VUE Bar & Grill serves up salmon and wagyu on spring menu, on top of great skyline views

SINGAPORE – VUE Bar & Grill occupies an enviable spot in Singapore’s Central Business District. Perched along Collyer Quay, it is one of the lucky few to boast sweeping views of the glittering Marina Bay skyline.

The challenge for a restaurant such as this is to craft a menu as sumptuous as its sights. 

Spring at the restaurant is marked by the arrival of two first-rate ingredients: Akaroa salmon from New Zealand and Stone Axe Wagyu from Australia. 

The former, branded here as the “wagyu of the sea”, is served several ways – for lunch, as a delicate appetiser of salmon crudo adorned with ikura, ginger mirin dressing, crispy shredded ginger and herb oil; or paired with cauliflower florets, melted leek and white wine sauce, and served as a main. 

At dinnertime, it is sliced into strips and drizzled in smoked nori oil, soya bean and kombu sauce. It also comes hot, flanked by cauliflower puree, hazelnut oil and balsamic glaze. Here, it is partially cooked, which gives it a melt-in-your-mouth degree of pliability.

If you are the sort whose benchmark of quality is an ingredient’s textural proximity to butter, this is the starter for you. 

The other seasonal show-stopper is the Stone Axe Wagyu, obtained from distributor Orca Singapore, with which the restaurant has an exclusive partnership.

Premium full-blooded wagyu is reared across New South Wales and Victoria, 1,000m above sea level. It is free from artificial growth hormones and grain-fed for a minimum of 400 days, with a marble score of eight out of nine. 

Which is to say that this wagyu is buttery, fatty and fork-tender. It is served two ways in the Stone Axe Wagyu Beef Duo dish, which includes a cut of striploin and braised beef cheek. Go easy on the wild mushroom sauce – it can be a tad overpowering. 

Come for the salmon and beef, but stay for the rest of the menu.

The Wild Forest Mushroom Risotto is meat-free and not nearly as flashy as its Oceanic counterparts, but no less delicious. The truffle flavour beautifully complements the woodsy depth of the porcini mushrooms and sauteed chestnuts, while the pearls of barley mixed into the rice add chewiness and textural variety. 

Do not skimp on dessert either. The particularly outstanding Chitose Maize dares you to rethink caviar, pairing it with hazelnut crunch, cereal milk mousse and mugicha tea ice cream. 

Dinner starts at $128++ for three courses, though a special $88++ promotion is available from 5.30 to 7.30pm, and after 9.30pm. On weekdays, the executive set lunch ranges from $68++ for two courses to $128++ for five. 

The spring menu is available until June 20.

Where: Level 19 OUE Bayfront, 50 Collyer Quay
MRT: Raffles Place
Open: 11.30am to 2.30pm (weekdays); 11.30am to 4.30pm (Saturdays); 5.30pm to midnight (Mondays to Saturdays)
Info: vue.com.sg