Yi by Jereme Leung (Raffles Hotel)'s Dinner Menu II

👍 Creative Chinese dishes that are mostly very good. Nice ambience, great service.
👎 The signature 100-ring cucumber was surprisingly underwhelming.

With all holidays cancelled for the entire year (and perhaps even into 2021), the darling and I (fortunately) have a little excess disposable income to spare, so we decided to visit a couple of atas restaurants that we wouldn't otherwise visit ... which is how we wound up at Raffles Hotel's Chinese Restaurant: Yi by Jereme Leung!

Unfortunately we forgot to take a photo of the gorgeous entrance (lined floor to ceiling with handcrafted white flower petals), and elegant dining area. The restaurant is a nice place to be in, and sound dampening is above average (for Chinese restaurants) so you don't get too much crowd noise from other diners. Service was great, too!


The little one was a little hungry so between trying to set him up in a baby chair and getting his feed on we didn't really have much appetite to browse the menu properly. We gave up quite quickly and chose the (Set) Dinner Menu II (s$138/pax), to be washed down with a pitcher of Yi's Herbal Tea (s$18)


The eight-course Dinner Menu started off with three Appetiser / Cold Dish items: Hundred-ring Cucumber & Poached Sea Whelk with Soy Sauce Vinaigrette, Sichuan Style Chicken with Peanuts & Sesame Chilli Dressing, and Okra, Tiger Prawns & Arctic Shellfish with Soy Sauce Vinaigrette

Surprisingly, despite the Hundred-Ring Cucumber being a signature dish, we found it a little underwhelming (perhaps we're not huge fans of sea whelk). On the flip side, the Sichuan Chicken was terrific: The cold, juicy chicken constrasting perfectly with the tongue-numbing heat from the sichuan peppers. The Okra dish was well balanced, but ultimately neither particularly impressed nor disappointed.


Moving on: The Fish Cartilage Soup with Abalone & Fish Maw was amazing: Gorgeous, thick, umami-laden broth with tender abalone, fish maw, and hokkaido crab leg. We would come back again just for this soup alone.


The two Main Dishes were Baked Cod with Wild Honey & Soy Sauce Reduction, and Iberico Pork with Golden Garlic & Savoury sauce.

I really liked the pork, which was tender, fatty, juicy, and crazy good with that gravy. And the fried garlic chips. Everything tastes better garnished with fried garlic chips. The cod (technically 'chinese' cod i.e. 鳕鱼 i.e. Chilean Seabass i.e. Patagonian Toothfish) was also executed really well, with the sweet & salty glaze (from the honey & soy sauce reduction) just strong enough not to overpower the delicate fish flavour.


Rounding off the savoury dishes: Crispy Egg Noodles with Shrimp, Crab Meat & Scrambled Eggs. This was a decent (if somewhat forgettable) end to the meal, seasoned lightly as to let the ingredients take centre-stage flavour wise.


Oh and for dessert ... a small platter of pineapple, grape, rockmelon and watermelon. Do let me know in the comments if I'm being picky here, but at over s$160/person after service charge and taxes, surely it's not unreasonable to expect a proper dessert rather than these common fruits?


Nevertheless, the meal was overall solid, with decent value-for-money. I think the strength of the outstanding dishes (pork, soup, chicken), service standards and ambience have more than earned a return visit - this time to go ala-carte and try the restaurant's other signatures.

Yi by Jereme Leung is located in the Arcade of Raffles Hotel. Reservations recommended, non-halal.

Look See Eat

Raffles Hotel Singapore Staycay: Palm Court Suite Review

👍 Terrific service, gorgeous deco, thoroughly modern rooms.
👎 No executive lounge (but it doesn't matter, really).

TLDR: Raffles Hotel is doing a "The Suite Life" staycay* package for bookings by 9 April for stays til 30 June. Weekend/holiday dates for the 'base' Courtyard Suite (s$795++ for 2 nights) are sold out, but the Palm Court Suite (s$975++ for 2 nights) is still tremendous value. Book on their website before rooms run out!

