Gunther

Very disappointing. 'Warm sea urchin with eggs and black truffle'.

Most of us ain't wine-drinkers, and chose to skip the wine at Gunther. After all, we would adjourn for whisky elsewhere after this. There was no point in confusing our palates. Didn't even bother with champagne. If food was to be the focus, it would be so. Freshly squeezed juices were ordered.

Gunther is a hit and miss with us. I've a love-hate relationship with this restaurant. If we order off the menu and forget to ask the prices, it can feel like we're being ripped off. We felt like that about one item tonight. The server recommended the 'warm sea urchin with eggs and black truffle'. My interest was piqued, but I was a tad suspicious of the 'warm' part. Decided to try it. The sea urchin, while fresh, wasn't of a sashimi grade. The eggs were okay, but didn't mesh well with this particular grade and flavor of sea urchin. The black truffles did it no favor and couldn't save the dish. It was clear that whoever in the kitchen didn't understand the flavors or texture of the dish, and worse, they didn't have the right tool to correctly de-shell the sea urchin or appoint the right spoon for the patrons, so that bits of pointy things were being broken off with each scoop. There was a palpable look of consternation at the table. It was a ridiculous S$85 for something so disappointing. Ah well.

Whatever is on the menu, turned out fine when it arrived at the table. As promised. In this sense, the restaurant does deliver in terms of expectations. We came here for the 'cold capellini with Oscietra caviar'. (I assume it's 'osetra'.) Everyone had that as starters. So the kitchen kindly halved the portions for us. That was gratifying, as always. Thank goodness. We were all tempted to order another plate, except that we wouldn't have any more space for our mains and plenty more carbs.

Although I had earlier reeled a little at the Alaskan crab moving its eyes at me on the introductory platter as part of the market catch of the day, I gulped and ordered one of its legs. It was a gamble because I really didn't know how it would fare after the horrible warm sea urchin. To my great relief, the crab leg was well steamed and the side of pasta was nicely done. This main of 'Alaskan crab leg with capellini tossed with Monte Poro chilli' was delicious. There was a decent portion of meat in the leg. The friends weren't unhappy with their mains either. They were pleased that the various items of fish, pasta and prawns reflected Gunther's usual standards.