{Update: 14 May 2017}
One of my favourite restaurants in town, I’ve never walked out of NUDE Seafood dissatisfied. The produce is always fresh, cooking always intriguing and generosity always evident.
Saw that they’ve launched a new “communal dining” concept, so we decided to check it out last Friday night. The premise is that for $49 per set, you select your appetizer, main and dessert (and a bowl of matcha ramen comes along regardless), so say there’s 4 of you, and you’re not that hungry, you can order 3 sets instead. Because each course really is large enough to share.
We were hungry, so we ordered a set each, 16 dishes in all, and by the end of the meal, were just stuffed. As is always the lovely case at NUDE Seafood.
Though I wasn’t thrilled by every single dish – for example, didn’t enjoy the tamarind-chilli and softshell crab combo – nearly every other dish exuded the typical dedication to freshness and flavour that NUDE Seafood has come to be known for.
Here’s a picto-blog of the communal menu:
Definitely give this new set menu (the items can be ordered a la carte too) a try!
{Original Post – 21 Oct 2016}
It’s apparent that the folks at NUDE seafood take their work really seriously. Quite sexy those food geeks were as they
expounded on sustainability, biotechnology and “clean” cooking.
Okay, sexy if you’re a food nerd yourself.
Owner Hong Junchen, describes the cuisine at NUDE Seafood as “simply-prepared” but I don’t think that quite does justice to what they plate up.
I recently went for one of their Seasonal Menu set dinners, and course after course, I was wowed with the mastery of cooking for each dish.
* NUDE Seafood has Seasonal Menus up every now and then, so this special menu isn’t a regular occurrence. Still, it gave me a good indication of their food philosophy and skills.
The Autumn Menu set dinner ($78) that night featured vegetables from Chitose Agriculture Initiative, a company dedicated to ethical and sustainable farming, who are also relatively new to the market.
In order to showcase the produce of Chitose, the chefs at NUDE Seafood made sure to create a menu that would truly highlight the natural flavours of the produce, without any overwhelming sauces or elements in the dishes.
They must have worked really hard on the menu because apparently, there was a “cauliflower emergency” just two days before the dinner!
After a recent typhoon in Japan wiped out the entire crop of their regular cauliflower farmer, the Chitose team went into recovery mode very quickly and had to source all over the country for cauliflowers that would meet their standards.
Why didn’t NUDE Seafood just change the menu, replace it with one of the many beautiful autumn produce, I asked.
“We didn’t want to ruin the integrity and flow of the menu,” was the answer.
Wow. Talk about passion.
By the way, I listened to the cauliflower “emergency” story, whilst enjoying my peach-liquer pickled cauliflower florets that were part of the Cauliflower Risotto dish.
That cauliflower risotto was really the bomb. I mean, I don’t normally like cauliflower, but I wiped out my dish as it was that delicious. Those finely grated cauliflower bits served as the risotto “rice”, cooked in a cauliflower-parmigiano cream, topped with Macadamia brittle for needed crunch.
It didn’t leave me with a heavy feeling, which I inevitably get when I eat a typical risotto.
Saved me lots of space for the next two dishes. It’s a good thing, because NUDE Seafood certainly doesn’t stinge on portion sizes!
The next course was a Pumpkin Gnocchi with Foie Gras cubes. The Bochan Kabocha pumpkin, also known as the “Little Boy Pumpkin” is the size of your palm and tasted really earthy and nutty, not overly sweet. I liked the slight gaminess that the foie gras added to the dish.
Our final main was a Grilled Red Snapper – and by this time, we were getting quite full. We bravely soldiered on though, and the fish was so fresh, lightly grilled with a sweetness added to it, thanks to the tomato emulsion.
Now, I absolutely cannot go without mentioning these gorgeous Strawberry Cornettos. Meant to whet our palates for the night, with probably only one cone per person, well, I wolfed down at least four of these lovelies that night!
Those brilliant orange ikura baubles in the creamy strawberry ricotta – how could I resist?
Seeing as how one of Chitose’s proudest accomplishments thus far is its farming of Japanese-method strawberries at Cameron Highlands, the dessert naturally was all about the pretty red fruit. It was a tasty Strawberry and Pistachio Parfait combination, I especially loved the lush pistachio cream with the uber-sweet berries.
Just a little agricultural lesson here. The original batch of strawberry seedlings were nursed in their farms in Japan, and then planted at a location in Cameron Highlands. A location hand-picked by a very dedicated member of their team, who stayed there for 2 years, all by himself on a plantation, just to ensure the right conditions for his all-consuming task of growing strawberries.
(Apparently after two years, when he returned to city life, he needed some adjustment time!)
And I can see the efforts are worth it. I’m sure you’ve bought your fair share of strawberries that are either under-ripe or over-ripe, not sweet, more sour and so on. In fact, I used to love strawberries, but with generally hit or miss purchases at the various supermarkets here, I pretty much stopped eating them.
Not so for these Chitose-farmed strawberries! Because they are farmed at Cameron Highlands, it’s a closer journey over to Singapore, they can be harvested as they ripen and what you get when you order a box, is ready to eat perfection.
Back to NUDE Seafood.
All you CBD peeps, you probably already know about this great little place and have had lunch there. I heard they have an Uni and Prawn pasta going for just $24! Definitely will be making my way down there again to try it!
As for their next Seasonal Menu, I’ve been told there’s a Winter Menu they’re working on for the festive period, so check their Facebook for updates or get on the mailing list to be in the loop.
If you can’t wait, you might want to check out their rather reasonably-priced ($48) 3-course Chef’s Menu for weekday dinners!
NUDE Seafood:
Address: 12 Marina Boulevard #01-02, Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 3
Contact: +65 64431167 or hello@nudeseafood.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nudseafood/
Opening Hours:
Monday – Friday: 8:00am – 10:00pm
Last order for lunch at 2:30pm; last order for dinner at 9:00pm
Weekends and public holidays: Closed