My previous dining experiences at Celebrity Chef Sam Leong’s Forest restaurant, located at the Equarius Hotel within Resorts World Sentosa, weren’t that fantastic. The first was medicore and the second was bad. Surprisingly, my recent trip to Forest about a month ago for the Sunday Lunch menu had exceeded my expectations and was pleasantly good. Maybe third time’s the charm.

The $68++ Sunday Lunch menu is an 8-course lunch consisting of 13 dishes in tasting portion. The 8-course set menu includes a soup, three appetiser combinations, three main courses and a dessert. Do not underestimate these portions as they can be rather filling.

That weekend when I was at Forest, the Chef Special Soup of the Day was a double boiled winter melon with pork ribs soup. I’m a person who enjoys a good bowl of soup. That day, the soup was light and delicately flavourful. It was well balanced and definitely a nice prelude to what had to come.

The first of the three appetisers is Tuna Tartar marinated with Fresh Mango served in Cone and Vietnamese Roll with Sliced Lobster in X.O. Chilli Sauce. I’ve never been a huge fan of fish, let alone tuna. But the tuna tartar simply blew me away. The diced tuna was very fresh and together with the mango, the combination was uplifting and delightful. The Vietnamese roll did equally well. The X.O. Chilli sauce gave the simple Vietnamese roll a different dimension and brought it to a whole new level.

Next were the Deep-fried Prawn in Crispy Cereal and Wok-fried Crispy Duck pressed confit and Yam served with Mushroom Sauce. My friends, who were with me, love the crunchy and fresh prawns. But it was the duck that stole the limelight. It was very tender and succulent. And even though it was fried, it was not oily at all. The execution was so well finished that for a non-duck meat lover, I really enjoyed it thoroughly.

But it was the next appetiser that trumped the previous two starters. I adored the super smooth Steamed Egg Chawanmushi with Crab Meat. Due to an allergy, I had to remove all the crab meat toppings. Despite that, the egg custard was heavenly. I could imagine how beautiful it must be with the generous crab meat toppings. The pan-seared Hokkaido Scallop in Black Bean Sauce was also delectable although it paled in comparison to the humble Chawanmushi.

The first main course is the Steamed South African Abalone with Glass Vermicelli and Garlic. Mind you, it was a fresh abalone and not those canned version. The abalone was firm and the garlic added a nice flavour to it. That paired nicely with the blanched glass vermicelli.

Although the Wok-fried cubes of Beef Tenderloin in Black Pepper Sauce accompanied with Pan-Seared Foie Gras was tender and tasted good, it was not as memorable as the appetisers.

However, the next main course was definitely the star of the entire meal. The Braised Rice Vermicelli with Pork Belly was so full of flavour and moist. The pork belly was not that fatty and it was so luscious. As for the Japanese Pearl Rice with Prawn in Chicken Broth, it was outrageously good! It was very simply done but not lack in taste. Even without the prawns, I could have several bowls of this lovely rice with chicken broth.

As for the dessert, it didn’t leave much of an impression since it was the common mango pomelo soup and a tiramisu cake (if I remember correctly).

The Sunday set lunch menu changes quite frequently, which is a good thing. This is because it will entice me to keep returning to the restaurant especially when I had a great experience.

Forest
26 Sentosa Gateway, Equarius Hotel Lobby
Singapore 098138
Tel: +65 6577 6688
www.rwsentosa.com/language/id-ID/Homepage/Restaurants/Forest