I think that might have been true of Michelin in the past. But certainly not now when restaurants like Brooklyn Fare have 3 Michelin stars. Although I kind of liked the old Michelin standards better. I like a certain amount of "finery" when I'm spending $500+ on a meal (although the finery can be anything from Limoges china to exquisite hand crafted somewhat rustic looking Japanese bowls). I like really excellent service too.

I also like dress codes. There are some incredibly chic people in the world who can pull off the designer jeans - tank tops and $1000+ leather jacket look. But most normal people who try to dress like that look like slobs. OTOH - seems that an increasing number of younger people - particularly in larger more sophisticated cities - are dressing up more and more these days when they go to great restaurants or similar:

As it happens, the art of looking sharp could be saved by a new subculture of metropolitan men, aged loosely from 25 to 40, who have an affinity for a new-old hybrid of sartorial swagger. With fetishistic glee, they're following how-to-dress blogs and websites for men such as Mr. Porter, A Continuous Lean and The Selvedge Yard, and formal-informal designers like Billy Reid, Michael Bastian's Gant, Freemans Sporting Club and Band of Outsiders. Their appropriated tastes are inspired, though, more by '60s idols like Bryan Ferry and Steve McQueen than their own grandfathers.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/...46911629008064

See also:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestr...nt-dress-code/

Soon - maybe the only guys who look like slobs in great restaurants will be middle aged boomers. Robyn

We'll be in Singapore for a week. It will certainly be our only trip to Singapore (considering our age and that we live in Florida). I figure during a week - maybe 3 big deal meals - the others lesser deal (not because of money - but because there's only so much we can eat). Places that serve lunch would be great. I am awful at jet lag - and pretty much 12 hours out of synch for at least 4-5 days on the 2 times I've flown to Asia.

My husband and I are basically omnivores. And Singapore seems like a very eclectic dining city in terms of various cuisines - also various levels of dining (high/low/middle). We've been to Japan twice (last time was last fall) - so I wouldn't go out of my way to eat Japanese food in Singapore. OTOH - Japanese food doesn't seem very common in Singapore:

The food is influenced by the native Malay, the predominant Chinese, Indonesian, Indian, Peranakan, and Western traditions (particularly English and some Portuguese-influenced Eurasian, known as Kristang) since the founding of Singapore by the British in the nineteenth century.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singaporean_cuisine

We like Chinese food - at least when we've had decent Chinese food in our travels (in places like New York/Vancouver/Toronto etc. - Chinese food in Florida is basically dreadful/inedible). OTOH - because of our lack of dining experience in that cuisine - we know next to nothing about it.

And I can honestly say we know nothing about the other cuisines mentioned in Wikipedia. Other than Chinese - the only other cuisine listed that we've been exposed to at all is Indian (again - in Florida - dreadful - and mostly mediocre or worse in the UK when we've tried it there). I guess the only food caveat I have is that what purports to be some real Indian food - like vindaloo dishes in the UK - is just too hot for us. A little hot = ok. Burn your mouth out hot = not ok. Anyway - we'd like to try these cuisines (alone or in "fusion" combinations - assuming the fusion works). Also perhaps any "imported cuisines" - like French (perhaps combined with local influences) - assuming the restaurant is really good (we had a great meal at Robuchon in Tokyo - the chef combined French and Japanese just right :)).

I don't care whether a restaurant is on anyone's list of the "best" - but won't hold that against a restaurant either. I like finding young chefs who are good at what they do - and perhaps breaking some new ground. OTOH - looks like eating here one day would be fun:

http://www.marinabaysands.com/restaurants.html

Think this hotel has more restaurants than my whole town :D. IOW - we'd like to mix it up.

BTW - we have an old chef acquaintance - Bruno Menard - who is now in Singapore. At &Made:

http://andmade.sg/

Very different than his older places (Ritz Carlton Buckhead in Atlanta and L'Osier in Tokyo). Worth a try?

Note that in fairly recent years - we've been in Paris - Berlin/Munich/Cologne - Stockholm - Tokyo/Osaka/Kyoto - Toronto - also New York/Los Angeles/Houston. Will be glad to share restaurant recommendations in any of these cities. Robyn

We were in the Basque region of Spain before it was a gastronomic mecca - indeed probably before anyone had ever heard of it. Even before all the famous restaurants - I loved the ingredients - especially the seafood - and a lot of the simple preparations. We missed out 100% on the big deal restaurants in Spain when they were finding their "voices". We had to deal with aging older dying parents for a lot of years - and the most we could do outside the US during those years was a quick trip here and there to a place like London.

