Burnt Ends, Teck Lim Road

I've been hearing about the mentions of Burnt Ends (20 Teck Lim Road, tel : +65 6224 3933) quite a bit as a result of it being a new establishment that's a joint venture by Loh Lik Peng and Andre Chiang of Restaurant Andre. This particular one is helmed by a bearded Australian David Pynt running the counter-seating open grill kitchen with a custom built brick kiln serving up elegantly plated offerings straight from their fires. And others. With such a pedigree and theme, how could I not be suckered in? 

sea urchin & cauliflower

First impressions was sea urchin, slivers on cauliflower puree. This was on the whole, nice, but the flavour of the uni was quite lost. As strange as this might sound, the cauliflower puree had actually overwhelmed the sea urchin.

salmon skin and roe

Following was crispy salmon skin slathered with oyster emulsion and dusted with some seaweed powder and ikura. This was textures and subtle shifts of layers of flavour rather well done. It didn't escape us that these looked like crispy flattened oyster shells.

smoked quail eggs & truffle

We made the mistake of ordering the smoked quail eggs with truffle which came in the form of truffle salt. None of the truffle flavour from the salt came through so I guess it was a waste of $5 against the regular smoked eggs which was actually quite nice if predictably so. The molten yolk scored here.

warmed oysters

We didn't know what to expect of the warmed oysters, but these were damn good. As aptly named, the oysters were merely warmed and not cooked. Couldn't quite catch what the server had mentioned about the liquids that was in them, but I thought I had heard rice wine vinegar. The oysters themselves were large, fat and juicy. Good for returns.

duck hearts, endive & aioli

Then, very nicely grilled and sliced duck hearts. What was it that I liked? I think it struck a good balance of achieving a moderated char aroma from the grill without drying out, leaving the insides a shade of medium doneness. The accompanying endives which were caramelised were mindblowingly sweet and fragrant. The medley of sweet and savory flavors was finished off with their smooth aioli.

fennel, orange & burrata

Here were some lightly softened fennel with charred ends that were richened by some creamy burrata and enlivened with what appears to be oils from oranges. Appreciated the fennel fronds.

onglet, burnt onion & walnut

Onglet a.k.a. skirt was nicely shaded medium rare. I think this was even better done than the one from Skirt. Having bits of bone marrow certainly greased things up for the grainy textured meat. As much as I liked this, I'm certain that I could have gone without the burnt onion and red wine sauce. It wasn't bad for that matter, it's just me.

pineapple, rum & vanilla

banana & caramel

Desserts were okay. I guess they were done to the theme of ovens and grills. Not entirely impressed with the banana as I was expecting some of the tart flavours akin to goreng pisang. But I am not adversed toward coming back for the rest of grills.