Salt Grill & Sky Bar | 3.5/5

SINGAPORE — Australian chef Luke Mangan’s Salt Grill & Sky Bar recently underwent some renovations this year. But beyond the cosmetic changes — gone is the dizzily patterned carpet, the bar has been relocated to the back of the restaurant — Mangan has also installed a new chef at Salt’s helm.

At 27, Matthew Leighton is the group’s youngest executive chef, though his culinary skill belies his youth. Leighton executes the restaurant’s rather dated classics as deftly as his mentor does. The signature sashimi of kingfish (S$33) was as refreshingly nuanced as ever, lightly dressed with a ginger and eschalot sauce that had been gently cooked for over 12 hours to yield sweet, oniony flavours that paired splendidly with the raw fish.

His rendition of the restaurant signature, the Glass Sydney crab omelette (S$33), was also faultless. The egg was silky and beautifully cooked, and nicely balanced with familiar Asian flavours in the miso mustard broth. But while the omelette is a good dish, it makes for an underwhelming signature.

Sure, an omelette is widely regarded as the benchmark of a chef’s skills, but in a pretty restaurant at the top of a posh building in Singapore, diners want to be impressed by something more, well, remarkable.

Thankfully, Leighton has injected a couple of his own creations, most notably, the tea-smoked quail. At S$31 a portion, it is puzzlingly cheaper than the omelette; yet it is a dish that seems to require more work and one that makes a more dynamic impression. The silvery fragrance of earl grey tea and rice with which the quail was smoked wafted up tantalisingly as soon as the plate hit the table.

The ever-so-slightly-gamey meat was paired with truffled grains, almond cream, and a raisin and caper puree, offering a lovely melange of sweet and savoury flavours and beguiling textures. So too, was the 300-day grain-fed Rangers Valley Sirloin (S$74) that was paired with the luscious textures of eggplant and spinach, and hit with earthy Moroccan spices that really enhanced its natural flavours.

Some of these dishes can be sampled at the restaurant’s newly launched weekday set lunch menus that range between S$45 and S$80. Certainly, there is good reason why Salt Grill & Bar has managed to maintain its perch since it opened in 2010 — the service is efficient, the address is swanky and the food is better than decent. But to be truly impressed, diners might want to skip the old-school mod-Oz signatures and opt instead for the newer offerings on the menu. ANNETTE TAN

Salt Grill & Sky Bar

Where: 55 and 56 floors, ION Orchard, 2 Orchard Turn

Telephone: 6592 5118

Opening hours:

Monday to Friday: 11am to 2pm, 6pm to 10pm

Saturday and Sunday: 11am to 2pm, 6pm to 10.30pm