[Review] Fine Dining Cantonese Cuisine at Summer Pavilion

Recently, the hedgehog celebrated his birthday at Summer Pavilion, a fine dining restaurant that serves Cantonese cuisine at Ritz Carlton Singapore. 

We chose the "Peony" 5-course Dinner Set at S$128++ (excluding Chinese tea). Most dishes hit the right spot, and we highly recommend this set.

For starters, we had the Barbecued Iberico Pork with Honey Sauce and Wok-fried Prawn in Soy Sauce. The iberico was tender and juicy while the prawn was succulent and flavourful too. Standard stuff, albeit done to perfection.

The Poached Dong Xing Grouper Fillet with Fungus and Baby Cabbage in Fish Stock was the highlight of the evening. The fish was really fresh, so fresh I imagine it must have jumped out of the aquarium straight into the chef's piping hot pot. 

The delicate flesh was immaculately white as snow. And with that rich fish bone broth, in essence, it was simply divine. We have always been a fan of double boiled soups, because they have this profound calming effect, and gives you a sense of nourishment. Reminds us of the really delectable fish we had at the 3 Michelin starred Lung Kin Heen in Hong Kong about a decade ago.

The Steamed Australian Abalone with Minced Garlic was outstandingly well executed too. Haven't had such a juicy, succulent and flavourful abalone in a long time. Every bite was bliss. The only abalone that compares to this would be the Tasmanian abalone we had at Waku Ghin some years back.

The next dish was the Pan-fried Japanese Wagyu Beef with Steamed Glutinous Rice and Scallion. The robust flavours from the Japanese wagyu harmonized well with the more subdued taste of the glutinous rice, which was charmingly delectable without overpowering the taste of the wagyu.

For desserts, we chose two dishes: Chilled Peach Gum with Pear and Osmanthus and Herbal Jelly.

If there is anything to be unhappy about, it is probably the dessert. Compared to the mains, the desserts seemed more like the chef's afterthought. I mean, at this price point, one would expect better. Not that it's bad, but it just feels like not much effort has been put into the dessert compared to the other courses. And it's not like you cannot find herbal jelly and peach gum from any regular restaurant these days. Or even at Colony downstairs. Buffet quality desserts certainly don't belong to fine dining establishments. This is rudimentary stuff. If you are looking for good Cantonese dessert, we highly recommend Cherry Garden.

Overall, we enjoyed this set very much. There was no filler and every dish pulled is weight except for the desserts which felt a tad underwhelming.