Located at the lobby of tower two in Marina Bay Sands, Adrift is a modern Izakaya that not only strives to impress its guests with its extensive bar but also with its playful, expressive culinary creations. Having opened in early 2015, Adrift is the brainchild of award-winning chef David Myers and revered mixologist Sam Ross. With both having illustrious careers in their own fields, Adrift is set to take the Singaporean culinary scene by storm and have been doing so to this very day.
It is usually the case in a food & beverage establishment that either the food or the drinks take centre stage, but Adrift is a welcomed exception. One of the stand out appetizers is the New England Lobster Roll with watercress and harissa sauce. The richness from the generous portions of fresh lobster meat is beautifully balanced with fresh watercress and the harissa’s mild spiciness.
Uni & Caviar is truly an extravagant display of chef’s ingenuity gained from his travels around the world, layers of the alluring sea urchin in all it’s gorgeous warm yellow colour carefully placed on a cracker topped with salmon roe (Ikura). Bite onto this little piece of heaven and taste the different lovely textures further accentuated with each and every burst of those salty spherical balls.
Noteworthy dish Seared Sea Scallops with brown butter soy and seaweed should be paid close gourmet attention to. The brown butter gave a nutty aroma and flavour, a great complement to the tender and slightly sweet flavour from the scallops. The soy sauce which was mixed into the brown butter as well as the seaweed added more umami flavours to an already savoury dish, but not overly so.
An outstanding dish that captures the essence of what the restaurant is about is the Sesame Soy Glazed Ox Tongue with Sudachi apple. The Ox Tongue is painstakingly slow cooked for twenty four hours, before being finished on the restaurant’s binchotan charcoal grills, glazed with sesame soy and served with thinly sliced pickled Sudachi apple. A dish that manages to capture the Japanese influences of the restaurant.
Hamachi Sashimi is an all time crowd pleaser, freshly sliced Japanese amberjack covered in a delectable sauce made with myoga (Japanese ginger), miso creme fraiche and mitsuba (Japanese wild parsley). Lightly toasted green melon seeds adds crunch and nuttiness to this dish enhanced with the slight spice of thinly sliced green chili.
Beverages also held a place of its own in the restaurant. Adrift stocks ten different beers which range from drafts of Suntory Black to bottles of IPA from Michigan. The wine menu continues this trend of variety with a wide range of wines such as the 1997 Chateau Marjosse, a classic Bordeaux wine as well as wine from modern wine makers such as the 2016 Wild Rock Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, New Zealand. However, the biggest standout among the drinks is the cocktail menu, which was created and inspired largely by Sam Ross. Other than the unique names such as Champagne Tarik and I Hear Banjoes, the cocktails truly show the spirit of Adrift as an American-Japanese fusion. Its mix of cocktails from their American roots, cocktails that are inspired by the Japanese Izakaya, and of course the Singaporean twists that has allowed guests from far and wide to find a little piece of home.
To finish off the meal, Dragon Egg is an obvious choice, chocolate sphere served atop passion fruit ice cream. To present the dish, the service staff poured liquid nitrogen over the plate, creating large wafts of cold smoke before using a spoon to break open the egg, revealing the jackfruit caramel and yogurt hidden beneath. The dish is perfectly balanced with the sweetness of the caramel contrasting with the yogurt’s sourness, while the egg which had broken into shards gave a nice textural contrast to the creamy ice cream.
ADDRESS:
10 Bayfront Avenue, Hotel Lobby Tower 2, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore 018956
PHONE: +65 6688 5657
WEBSITE: www.marinabaysands.com/restaurants/celebrity-chefs/adrift.html