FiftyThree on Armenian Street

To say that 53 Armenian St came with lofty expectations was a bit of an understatement. I've been hearing the stories from friends about this place for quite some time now, and they are usually surprised that I hadn't considered having a meal there. Well, I do admit all the traveling this year has allowed me to sample some very fine cuisines around the world, so that left very little time for trying new restaurants when I'm in town. And usually, I would invariably stick with comfort food when I'm home. Otherwise, I might as well be ordering room service at the Hyatt every night.

My overall experience with FiftyThree hasn't been all that mind-blowing, as had been described by some of my friends. First of all, they had trouble with their oven and didn't serve us our bread until 30 minutes after we were seated. The wait staff seemed rather inexperienced, or at least did not project that aura of confidence and pride in their service. But I did recognize a couple of familiar faces I'd seen at Les Amis a few months ago, so I'd say we were in good hands. (Writing food blogs can work up an appetite sometimes, I'm going to order a turkey provolone sandwich from the galley now while we're enroute into HKG.)

I opted for the 3-course set lunch and had seared scallops for starters, followed by baked chicken with cauliflower foam and radish and I finished off with a chilled consomme with cucumber sorbet, caramelized green apples. The ingredients were fresh and the execution was flawless, but I couldn't help compare this with my recent lunch at Les Amis and must admit FiftyThree came up a little short. Perhaps I'm biased, I've always held Les Amis in the highest regard and it would be difficult to top that. And then there's the French Laundry and Chez Panisse, but those are stories for another day.

I couldn't quite put a finger on what the missing ingredient was, but I'll call it a lack of soul for now. The packaging is wonderful, and meticulously cultured, but something seems lacking on the inside. Maybe that's the standard of avant garde in Singapore.

53 Armenian St is in Singapore. Tel: 6334 5535