For younger people who are interested in dining - I recommend "dining trips" outside of big cities. Especially in western Europe. Where it's easy to rent cars and drive all over. We did that multiple times in the UK and France. Also trips to Spain - Scandinavia (Norway and Denmark) - Italy - Switzerland - Germany. Stayed in restaurants with rooms. There are lots of fabulous restaurants in western Europe that aren't in big cities. And the only way to dine at them for the most part is by hitting the road. Do it while you're young guys. When you get older - like we are - you probably won't want to drive along 1 1/2 lane narrow roads to get to that 3 star Michelin restaurant - or on a 80+ MPH autobahn either :D. Robyn

Robyn, please note that I called Noma "ONE of the great restaurants of our age" and not THE restaurant. You've mistakenly out words and meaning in my mouth that I did not say. I don't believe in a "best" of anything...only the best for me in my own opinion. That is why lists and rankings for me are merely guideposts to help suggest what I might like or dislike...and not absolutes as they can be for so many other people.

I respect that you differ from me and many others on Noma, but I, having actually eaten there (and at many of the other top Scandinavian restaurants), do not believe it is appropriate to cast stones when one hasn't actually eaten at a restaurant. Your comments are all sanguine and illustrate you are a foodie, but they also pointedly reiterate that you've yet to actually dine to Noma--all while critiquing it. That's no better than the typical American claiming the USA is "the best country on Earth" (which I find laughable, even as a proud American) when that typical American hasn't even been outside the USA IMO.

For the record, we always order a tasting menu at any great restaurant in order to ascertain what the chef can do and what he or she believes to be a true reflection of their culinary skills and tastes. We therefore try things we don't normally like and give the chef the benefit of the doubt--and allow,ourselves the chance to be surprised. To each, their own, but had we not tried foie gras and other normally unpalatable dishes at some of the aforementioned restaurants, we never would've discovered that sometimes we CAN love them...especially when done by some of these culinary geniuses. The surprise is part of the process for us, and we wouldn't trade it for anything.

Some things off the top of my head.

Informal -- Maxwell Food Center - Tian Tian Chicken Rice & pork/century egg congee from Zhen Zhen Porridge stall

Nice Chinese, do lunch here for dim sum/jetlag -- Imperial Treasure at Great World City

This is your dinner place. Go early... to help with jet lag & better service. Tippling Club - This is awesome! Super Recommend

If you want to do a restaurant at Marina Bay Sands - pls do Wakughin. Even though I haven't been, I have numerous friends who tell me it's that amazing. None of the others are really worth the higher price just because it is in MBS... If you want to explore MBS and eat close by, then pick Catalunya. It doesn't seem like you mentioned Spanish too much - and yes, it does seem strange to pick Spanish in Singapore but this place is manned by ex El Bulli guys and is delicious.

One that is next on my list is Andre. I've heard amazing things. Also Les Amis is awesome... but again, this is just a really nice as my fiancé calls it "rich people food". You could stick this in any other place in the world and not know it's Singapore. So I don't know if you want to eat at these types of places.

Oh... go for Chili Crab/Black Pepper Crab too at No name signboard I know it's touristy... and some smaller establishments might make it a little better but it's still a place you should go once.

I can think of some more too if you give comments on the above.

Which other restaurants in Scandinavia? I and most other people have limited experiences in Scandinavia. What's yours?

Tasting menus are the refuge of increasingly lazy cheap chefs/restaurants who don't want to bust their butts and want zero in the way of food waste these days. 40 customers who all get the same thing = no food waste. And a lot of it is all cooked in advance - sous vide of course. No muss - no fuss. They don't work in their kitchens as hard as I do at times.

And where did you eat something like foie gras that you didn't like it at first bite? Note that I buy it in various forms to serve at home these days at d'Artagnan. Robyn

That's a pretty bold contention. I am sure there are lesser restaurants where this may be the case, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that for the class of restaurants under discussion in this thread - top 100 or so in the world - most are not staffed by 'lazy cheap chefs'. Some tasting menus have indeed disappointed me (Le Calandre and The Square come immediately to mind), but the vast majority have been outstanding. And, I have to ask, why is trying to minimize food waste a bad thing?

This is rapidly turning into a "my scallop is bigger than yours" type of discussion.

Dare I say, appreciation of fine cuisine is subjective (to a point).

Agree. There are also many people like my wife who like fine cuisine but hate tasting menus. She wants a starter and a main and to be on her way in an hour feeling full. Three or four hour meals are torture for her.

