Luxe Italian at Empire Grill in Raffles Sentosa Singapore

It is hard not to feel like a little emperor when visiting Empire Grill. The imperial treatment starts at the hotel lobby, where a buggy picks you up and whizzes through the manicured grounds of Raffles Sentosa Singapore, gently depositing you at the mouth of a footpath.

A short stroll past the grand ballroom and the turquoise infinity pool leads into the dusky serenity of the restaurant, where, after you have settled into one of its plush grey sofas, the spoiling continues. 

Despite the British connotations of the Raffles brand – the empire that spawned its namesake is presumably the one referenced in the restaurant’s name – the food here is Tuscan, but only loosely.

Exceptionally polite staff set down a la carte plates of lobster linguine ($58++) and campanelle ($46++) alongside more cosmopolitan creations. These include Japanese eggplant in Romesco sauce ($32++), smoked tuna ceviche ($46++) and Spanish octopus leg ($78++). 

If having to pick your own dishes feels a touch too plebeian, opt instead for the Empire Grill Journey ($198++), a curated five-course menu that takes you through the restaurant’s highlights. 

It starts with a light and fresh king crab salad perfumed with smoked egg yolk, curry leaves, basil oil and caviar. 

The Hokkaido abalone that comes next is a real highlight, steeped in an irresistible pecorino and comte cheese sauce, and buttressed by an Acquerello rice tart that supplies a nice, firm bite. 

The spaghettini, with its fontina cheese fondue, plunges you further into creamy decadence. It is studded with anchovies that add a rousing pop of brininess and trimmed with citrus that saves the dish from being too cloying. 

It is, at this point, that the restaurant finally sets its cheese collection aside and just in time too. The main course is a full-blood wagyu that demands to be chewed. In a way, the firmer, meatier texture works well with this meal. After the preceding procession of dairy, a marbled slab of meat that dissolves like butter on the tongue might just have been too much. 

However, the supporting acts of smoky eggplant, sweet pumpkin creme and fermented chilli paste do not quite blend as seamlessly into what has otherwise been a pretty complementary meal. It is not so much a marriage of flavours as an unhappy union between opposing forces, each trying to overpower the other. Plus, in a menu so delicate, its pungency sticks out like a sore thumb. 

Dessert returns to the safe haven of Italian tradition. But this boozeless tiramisu comes with a twist: It is assembled tableside. You get an Insta-worthy video, but the trade-off is that your lady fingers remain unusually crunchy.

Whether you enjoy this switch-up likely depends on how much of a culinary purist you are. I, for one, enjoyed the textural variety in my first few bites, then found myself longing for the seamless give and alcoholic tingle of a regular tiramisu.

Where: 4 Bukit Manis Road, Sentosa
MRT: HarbourFront
Open: 12.30 to 10pm daily  
Info:

raffles.com/sentosa/dining/empire-grill