Salt Grill & Sky Bar

Perched on the 55th floor above Ion Orchard, Salt Grill is designed to impress its diners even before the dinner is served. I took a lift to 4th floor in Ion where a Salt Grill staff escorted me to the restaurant's private lift. Wah not bad I felt like some VIP. I mean it's not every day that I get to take a private lift just for dinner.

There are only 2 buttons. So little boys and girls cannot play with buttons. The light shows the progress to 55th floor.

Full glass windows, high ceilings and chandeliers gave the place a very elegant and posh look. 

Since I was early, I took a walk along the side of the restaurant. The restuarant is actually quite huge. There is a ramp leading to an upper level which has the sky bar. And behind it was like a touristy viewing gallery. Try to get there early to do a tour. Since it is likely that a substantial portion of your meal ticket is for the view too. Might as well.

They try to inspire you with these.

Salt Grill has a policy that groups more than 10 can only order the $105++ three course menu instead of ala carte. I'm not sure what's the rationale behind this but I felt disappointed as I couldn't try more different dishes. Apparently that was not the only policy which I dislike. They also require cancellation to be made 24 hours in advance else they will charge to the credit card. Hence, although my tummy was feeling a little unwell and not exactly in the mood to feast, I had to drag it to Salt Grill.

We had some crunchy bread. The crust was a bit hard hence the crunchiness.

I chose the barbecue spiced king prawns as my entree. The prawns were soft and actually not spicy. They were accompanied by mango salsa and baby gem lettuce and avocado. Didn't like the vegetables which were bitter. Quite an unconventional pairing of tastes. 3.75/5

Sydney spiced barramundi was my main course. The accompanying creamy sauce which was aubergine caviar, coconut and lime tasted familiar and complemented the barramundi well. The barramundi was fresh and fork tender.  I also learnt that aubergine caviar does not contain caviar. It is a type of eggplant spread. The caviar name comes from the seeds found in eggplant. 3.75/5

My companions had the grass fed beef fillet which I took a small portion to try. The meat was very juicy tender and the texture was like pork liver. The beef was supposedly poached by cooking it in hot water in a bag so that the juices were sealed within to ensure its tenderness and braised-like texture.

For dessert, the waiter recommended the vanilla roasted peach with bay leaf ice-cream and toasted almonds and crumble as it was supposedly their signature. Hmm I think everyone at my table went for this. The peach was juicy, not overly sweet, and had a fruity aroma. The bay leaf ice-cream was however bitter. I discovered Salt Grill likes to include bitter taste in their dishes. 3.5/5

Verdict: We concluded that at $105++, it was overpriced. The food, while trying to be creative, wasn't mind blowing stuff or to-die-for. It didn't lit up the fireworks in me and make me exclaim, "Yes this is THE restaurant." This is probably a good place for special occasions for e.g. marriage proposal. We saw a guy proposing to a girl. So romantic.

Address: 2 Orchard Turn, ION Orchard, #55-01 & #56-01 Singapore 238801