Your wife has some good company (she'll enjoy reading this article if she hasn't already):

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/20...an-restaurants

I'm not quite like your wife. My ideal is a 3 (sometimes a 4) course meal with perhaps some amuse courses that lasts about 2-2 1/2 hours. And the main issue for me isn't the time - it's the amount of food. The last time I worked my way through a very long tasting menu (15+ courses a few years ago) - I got sick. So - these days - when I go to a restaurant that has long tasting menus - I explain to the chef in advance that I'll usually be eating only 1/2 or less of what's on my plate - to save room for dessert ;).

If I'm in a city with lots of choices - I'll try to avoid the restaurants that only have one or two long tasting menus. It's still possible to get great meals where the diner has a choice in terms of both what to eat and how much to eat. These are the menus from the restaurant where I had my best/favorite meal of 2013 (Robuchon Tokyo):

http://www.robuchon.jp/joelrobuchon_menus-en

My husband and I both had the 8200 yen lunch. Perfect amount of great food - and we each got to pick what we wanted to eat.

BTW - one thing that I tend to agree with some chefs about is that if they're noted for certain things - they don't go out of their way much or at all to accommodate diners who don't like/won't eat those things at all. I mean if you're a vegetarian - you should probably avoid Momofuku restaurants:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/05/ny...tans.html?_r=0

Any why go to Le Bernardin if you don't like fish? Robyn

Thanks, I will forward this to her. I've gotten sick at one tasting meal also - my local 3*, Gastehaus Erfort, in Saarbrucken.

There's really an art to getting portion quantity right on those tasting meals. When I had the tasting menu at Viajante I felt like stopping at McDonalds afterward.

All good chefs try to minimize food waste. But the best IMO don't do it by forcing all their diners to eat the same thing. They do it by using leftovers (either things that didn't "sell" the previous day or parts of products not featured in main dishes) creatively - sometimes in tomorrow's "amuse courses". Today's pates and terrines are often yesterday's leftovers.

BTW - on our last trip to Germany (your listing says you're from Germany) - none of the restaurants where we dined forced tasting menus on us - not even the best/best known ones like Vendome or - IIRC - Dieter Muller (the latter now has a new name and a new chef). Aqua (we didn't go there) does have tasting menus only - but you can choose the number of courses you want. FWIW - I think Germany is - for some reason - a somewhat overlooked under-appreciated dining destination. We had close to 2 weeks of excellent dining there (from high end to low end - although I never did develop a taste for currywurst ;)). Plus - there's a ton to see and do there. And the train system is ^ in terms of getting around to most cities. Robyn

I'm glad you had a good time here. I've been here for years but now moving to the outskirts of London in a few weeks. Germany is a beautiful, peaceful country, for the most part. I can't really say that the cuisine ever really struck an emotional chord with me the way some others have - French, Italian, Japanese, Indian, e.g. I believe I'm in the minority on that opinion though.

I've been to Noma, Geranium twice, Relae, and twice to the restaurant at the Hotel Nimb, all in Copenhagen, as well as to Maaemo and Bagatelle in Oslo, and Mathias Dahlgren Matsalen, F12, and AG in Stockholm.

Your opinion is your own, and you are entitled to it. I heartily disagree. I think you simply are unwilling to show respect for something that you don't personally enjoy.

I can't even recall the first foie gras I ever had, but I had it at the French Laundry and despised it. I've had it several times at various 1-2-3 Michelin star restaurants over the years and never liked it until Joel Robuchon in Paris...and then the next evening at 1 Place Vendome...and then this past May at both L20 and Alinea.

Robyn, your comments seem most pejorative when it comes to things you don't like, as if you can't appreciate that yours is not the only opinion or take on these things!

Thanks for these suggestions. We'll be doing some of this/that/the other thing. Basically exploring. Hadn't heard of some of these places before - like The Tippling Club:

http://www.tipplingclub.com/

If the restaurant is as amusing as the website - should be fun. Will also explore the other places you've mentioned.

If you'll be going to Singapore again anytime soon - perhaps you can post your other recommendations in this thread if you have the time:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/singa...singapore.html

Some of the restaurants in Singapore probably are among the best in the world - but many others (although very good) aren't.

As for Andre - well it serves lunch. Which would suit my jet lag. And - although it is tasting menu only - I can only assume that the quantity of food at lunch is a lot less than at dinner (at less than half the dinner cost as well). Which would suit my appetite as well.

As for Waku Ghin - it's dinner only. Only one long tasting menu. And basically Japanese (which I had plenty of in Japan last year). I have friends who liked it a lot - but it is probably not my cup of tea. Robyn