Waiting eagerly like two
school kids entering Disneyland for the first time; my chum and I were so excited
standing at the designated pick-up point.
In two shakes of a lamb’s tail, we arrived fashionably in a buggy at the doorstep of Pollen restaurant.
Pollen is the one and only
restaurant which you can find in the Flower Dome, Gardens by the bay. This 120-seater cum duplex
restaurant is also a spin-off from Michelin-starred chef, Jason Atherton’s
Pollen Social Street restaurant in London and collaboration with famed restaurateur,
Loh Lik Peng.
Designed
by Singapore-based Columbian architect, Antonio Eras, and “surrounded by temperate olive
trees, herbs and vegetation, complete with a climate-controlled sub 20-degree
temperature environment; you can easily imagine yourself to be dining in a
Mediterranean garden. The flora is not all just for show as the kitchen uses
herbs and vegetation fresh from their own garden patch, accessible from the
restaurant’s upper level terrace.” (Epicure’s Luxe
Dining Selections by HSBC Cards, Pg 96)
When
the door opened, my chum and I were greeted by 2 parallel rows of wait staff
that happened to be engaged in a staff briefing. We
were then kindly requested to amble through the Flower Dome before the official dinnertime.
(That’s a vantage point: you get to tour
Flower Dome for free if you score a seat at Pollen!)
After
the saunter, we returned to our reserved table and were each given a personal
rack to place our pocketbooks and souvenir bags. As we shot the breeze, my chum
(seated facing the interior) was
indulging in the Mediterranean–chic ambience while I (seated facing the glass panels) was admiring the scenic panorama of
the Singapore Flyer. The courses which we had were served in impeccable timing and
accompanied with meticulous explanation on the ingredients and cooking method
executed for each dish.
Here’s
our Mediterranean Cuisine inspired by nuanced European flavors:
"Complimentary Green Olives & Cod
Brandade
served with sourdough bread"
"Lobster Salad"
"Roasted Sea Bass"
"Iberico Pork Belly"
"Pre-Dessert Teaser"
"PB&J - Peanut Butter and Cherry Yuzu Sorbet"
"Crispy Burnt
Lemon Meringue & Cucumber Sorbet"
To
cap our dinner, our waiter enquired us about our dessert and
I enthused: “As good as you!” The
dining experience was indeed a fine one but the rough side is that you have to
shell out an average SGD100 check without vino in order to dine within this
colossal terrarium. Nonetheless, I would love to bring my date here and amble
through Flower Dome hand in hand after our romantic repast!