* Hotels in the Staycay tour:
Raffles Hotel | Capella Singapore | Marriott Tang Plaza | The St.Regis Singapore | Grand Hyatt | The Fullerton Bay Hotel | Parkroyal Collection, Marina Bay | Marina Bay Sands.


The legendary Raffles Hotel Singapore just completed 2-year long renovations in August 2019. The 100-ish suite hotel (even the basic rooms are suites) has long been known to be the epitome of luxury in Singapore ... with normally a suitably luxurious price tag unaffordable by the proletariat. So while the darling and I have wanted to get a taste of the atas life for a while, we could never really bring ourselves to bite the bullet, until a combination of the forced cancellation of our Japan Sakura trip plus a ban on foreign visitors thanks to the covid-19 situation gave us this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!


The hotel, naturally, is ridiculously gorgeous, and (mostly) immaculate.


We booked ourselves into a Courtyard Suite, but were very graciously upgraded to a Palm Court Suite. It's a huge, luxurious, gorgeous room with just the right balance of classic design language with thoroughly modern amenities (including tablet-controlled lights, curtains, and television). Check out the video tour below:


More photos of the room below:


Little touches like this birthday 'cake' and Raffles Tiger soft toy (done by the Butler team) are always extremely appreciated as they set a great first impression.


More photos of the Palm Court Suite:


The room's design is really classical, but the fixtures are most definitely modern. Everything in the room (except the ceiling fans) can be controlled by two iPads: One in the parlour / living room, and the other in the bedroom. It's pretty nifty being able to turn off all the lights at a single touch.


There is a walk in wardrobe area in between the bedroom and bathroom, with a dedicated hair-drying desk.


The bathroom also is gorgeous and fully equipped with anything you could ever expect from a hotel. Except maybe a high-tech Japanese bidet/washlet on the toilet seat. You do still need to manually wash your own bum.


The hotel's surroundings, of course, are also gorgeous, even for the darling and I who aren't able to view it through colonial-tinted lenses.


Raffles Hotel has an outdoor rooftop swimming pool which is salted (instead of chlorined), which is always a nice touch. The water temperature was great for even our 6-month old, regardless of time of day. Except maybe when the sun's out in the middle of the day, as there's not much shade.


For food, we had lunch at BBR by Alain Duccase, which is now a Mediterranean-inspired restaurant (verdict: The set lunch is pretty good value). We also splurged a bit for a dinner at the Butcher's Block (verdict: A little pricey, but service and food rivals any other top-tier steakhouse in the city). Full reviews will come in a separate post.


Breakfast is at the Tiffin Room (in Raffles Hotel's main building), and is currently unlimited ala-carte (instead of a buffet) because of the covid situation. We actually really loved this breakfast format; not sure if the kitchen can handle it during higher occupancy period, though.



All in all, Raffles Hotel certainly lives up to its reputation. What these photos weren't able to capture, however, was just how amazing the service was. From the moment the iconic doorman greets you at the entrance, all the way til check out, you always feel like the staff are out to make your stay as comfortable as possible. It truly is amazing service, and has spoilt us so badly that we're not sure how we'll go back to "normal" hotels after this.

As I mentioned at the top of the post, Raffles Hotel is running a killer promo now if you're comfortable with doing Staycays at this time - it's a bargain that you really shouldn't miss!

Look See Eat

Singapore's Best Omakase Sushi - Shinji by Kanesaka, Raffles Hotel

Two weeks ago we blogged about Shinji by Kanesaka's 9-piece Hana 花 set, and we concluded that the Sushi was the best we've ever eaten. Today we continue with the review of the Omakase Yume 夢, which adds on some sashimi and cooked dishes before proceeding to the restaurant specialty sushi - let's go!


Yuzu-marinated Ikura (Salmon Roe)
Considering that Japanese typically don't eat salmon sushi/sashimi (because it's an imported fish and not available in the local fish markets), it's a little surprising that they eat so many salmon eggs. No complaints from us, though - the yuzu marinade does wonders here to temper the saltiness of the eggs. Delicious and opens up the palette perfectly for the food to come.


Sawara Sashimi (Spanish Mackerel) with Ground Japanese Brown Rice

Ika (Squid) and Uni (Sea Urchin gonads)
We've never liked the (lack of) taste and texture of raw squid, and unfortunately this simple soy-sauce'd rendition doesn't change our minds. The Uni is gorgeous though - creamy, buttery, briney, umami deliciousness.


