Dining guide: April 16 to 23

GLENFARCLAS WHISKY DINNER AT RAFFLES HOTEL. This one-night-only dinner at the Bar & Billiard Room, with George S. Grant, the ambassador of the award-winning distillery, will take place on April 17. The meal will start with the Glenfarclas 15 Year Old, a Grant family favourite, paired with tian of crab, served with radish and avocado mousse. Also on the menu is the Welsh lamb saddle with spiced carrot confit, quinoa and coriander, celery reduction. This hearty dish is served with the premium Glenfarclas 105, Cask Strength known for its notes of dark toffee and rich spices. From 7pm to 9.30pm, priced at S$168 per person. Call 6412 1816 to make a reservation.

SOTTISH SEAFOOD ON HIGH. From April 27 to May 3, this home to the world’s highest urban micro-brewery, complete with a modern European kitchen, will be serving a week-long seafood fiesta. Each day, LeVeL33 will highlight its choice of beautiful seafood from Scotland, emphasising their natural tastes that are unique to the Scottish. The menu features classics such as the beer battered cod, fat cut potato chips, crushed peas, pickled onion and tartare sauce plated up with miso grilled cod, onion confit, nori oil and garlic sprouts. Another interesting combination is the breaded scampi with tripled cooked kipfler chips, gherkin and tartare sauce served alongside poached langoustine, truffle pasta, cauliflower puree and zucchini. Call 6834 3133 for details or to make a reservation.

VEGETABLES GALORE AT NADAMAN. From now until 19, certified Fruit and Vegetable Meister Fusae Enomoto will be at Nadaman, Shangri-La Hotel Singapore, helping head chef put together dishes that celebrate the sweet flavours of her farms organic Spring harvest. Guests can look forward to 17 a la carte dishes, priced from S$10, which include Fusae’s signature produce. There is, for instance, a tomato salad (S$18), which comprises five different varieties of tomato, namely Mr Asano’s Tomato, Tomato Berry, Pikora Canaria, Kiri Chan, Midori Chan, Sundrip Tomato and Puti Puyo. Another signature dish is the Awame Yukikabura Kinoko Ankake (Deep-fried Ayame turnip with mushroom sauce (S$22). Set lunch and dinner menus are priced at S$88 and S$168 respectively. Call 6213-4571/ 4398 for reservations.

CELEBRATORY LUNCH SPECIALS AT MAJESTIC AND JING. Specially crafted Secretaries’ Week set lunches are offered for the week-long promotion. Highlights from Majestic Restaurant’s five-course set include braised short rib with chu hou sauce and stewed mee sua with oyster and crab roe (S$58 person, minimum 2, available from April 21 to 24). Jing’s promotional menu is available a day earlier (from April 20 to 24). Priced at S$49 per person (one dines free for every four Secretaries Week set menu ordered), the five-course lunch starts with a chilled salad with wasabi mushroom followed by the chef’s special dim sum basket. For the mains, there is only the choice of a salmon fillet, deep-fried Thai-style and topped with shredded fresh mango.

APRIL SPECIALS AT TIM HO WAN. Complementing its mainstays is an array of new offerings, which are available the entire month at selected outlets. Over at Plaza Singapura for instance, diners can enjoy bacon rolls filled with prawns, wasabi and mayonnaise (S$5.50) or corn soup with fish maw (S$6.80), as well as chilled tapioca cake topped with coconut cream (S$5) to finish. Over at its Toa Payoh outlet there is a dish of steamed dace fish with eggplants (S$5) as well as deep fried fish fillet with spicy fried garlic (S$6), to name a few. For the full list, visit https://www.facebook.com/timhowan?ref=ts&fref=ts or check with the respective outlet.

NEW LUNCH SETS AT BEDROCK BAR & GRILL. These new 3-course meals comes with a selection of three starters and three sweets. All steak sets are priced at S$58, while seafood and poultry sets are available at S$38. Diners will also get to choose from newly introduced mains such as the woodfire-grilled striploin and sweets like the sticky stout and toffee pudding. Ongoing. Visit http://www.bedrock.com.sg for details. Call 6238 0054 for reservations.

SECRETARIES’ WEEK AT THE FULLERTON. From April 20 to 24, reward your dedicated administrative assistant with a sumptuous meal at The Fullerton Hotel. Town Restaurant’s Administrative Professionals Week International and Asian Lunch Buffet, for instance, is available at S$55 per person (dinner buffet is priced at S$55 per adult from Sundays to Tuesday, or S$69 with seafood selection). Jade Restaurant on the other hand is offering a five-course Oriental set lunch (S$58 per person) that include double-boiled chicken consommé with dried scallops, and steamed Chilean sea bass prepared Nyonya-style. Call 6877 8128 or 6877 8188 respectively for reservations.

