Gills N Shells at Hotel Boss, Singapore
It's the start of the Lenten week and this means, I'll be shying away from meat and will say hello to more seafood! I think I really have to add more to my yearly sacrifice as admittedly, I love seafood so much that I really do not mind having this on a daily basis.
A few weeks ago, I went to join a couple of my blogger friends to try a new restaurant at the equally newly-opened hotel called Hotel Boss in the Lavender district. I was surprised at how big the hotel was and I have to say that it's very strategically located as it's just a block away from Kampong Glam where all the cool cafes are and Bugis is just a few meters away. There are also a lot of dining options at the ground floor of the hotel whether you want to go local or to treat yourself to a wide-array for international fare. Gills n Shells is located along the Rochor Canal where there's a cemented jogging path which will lead you straight to the Lavender MRT. I love the cool breeze that you'll get is perfect given that the restaurant has an al fresco ambiance.
As the name suggests, the restaurant specializes in seafood. However, that doesn't mean that they do not have some amazing meat dishes too. Anyway, let me share with you what we had that evening. For starters, we shared Half a Dozen of Fresh Oysters (S$22.90). Normally, I don't like fresh oysters as I tend to doubt if it's really fresh. However, I took a bold step and tried a piece. I have to say that Gills n Shells Oysters were really fresh, plump and delicious! Served with their homemade green chili marmalade and mignonette sauce. The way to enjoy this is to pour a bit of the two sauces onto the oyster and slurp it up! Yummy!
Moving on, we had a basket of Truffle Fries (S$10.90) to enjoy. I have to say that they're very generous with the amount of truffle oil in their dishes. This one was really bursting with the delicious aroma of truffle. I love how the fries are fried to perfection. It has a nice crunchy texture that I love love love! I honestly think, I ate the most fries that night.
For those who want to start their meal with soup, there's the Wild Mushroom (S$6.90) which is a big bowl of chunky mushroom soup with truffle oil and served with two sticks of homemade garlic toast. I recommend you have the soup while it's hot. Since it took us a while to enjoy this since we had to take a million and one photos before eating (#bloggerslife), the soup turned out to be too jelat/umay that a few spoonfuls were enough to fill you up.
I may have had enough of the soup but I surely had space for more food. We tried the Gills n Shells Crab Cakes (S$12.90) which was delicious! 3 chunky patties of crab meat served with tangy aioli sauce. I don't actually mind having one whole order to myself. I also love the fresh salad that came with it.
Another starter option is the Clams & Mussels (S$15.90). Fresh clams and mussels simmered in spicy white wine clear broth and is infused with garlic, herbs, onions and chilli. I had to skip out on this one due to my allergies towards these two shellfishes but it looks like a winning dish judging from the raves given by my dinner companions.
Next was the Lobster Roll (S$24.90). Never to the crab cakes and truffle fries, I was really excited to try this. You see, there sure are a lot of restaurants offering lobster rolls all over Singapore and most of them come with an expensive price tag. I was surprise that Gills n Shells' version is worth half the price but hey, the size was pretty impressive. In fact, we were able to split this equally among the four of us and we each still got a good sampling size. The lobster meat was prominent and I love how they're very generous about it too. Tossed in a creamy homemade sauce, my only wish is to make the bun more buttery and toasted to complete this delicious and highly indulgent dish.
Following this was the star of the show. Let's just say, it's like the "rose among the thorns" or "the meat among the seafood"! We had the Australian Prime Rib Eye (S$25.90) and let me just tell you this. If you were to choose just ONE meat dish out of all the items in the menu, I highly recommend that you go with this. One order gives you 200g of top quality Australian prime rib eye steak which is grilled just the way you like it. I love how the meat is so tender that you don't need to exert any effort to slice it up. It was really delicious and juicy. I think this is one of the best steaks that I've had in Singapore so far.
Going back to seafood, we tried the Truffled Infused Cod (S$24.90) which was an interesting creation of pan-seared cod drizzled with truffle oil and topped with...wait for it..wait for it...chye poh (preserved radish). So local! Well, what do you know?! What seems to be very western apparently goes so well with the very Singaporean chye poh. I love it!
Lastly, we had the Crab Meat Pasta (S$18.90) which is probably what the little ones will love. Cooked carbonara-style, the pasta is filled with chunky crabmeat, cheese, cream and mushroom. It's a simple dish and a very safe one for those who just wants something familiar and comforting.
For dessert, we tried the Gills n Shells Tiramisu Jar (S$10.90) which reminds me so much another restaurant's version. The consistency was pretty good but I just feel the chocolate and alcohol taste could have been stronger.
We initially ordered the Strawberry Panna Cotta Jar (S$10.90) but the Chef decided not to serve this due to some quality issues. Hats off to the Chef for putting food quality as his topmost priority. Instead, we had the House made brownie with Ice Cream (S$10.90). Decadent chocolate brownie served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
I honestly stepped inside Gills n Shells with no expectations whatsoever and I left with a happy heart and a very satisfied tummy. Most of the dishes that we had that night have left really good lasting memories for me and I can't wait to go back to get Paul and more friends to try the food. This is definitely one discovery I would love to spread the word about.
Check out Gills n Shells at 500 Jalan Sultan, 01-19 Hotel Boss, Singapore 199020. Call them at +65-6493-2238.
