REVIEW: A romantic four-course set dinner for $55 in the heart of town? Yes, please!

Opened by former banker Lawrence Ngan who dreamt of bringing affordable fine-dining to the city, a four-course set dinner at Bridge Restaurant & Bar goes for a song at just $55. The resourceful restaurateur tracked down truffle hunters and lobster fisheries to import these premium ingredients from the source, transferring the cost-savings to diners.

Located just across from Raffles Hotel, the 60-seater is cosy and inviting, with white-bricked walls and light wood furniture. There are no starched linens or hovering waiters but the food is unmistakeably fine-dining, with carefully wrought dishes and artful plating by head chef Sky Chan, who trained at the likes of Jaan and Corner House.

Our starter of Heirloom Tomato Mozzarella ($16 for a la carte) was a colour medley with textural plays in the form of olive oil pearls, tomato gelee and Kalamata olive emulsion.

The Scallop Carpaccio ($16) teased our palate with a mixture of yuzu foam and granite.

The Boston Lobster ($48, or supplement of $20 to the dinner set) simply stole our heart. We couldn’t get enough of the 56 deg C sous-vide lobster, its earthy squid-ink foam, or the kombu couscous.

The Deconstructed Cheesecake ($14) balanced the tart, sweet, salty, and creamy with passionfruit puree, lemon meringue, salted caramel ice cream, and cheese espuma foam.

BRIDGE RESTAURANT & BAR

31 Seah Street, tel: 6333-4453. Open Tue-Thu, 3-11pm,;Fri, 3pm-1am; Sat, 11-1am; Sun, 11am-5pm. www.dineatbridge.com.sg