Globe Trotting J's 2019 Trip Day 14: Treetops & Kitchens
We couldn’t have had a better start to our last stop of the trip, Singapore yesterday. Riding off the high of last nights light dinner and drinks at Atlas we slept in this morning. I think the shades for the room didn’t open up until after 10 AM when Jake and I went downstairs in search of Starbucks and a cool coffee shop. We found both. We started off at Starbucks where we bought Jenn her 5th mug of the trip for Singapore and a blueberry muffin. After that we walked back to our hotel and went to the very hip coffee shop Joe & Dough where Jake had a their specialty coffee and I had a cappuccino.
With us caffeinated, fed, and with a new mug to add to the collection we left our room a little after noon to go explore the gorgeous city of Singapore. Our first stop of the day was to the Cloud Forest and Flower Dome. We grabbed Singapores version of an Uber called a “Grab” who met us at the lobby and took us the ten minutes to the Cloud Forest. We were dropped off, got tickets, and made our way into the Cloud Forest and my mind was completely blown. Under a beautiful dome we spent the next hour (maybe more) walking through this amazingly constructed jungle within a giant dome that was perfectly temperature and humidity controlled. All of the plants were perfectly up-kept, and what resulted was a small utopia. We walked throughout the entire experience and took more photos then I could even begin to count.
When we finished up the Cloud Forest we went across the way to the much smaller, but no less beautiful Flower Dome. Here they had flowers from all continents with small areas to walk through and see some of the most majestic flowers from all over the world. Not only were the flowers gorgeous but the smells in Flower Dome were out of this world.
We made a quick pit stop at McDonalds and got a few burgers, fries, and waters, before getting to the last stop of the park, the Supertree Grove. After getting tickets to walk these we climbed up to the top and walked through these elevated trees and got amazing views of the Singapore marina. It was such a perfect day to do this, and I cannot describe the constant beauty that we got from Singapore in our first day. It truly was a magical start.
After nearly four hours at the park we grabbed a taxi to take us back to our hotel to get us ready for dinner. One of my most anticipated moments of the trip was our dinner this evening at Odette. Over the last year or two I’ve really doubled down on my love for food, especially fine dining. One restaurant I’ve had my on is Odette because not only is it a two-Michelin star restaurant, but it was also named the #1 Restaurant in Asia and #18 in the world by the “Worlds 50 Best Restaurants. Not to mention the head chef Julien Royer is French and cooks traditional French food. So three months ago when reservations came up I booked us a reservation (which sell out within seconds each day when they become available).
We all dressed up, took some photos downstairs near a beautiful fountain (very close to Atlas Bar) and then spent twenty minutes trying to grab a cab/grab to get us to our 7 PM reservation at Odette. We ended up going from being fifteen minutes early to nearly twenty minutes late due to the rush hour traffic. We made it and were sat down at a beautiful table overlooking the kitchen and the rest of the small intimate dining room. Right after we sat down they offered us some champagne to choose from and so we all obliged. We raised glasses to our trip and for being in this moment and then were presented with menus.
There’s not a ton of options at Odette. You have two set menus to choose from both are eight courses, one is a vegetarian and one is a non-vegan menu. We all went with the meat and what transpired was a combination of food and art for the next three hours. I’m not going to even attempt to try and describe and comment on each dish. Instead I’m going to list each course (which doesn’t include things like the chefs extra tastings, palette cleansers, Jenn’s cheese plate) and then just talk about the overall experience.
Course 1: Markuyo Uni - Spot prawn tartare, mussel cloud, royal shrenkii caviar
Course 2: Normandy Brown Crab - Nashi pear, avodado, wasabi oil
Course 3: Heirloom Beetroot Variation - Salt-baked beetroot, Stracciatella ‘Artigiana’, Honey
Course 4: Rosemary Smoked Organic Egg - Smoked potato syphon, chorizo iberico, meuinere
Course 5: Bouillon ‘Paysan’ - Foie gras, abalone, shitake
Course 6: Crispy Scaled Kinki - Squid ‘a la plancha’, Iranian saffron, Rutabaga
Course 7: Kampot Pepper Crusted Pigeon - Bessenay cherry, pickled onion, black garlic
Course 8: Yuzu T’art - Sable breton, shiso, basil
Every single dish had a complexity, a point of view, a depth that I just only wish I could even scratch the surface of. I’ve never had a more well put together tasting menu in my life. It wasn’t perfect, I don’t love beets, so that dish didn’t do it for me, and although the bouillon was like God came down and made it, Foie gras is fine, but its not my go-to. But really the catalyst of the meal were course 4, and 7, which literally blew me away. During the entire meal we had a group of five people taking care of everything from our utensils (including the fact that Jake and I are left handed), to our water, our wine, and the setups at our table for each course. The entire experience was like something from a dream and it’s something that I’ll never forget.
But if the night couldn’t have gotten better as the meal was coming to a close and we had finished the third unlisted dessert the head waiter came by and asked if we wanted to meet the chefs and tour the kitchen. This wasn’t completely unexpected after listening to a podcast (Tim Ferris) I got the idea to ask for the tour, so I did, and it came through. We got to thank each of the chefs for the great meal, learn about their process and their backgrounds, and take a tour of their small yet immaculate kitchen. As a giant fan of anyone who’s trying to perfect their craft, I can’t tell you what a thrill it was for me personally to be back there and to meet them.
The meal ended at close to 11PM but in my mind it still hasn’t. I know i speak for all three of us when I say we will probably never forget our meal at Odette. When we left the head waiter thanked us again and gave us these gift boxes with the head chef’s family recipe jelly to take home and enjoy. We made it back to our hotel a little before midnight and jumped straight into bed to get ready for an early morning tomorrow. Sadly I know as I write this its going to be hard to sleep coming off of such an unbelievable day today.
