Yesterday I ate at what Wong Ah Yoke has called “Singapore’s best Chinese restaurant today.”
It is a revolving restaurant at OUE Tower. It has no waitresses, only charming women who work for the restaurant’s VIP services. Wong is a food critic whose views are said to be able to make or break a restaurant and he has written that at Tong Le Private Dining, “service standards are certainly the best I’ve experienced in a Chinese restaurant.”
I don’t think much of Straits Times journalists, but I can only agree. Andrew Tjioe has certainly pulled off a coup this time. This restaurant is his Tung Lok group’s crown jewel.
This is how it works. You phone the restaurant to make a reservation; next they email you the menus, you then make your selection, they confirm it and off you go to enjoy an experience of a lifetime.
Be prepared to pay though – the restaurant has no a la carte menu, only four set menus at varying prices. Lunch sets range from $80/- to $250/- a head while dinner sets are $180/- to $500/- per person. We chose the $250/- per head lunch set.
The Japanese restaurant Shinji occupies a little space right inside the same premises and the more expensive sets include sashimi from Shinji. You can also order extra to go with your sets. I ordered monkfish liver. My lunch companion ordered uni sashimi.
Tong Le aims to please. You can swap dishes from other sets and if you fancy eating a dish from another restaurant in the Tong Lok group, a chef will be dispatched to cook it for you. Now, that’s a feat that is hard to beat!
And how was the food? It was exquisite. The shark fin soup with spaghetti-size strands of fin was absolutely decadent and so creamy rich. The fish maw was probably the thickest I’ve ever savored. The bird’s nest was out of this world. Definitely worth every cent we paid.
I aim to go back, this time with my loved ones.
The $250/- lunch set:
Appetizer by Shinji.
Sashimi Platter by Shinji.
Braised Superior Shark Fin in Noble "Tanfu" Sauce.
Braised Fish Maw with Goose Web.
Poached Canadian Geoduck with Rice Vermicelli in Seafood Broth.
Double-boiled Bird's Nest with Cream of Hand-grounded Almond.
Picture below shows two dishes I hope to try the next time I visit, Fairy Duck of Confucian Mansion and Bird’s Nest in Chicken Consomme.
