I love it when once in a while I would chance upon a really decent dining spot which has a nice ambience, a central location and dishes that are worth paying for. One such place would be Chef's Table by Chef Stephan Zoisl, a restaurant in Tanjong Pagar that managed to surprise and delight, much like Cheek by Jowl for me this year and Cure last year. What's unique about Chef's Table by Chef Stephan Zoisl is that there is no fixed menu - you only cross out what you don't like/eat in a list of 28 ingredients and the chefs will work to come up with dishes that are fresh and seasonal. This degustation/omakase, or carte blanche style comes in three prices: 4 courses at S$98+ per person; 6 courses at S$128+ per person and 8 courses at S$150+ per person.

Of course it is an open kitchen concept in the shophouse, and you can see the chefs and sommelier keeping busy the entire time. We had the gorgeous white wine called Gruener Veltliner, Pike & Joyce, Adelaide Hills, Australia ($19/glass, $92/bottle) to start. Chefs also personally served us our dishes - and told us a little bit about them as well, since there is no menu to read the ingredients. For our first dish for example, we were all given an oyster leaf to start and cleanse our palate. I've had this before and it really tastes like oyster!

The actual first course was the Crabmeat with cucumber, cucumber flower, gazpacho of cucumber and yoghurt. One thing we realized by the end of the meal was how every dish there's something to be poured onto the plate, so there's a puddle. Not complaining, just bemused after the third dish had the same treatmeat. This was yummy as an appetizer - there was a bit of ikura on top of the sweet and fresh crabmeat, which I adored.

We then moved on to the hamachi with peas in textures, bouchot Mussels and saffron stock. See? The rich yellow saffron stock was poured onto the sliver of hamachi. Tiny morsels of mussels added pops of the sea amidst the rather plain but still yummy fish. The portions here are definitely not for sharing, in case you're wondering!

We then proceeded with another seafood dish - the cod fish with parsley risotto, green asparagus, lobster stock and jamon iberico. The parsley risotto was definitely a first for us - it wasn't overpowering though, and the cod fish was so smooth and buttery! The lobster stock felt a little weird - perhaps not necessary with all these flavour powerhouses like the iberico ham.

Then we moved onto two red meat dishes - the veal ragout with white butter bean puree, horseradish, mustard and salad burnet. In case you think veal sounds like a heavy dish, rest assured. This was a tiny bowl of chopped up veal, which was meant to camouflage with the others such that each little cube was a surprise. It worked! I really liked the portioning of this. We also switched to an Austrian red wine - the Wiener Trilogie (Cuvee of Zweigelt, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon) (S$19/glass, S$92/bottle).

The last main dish was the Muscovado duck with foie gras, fermented grains, shallot, chanterelle mushroom and nasturtium leaves. Wow, I don't really recognize the last two ingredients. The veal was nice and soft - but I wished there was more foie - it was such a tiny piece! Except we were super full by now.. (also notice the pouring of gravy again).

Lastly, dessert! Yay. We were treated to a sound and visual treat when this special utensil was carried out. A glass ball above the liquid nitrogen was 'ringing' as it vibrates from the fumes. This is called the Flavours of Black Forest with cherry, chocolate, cream, along with liquid nitrogen. Pretty impressive sight to behold!

Tastes good too! The liquid nitrogen has completed frozen the cherry liquid inside, such that it becomes sort of a cherry sorbet. The light scoops of cherry ice cream, with some chocolate cake pieces above, were also tasty. No complaints - what a creative dessert.

Who loves buffalo wings like I do? Well if you are a fan, definitely check out Wing Zone at Bugis+ L4 which is "an American casual dining restaurant with a focus on flavors". Despite them being called Wing Zone, they do have other items on the menu too, plus they are halal-certified! And like the wings, any item on the menu can be fuzed with their 17 unique and distinctive flavors. I was intrigued to attend the tasting when I heard about the flavours, but I was really moved to try it because of my love for buffalo wings.

Prices are decent for a casual dining restaurant with the original 6pc at only S$7.95 - but they are even better if you are a student because they have promotions for students! I also found on their Facebook Page that they recently sold 8,880 wings (at 50c special price) on 6th of July, which is quite the record.

During the lunch tasting, we tried a large assortment of the flavours (both wet and dry) - as well as a burger, some boneless chicken (breast meat) and wedges. For me, I found the wedges and the boneless chicken to be rather dry and unexciting - especially if you have the dry rub with them. I was quite impressed with the burger ($9.50 for 1/4lb flavour fuzed) - the meat patty, while rather processed, was elevated by the sauce to become juicy and delicious.

We also set our tongues on fire with the Nuclear Harbanero buffalo wings. Only do this if you are a spice fiend! It was really spicy. No joke.

In terms of flavours on the wings (which is not too dry or stale, just a good blank canvas), I found the milder, sweet flavours to be of my liking. The two dry rubs - Blackened Voodoo (weird) and Cool Ranch (plain) were much too salty for me. Avoid Garlic Parm and Lemon Zinger too - while they sound interesting, they also veered on the side of weird. Pretty much like the third related video you'll find on YouTube. I'll recommend Liquid Gold, Honey, Toyko Dragon and Mango Fire. They are all pretty yummy!

GIVEAWAY

I'm also currently giving away $50 worth of dining vouchers from WingZone on my Facebook Page until 7 Aug 23:59 so do take part!