saketini” Granita Oyster and “Escargot” Style Oyster (S$34/half dozen per style) — plump Canadian oysters topped with interesting ingredients. The Lychee “Saketini” Granita Oyster stood out the most for me and it is a nice savory sweet combination thanks to the cold lychee sake sorbet and seaweed caviar. Normally I balk at warm oysters, but the Escargot Style Oyster is fantastic because of its umami-rich flavors derived from nori butter and shaved bonito flakes.

Starter: Sous Vide Egg & Spaghettini (S$18). Move over, Gunther’s! This is an exceptional dish that’s been perfumed with truffle Hollandaise, embellished with beautiful ribbons of Iberico ham and rounded out with soft poached egg. It is so delicious I can’t begin to elaborate on how wonderful it is. Let’s just say that this is one very memorable dish that you won’t soon forget and I do not recommend sharing this appetizer with anyone. It is a small portion, yes. It is rich in flavor, yes. But you will enjoy every bite of this spaghettini.

Main: This Vegetarian Pizza (S$34) is testament that a meatless dish can be gratifying and wholesome. Topped with an array of colorful sous vide and grilled seasonal vegetables, this thin-crust pizza is so tasty that you won’t be missing meat in this. I enjoyed the natural sweetness of the vegetables and the serving portion is just nice for sharing before moving on to other main entrees.

Main: Asian Inspired Confit of Duck Leg (S$36). Seasoned with Asian Five Spice, this sous vide duck confit is crispy outside and moist inside. Served along side pickled fennel and orange segment salad, polenta fries and drizzled with orange sauce, this dish is well-executed even though I could only detect a very faint aroma of Asian Five Spice (that didn’t bother me much as tenderness of the duck along with its flavorful crispy skin more than made up for it). There is only so much you can do when it comes to this classic French dish, and you don’t want to deviate too far from what majority people expect. That’s why I find the polenta fries to be a notable twist due to the interesting texture and as a great alternative to the usual carb offerings.

Main: This Sous Vide Pork Shoulder (S$36) has been braised in root beer and spices, giving the overall result a sweet glaze. I didn’t care much for the savoury crackling skin but enjoyed the pineapple and pomegranate salsa, as well as the light dusting of plum salt on the side as interest. As for the pork shoulder itself, I know first-hand from cooking in my own kitchen that pork is often tricky; too dry, too “porky”, too tough, undercooked, overcooked, etc etc etc. In the full spectrum of meat tenderness, this isn’t melt-in-your-mouth soft but it is pretty good and almost close to getting there. My general feeling is that this is a tad on the overly sweet side for me though and dialing it down a notch will make this less cloying.

Dessert: Callebaut Warm Chocolate Molten Cake served with Maple Walnut Gelato (S$14). I found this to be a conservative option compared to the other interesting ones on the dessert menu, and it’s not as molten as I’d have preferred. The Maple Walnut Ice Cream, however, is a welcome change from the usual plain ole’ vanilla.

Dessert: This Mango and Cheese Semifreddo (S$12) with frozen lime foam and sablee cookies caters to those who like their desserts tart (ie. sour, not the pastry). It is not my personal favorite even though the presentation is pretty; I’ve got nothing against this dessert other than my tastebuds just happened to be yearning for something different to conclude my meal with.

Dessert: Inspired By Reds (S$12) is a block of raspberry sorbet with strawberry parfait, sous vide strawberry in balsamic vinegar and crushed black pepper, flower tuile and dehydrated raspberry. I found the sous vide strawberry in balsamic vinegar (sorry not shown) to be extremely sour, however I was most pleased with the strawberry parfait being a great textural contrast to the raspberry sorbet.

Dessert: Tiramisu (S$12) with the addition of kahlua granita over the whipped mascarpone cream layer. This is an interesting interpretation of the classic Italian dessert and I’d go back to try this again (because this was shared and I got the end bit of the lady finger biscuits that was still crunchy; I prefer ’em to be soaked really well). Or perhaps it was a deliberate attempt to leave the lady finger biscuits that way considering that the granita will melt and you don’t want to tip over the sogginess factor. Hm, tricky tricky. If you’ve made Tiramisu at home before like I have, you’ll know what I mean.

Overall I think the dishes featured here showcase the sous vide method fairly well and I like the pairings of various ingredients in every dish. While they may not all be crazy avant-garde, I like that there’s creativity evident in the design of the new dinner menu (I’m stating this from the perspective of someone who avidly does grocery shopping and cooks/bakes). Food is priced reasonably, flavors are abundant and textures are juxtaposed in interesting manners. I enjoy the ambiance of the restaurant tremendously because it’s laid-back; I’d totally come back here for date night and go for those oysters and spaghettini again.