Steamed Octopus, Tuna Meat and Kamasu (Barracuda)
A trio of seafood is next! We thought that the tuna meat was rather ordinary and did not have the necessary flavor to stand on its' own. The octopus was sublime, though. Octopus is normally a little tough/chewy/rubbery, but this one having been steamed for 2 hours was texturally quite similar to chicken! Barracuda was lightly seared skin-side presumably to crisp up the skin a little and provide a nice textural contrast to the raw fish.


Chawanmushi with Red Snapper and Prawn Paste
By far the weakest dish of the entire afternoon was this tepid chawanmushi; it lacked either the flavour or texture to compensate for being served lukewarm.


Saba (Mackerel) Sashimi with sesame and shiso leaf

Grilled Cod with turnip paste and baby yam with miso paste.
I really liked this dish. The cod itself was grilled superbly and the turnip-based accompanying paste was what elevated it to pefection; followed by a delightfully sweet baby yam which went well with the saltiness of the miso paste.


Skinless Japanese Tomato
Half a Tomato comes next, fresh, sweet, refreshing to ready the palatte for the next part of the meal - the sushi! Many of the neta here was also served in the 9-piece Hana 花 set, so do head on over to that post if you haven't already as we won't be repeating the write-ups.


Hirame (Flounder)

Kinmedai (Golden Eye Snapper)

Chu Toro (Medium Fatty Tuna)
Just to recap, in the previous post we had this to say about the sushi served here:

What we liked most about the sushi here is the shari (sushi rice). It comes at the perfect temperature, and is packed just tightly enough to hold it's shape from plate to mouth. Once the chewing starts the rice breaks apart, allowing you to taste and feel every single seasoned, slightly sweet, vinegared grain. Bliss.


Aji (Horse Mackerel)

Shimofuri Oh-Toro (Marbled Tuna)

Uni (Sea Urchin Gonads)
More of the delicious creamy Uni! Personally we prefer Uni in this gunkan sushi rendition; the addition of the sweet/vinegary rice and crisp seaweed is a perfect accompaniment and gives a interesting bite and extra flavor to the Uni.


Sufugai (Spiral Shell) with lime
We don't normally like shell-based sushi as it tends to be a little lacking taste-wise. The next time we visit we'll try to get the Chef to change this to something else. Like another piece of Oh-Toro :)


Kuruma Ebi (Japanese Imperial Prawn)

Maguro Akami (Lean Tuna)

Unagi Two Ways (Eel) - Salted and Sauced

Clear Clam Soup

Negi Toro (Minced Tuna Belly) Maki
Ten pieces of gorgeous, delicious nigiri, followed by the same clear clam soup, and then a Negi Toro maki handed personally by the chef.


Musk Melon
It's our first time eating musk melon (on account of its exorbitant price here); and we immediately understand where the name comes from. It's juicy and sweet, but the main difference between regular honeydew is the 'musky' taste - it's similar to that slight fermented after taste you get in some durians.


"Hey, you must take my photo. I am very famous chef." - Master Chef Koichiro Oshino
Like we mentioned in the previous post, we thoroughly enjoyed dining here because the Chefs are so jovial. Master Chef Koichiro Oshino speaks pretty good English, explained all the dishes, chatted with us and even made us take his photo!

Good things don't come cheap, though, and it's hard to say if the $250++ price tag is worth the money. We suppose that like all good things in life, you need to pay top dollar for the best, and the 'mid-range' options are normally the best value for money. So it is with Shinji by Kanesaka - their 9 piece lunch set is insanely good value. The Omakase is much pricier but you also get the absolute best produce that the restaurant could procure, cooked with all the combined skill of the Chefs. Do note that the 20-plus dishes do take a while to serve; you won't be able to squeeze this into a 1-hour lunch break.

Shinji by Kanesaka is at Raffles Hotel and is open from Mondays to Saturdays for Lunch and Dinner: Reservations highly reccomended: Telephone +65 6338 6131 or Email reservations@shinjibykanesaka.com