AN ITALIAN TREAT AT DOLCE VITA. In conjunction with the this year’s World Gourmet Summit, Mandarin Oriental Singapore’s poolside restaurant Dolce Vita presents a culinary adventure by two Michelin-starred chef Giancarlo Perbellini of Casa Perbellini in Verona, Italy. Joined by Dolce Vita’s hosting Chef de Cuisine Omar Bernardi, this special showcase, from April 15 to 18, will feature Chef Perbellini’s signature Sesame Seed Wafer, filled with sea bass tartare, goat cheese, chives and liquorice, as well as an interesting dish of Parmesan cheese crème brulee ravioli. The four-course lunch is priced at S$98 per person (S$118 for five-courses), whereas a five-course dinner is priced at S$128 per person (S$158 for six-courses). Call 6885 3500 for reservations.

NEW HEAD CHEF AT JAMIE OLIVER. Chef Alessandro Laconi has just taken over as head chef of Jamie’s Italian VivoCity. He will oversee the rolling out of a brand new menu on April 23, with more of Jamie’s twists on homey Italian favourites, such as the Italian nachos — fried mini raviolis stuffed with three cheeses, served with fiery arrabbiata sauce and the crispy porcini mushroom arancini. New mains include the Chicken Al Mattone, served with creamy wild mushroom sauce, lemony rocket and Parmesan, Call 6733 5500 for details and reservations.

SET LUNCH AT CATALUNYA SINGAPORE. This newly launched menu (available Mondays to Saturdays) lets diners customise their three-course lunch for only S$38 per person. Pick from three options for each course — go with either soup, salad or tapa for appetiser; seafood, meat or rice dish for the main course; and cake, fruits, or ice cream for dessert. Standouts from the debut menu are the salmorejo (a traditional tomato-based soup originating from south of Spain), red snapper in salsa verde, roasted mushrooms and molten egg yolk as a vegetarian option, and the cultural dessert icon that is rice and milk. The selection changes to reflect the finest produce available. To complete this value deal, all red and white house pour wines are priced at S$10 a glass with the set lunch. Call 65340886 for details or to make a reservation.

NEW CHEF AND CUISINE AT SHANGRI-LA. In his new role, newly appointed chef de cuisine Marco De Vincentis will be responsible for transforming the former Waterfall Café into a southern Italian trattoria featuring handmade pasta and fresh seafood, overseeing all culinary operations for the 92-seat restaurant, which has been rechristened Waterfall Ristorante Italiano. The menu boasts classics alongside chef’s signature creations, such as his zuppa di pesce (traditional Italian seafood stew) and linguine allo scoglio (classic seafood pasta). For reservations and enquiries, call 6213 4138 or e-mail dining.sls [at] shangri-la.com.

SQUID INK AND RAMEN. From now until mid-May, ramen lovers can indulge in Men-ichi Ramen’s Ikasumi Special, which features squid ink in the restaurant’s popular Sapporo miso tonkotsu soup. The Ikasumi Tonkotsu Ramen (S$14.90) offers a blend of springy home-made curly noodles, succulent char siew, minced pork, soft flavoured egg, crunchy bamboo shoots and seaweed served in its signature pork broth piqued with squid ink. For a richer, creamier broth, the Ikasumi Corn Butter Tonkotsu Ramen (S$15.90) is a similar mix, topped with butter and sweet corn. Squid ink also features in the Ikasumi Yakimeshi (S$8.90), a delicious combination of Japanese short-grain rice fried with squid ink, fresh tiger prawns, crab meat and egg. Available at Men-ichi Ramen outlets at Northpoint, Nex and Jurong Point.

VALUE LUNCHES AT IL LIDO. The il Lido Group’s latest offers feature two lunchtime treats. A 3-course weekday lunch menu at il Lido for instance celebrates fine Italian cuisine at just S$38 per person, featuring some of the best seasonal ingredients, while over at Latteria diners can dig in to a scrumptious selection of hearty and rustic Italian pastas for lunch, priced at S$15 per dish. The latter is available exclusively from Mondays to Fridays, noon to 2.30pm and includes linguine with calamari and tomato; penne with eggplant arrabbiata; and the classic spaghetti carbonara with Parma ham. Ongoing. Visit http://www.il-lido.com/ and http://www.latteriamb.com/ for details and to make a reservation.

AFFORDABLE LUNCH BUFFET AT AZUR. Drawing inspiration from his travels, childhood hawker haunts, visits to bustling food streets of Malaysia, and delicious fare from rustic traditional warungs in Indonesia, executive chef Andrew Tharm’s new weekday signature buffets (S$29.50 for lunch and S$39.50) for dinner is a smorgasbord of familiar favourites that include Singapore satay, rendang daging palembang and ayam panggang sereh, served with complimentary-flow of Asian beverages such as traditional barley and watercress and honey-date. Its new weekend international spread, complete with seafood on ice (from flower crabs to Boston lobster and sushi) is also affordable (priced at S$48 for brunch and S$58 for dinner). Ongoing. Call 6823 5354 to make a reservation.