Having withstood two postponements due to the lockdowns, I was beside myself with joy when I finally arrived at the familiar nondescript entrance shoehorned between other Japanese sip-and-sup concepts at Orchard Plaza. I may or may not have been hyperventilating when I stepped through @bistrotetroit’s door. But I will say this - the giddy thrill of being able to enjoy @chef_y.doi_avossouhaits’ cooking again was real. Once my fellow foodies @momofuku @safarislim @szeliang888 arrived, punctually I might add, it was all systems go for the one-man-show extraordinaire. First, he sorted out our drinks, pouring the bottle he recommended (I get why it is a favourite of his - that red was too easy to drink). We then got a glass jar of chilled wasabi cauliflower cream with uni each. My spoon made quite a cacophony trying to reach every last marvelous bit of it. Chef Doi’s housemade breads arrived after and were hoovered up amidst murmurs of admiration. As usual, the brioche was stellar - its subtle sweetness complemented beautifully by the savoury uni and white miso butter. Everyone had the Shima-Aji dressed with pomegranate, nuts and chrysanthemum petals as their first appetiser. It looked simple but was lively in flavour. We chose our second appetiser from a list of four options, and the Ayu was what I selected. A stunner indeed! Packed with roe, the Komochi Ayu had been confit to the loveliest of textures, rendering most of its bones edible, and flesh, a creamy-powdery delight. It was presented with a sauce and Greek mushrooms. Rivaling it in delectability, the Kinmedai which was @huatkaliao’s pick (or should I say, mine, because I wanted to try that too 😆). The flesh was cooked low and slow until a pretty translucence. A quick aburi bestowed it with smokiness that further enhanced its sublimity. Chef Doi’s take on the French classic, the Bouillabaisse, featured a large piece of roasted Amadai, and it was sensational! THE dish of the night for me. I can’t begin to explain how life-changing this felt - the seemingly straightforward act of placing a crispy-scaled fish in a pool of tomato-based sauce with… ⬇️Continued in Comments⬇️

🍞 A week of special bakes! My #sourdoughseptember vibes! 🧸 · Got myself a table of freshly organic made sourdoughs and spread from @yookybites ! Not just breads, but also low sugar added cakes and nutritious drinks 💯 Even better, they are all vegetarian friendly 🥖 I’m having their granola like snacks - Healthy Yet Yummy 👍🏻 Get your hands on some from @yookybites now 🤗 · #Organiclngredients #GlutenFree #Vegan #VegetarianFriendly #LowSugarAdded #Sourdough⠀

[#central] Ordered their 7 course dinner set and my suggestion is DO NOT do this and pls only order a la carte. As a typical italian restaurant, started with breads, then 1st course was Oyster and Champagne Jelly, which was good and a fresh combination 2nd was the Carpaccio di Tonno - as you can see, we were shocked, that was purely 5 tiny pieces of fishes and too tiny to the extent that we couldn't taste anything..... 😑 3rd was the beef tartare with caviar, of course they are good, its tartare and caviar and they cant be wrong 4th was the tagliolini and top with black truffle - the portion of the tagliolini was really too too too small and it is nothing fulfilling 5th was the little turbot "xiao long bao" with crayfish and citrus - which was good, cute, special and finally its something that worth ordering, but only 1 little dumpling wouldnt satisfy me - special texture for the outside and refreshing as a whole with the citrus on the side 6th was the grilled fish? Nth special and i got nth to comment 😑 look like sth that try to make u full, but not working at all 7th as the last one was the sorbet with caviar on top. Again, nothing special Since we were not full at all after finishing the above, we ordered the Chitarra with Braised Oxtail Ragout - it was so good, al dente chitarra with the yum braised oxtail We also ordered 3 more desserts, didnt show the chocolate lava cake (as it was just normal). Other 2 were - cannoli filled with ricotta cheese, brinte's pistacchio and orange peel - that was good, crispy and fulfilling and worth trying - tiramisu - it cant be wrong for an italian place, if it's wrong, that would be a disaster, but i would say, pici one is good enough already Overall the 7 courses were $1500pp, and with everything its $2000pp. Also, they served really slow and we were almost starved to death 😐