While we acknowledge the quality of the ingredients at celebrity chef restaurant Forest森, we weren’t impressed by its technique or creativity. We’ve had far better for far less.
The Equarius Hotel houses just one restaurant: Forest森 by celebrity chef Sam Leong, serving “contemporary Chinese fine cuisine” and formerly adorned with one Michelin star. We’re not going to mince words: we could understand why Forest森 lost that star in 2017. The most expensive SGD315[1] “gastronomic 10 course tasting menu” (without wine pairings) fell short of our expectations. Nothing stood out as bad — the ingredients were excellent — but nothing impressed us either, falling well short of justifying its price to us even considering the delicacies on the menu. We’ve had far better for far less. While we felt the a la carte menu was better value-for-money, it didn’t convince us to come back.
Forest森 offered several set menus but its 8 and 10-course “gastronomic” tasting menus were only available at dinner. The most expensive 10-course option — described as “strongly” recommended — included a glass of red wine[1] and cost an eyebrow-raising SGD315[2] (SGD374[3] with wine pairings). However, it barely included the “Chef Sam’s creations” listed in the a la menu — odd, considering its branding as a celebrity chef restaurant. Still, we wanted to experience Forest森 at its best and went for it.
We should’ve noticed our mistake when the waitstaff hesitated and asked us again if this was what we wanted. We should’ve laughed and said no. The lacklustre amuse-bouche of snow pear — which seemed to have dried out — with wasabi and peanuts did little to lift our spirits.
The first dish came in martini glasses: chilled hot-and-sour soup with thin somen noodles and Sri Lankan crab meat. We thought it wasn’t bad — the silky noodles were fit for sipping, interspersed with small pieces of crab and the salty pop of salmon roe — but it didn’t wow us. This turned out to be a recurrent conclusion through the dinner, all the way till we grudgingly handed over our credit card for payment.
The next dish — deep-fried Hokkaido king scallop mousse, coated in a spicy salted egg yolk mayonnaise — was worse. The “mousse” appeared to be chopped scallops, coated with a thin batter and deep-fried until crispy outside but soft and chewy inside. While we admired the contrast in textures, we wished it hadn’t required obliterating the natural texture of such fine scallops. What little scallop flavour that survived the process ended up being overwhelmed anyway by the mayonnaise.
We were therefore glad when the next dish of Boston lobster looked recognisably like lobster meat, even if it was in unattractive chunks, green from being stir-fried with chives. We’re not sure how much the chives contributed apart from the colour. It tasted exactly like fresh lobster, which — considering the fate of the preceding scallops — may have been a good thing. We were told the accompanying web-like black crisp was a squid-ink net — it tasted more like charcoal.
We had to wait until the fourth dish before we actually enjoyed the food: oven-baked New Zealand cod fillet, served with a saké sauce. This was largely due to the excellent quality of the cod, which was soft and rich. We were less impressed by the technique involved in placing cod in a 160˚C oven for 10 minutes, even if we were willing to give points for the crispy skin. The saké sauce was also controversial: while its acidity balanced the richness of the cod, not everyone could detect the saké flavour.
The next dish — 6-head abalone with black truffle sauce, one of the 2 “Chef Sam’s creations” in the tasting menu — was also oven-baked, though this time in a salt crust. Again, there was no disputing the quality of the abalone. However, the king oyster mushroom and broccoli were forgettable, seemingly tacked on mainly for volume with little thought for how it would complement the abalone.
We weren’t especially impressed either by the Sri Lanka crab claw steamed with egg white and vermicelli in Chinese wine. While the crab claw was fresh and tasty with the soft vermicelli, the flavour of the Chinese wine in the soup elicited little more than a shrug from us.
Entering the final third of the tasting menu, we expected our experience to improve as we hit the main courses. Instead, it went downhill. The braised “Kanto” sea cucumber with homemade tofu and seasonal vegetable served in Szechuan style was especially disappointing. The pairing of largely flavourless sea cucumber and spicy Szechuan sauce just didn’t work for us, especially as the sauce couldn’t penetrate the squelchy creature. To be frank, we felt it was a waste of sea cucumber. We’d have stuck with the real star here: the tofu, soft and silky inside with a thin crispy fried skin which could actually soak up the sauce.
Dread turned to despair when the charcoal-grilled Kagoshima wagyu striploin with sautéed assorted mushrooms and seared foie gras in black pepper sauce also disappointed. This was the second and last of the “Chef Sam’s creations” on the tasting menu. The steak itself was fine and we liked its pairing with the Chinese-style black pepper sauce more often found in stir-fried beef. However, we rolled our eyes when we saw how small the portion of foie gras was. Worse, the foie gras was overcooked — its skin had begun to shrivel and the fat inside had turned liquid, streaming out as we cut into the lobe.
In case we were still hungry, the tasting menu scheduled as its penultimate course a bowl of handmade noodles, braised with wild bamboo pith, tomato, and black vinegar. We found little to like about the noodles and the sauce reminded us of a dilute ketchup: more sweet than sour and limp in flavour.
Still unsatisfied, we received our last dish described only as “FOREST’s Delight” in the menu: a platter of 3 desserts. None was especially interesting. Of these, we liked the rich and creamy coconut ice cream best. While we found the lemongrass jelly refreshing, it was too mildly flavoured. The black sesame mochi coated with peanuts was many-textured, but its flavour failed to impress.
We were so surprised at how disappointing the tasting menu was that we returned to sample the a la carte menu, especially the other “Chef Sam’s creations”. We felt these generally tasted better than the tasting menu and were better value-for-money. Still, it didn’t convince us to come back. We’ve had far better for far less.
If you visit Forest森 and go a la carte as we recommend, you should probably try the milky chicken broth, which comes served in a Thai coconut. Not only is it one of “Chef Sam’s creations”, it’s the only one further described as “Chef Sam Leong’s special recipe”. Considering how special this dish seemed to be, we couldn’t understand why it wasn’t on the tasting menu. Double-boiled with morel mushrooms and wild bamboo pith, it’s essentially chicken soup that’s thicker and more intense than usual and comes with chicken and dried scallops.
We also sampled the Dingley Dell pork rack, cooked sous vide at 68˚C and pan-seared with cumin powder — another “Chef Sam’s creation”. We felt the pork wasn’t bad and liked its crispy crust of cumin powder. However, the meat was a little dry and the portion seemed small considering the price.
The last “Chef Sam’s creation” we tried was also our favourite: the mapo tofu and crabmeat with Japanese pearl rice. Wok-fried with a traditional Szechuan chili sauce, the tofu came with a big Sri Lanka crab claw and went well with the rice. However, we felt it was a little overpriced.
Apart from the “Chef Sam’s creations”, we also had the Norway salmon fillet, cooked sous vide at 59˚C and served with a chili tamarind coulis and crispy fish skin. The salmon was soft, tender, and moist as would be expected from being cooked sous vide, but wasn’t particularly interesting in terms of flavour. We didn’t think the coulis paired well with the salmon.
Studying the a la carte dessert selection, we wondered again why none had made it onto the tasting menu. We liked the “textures of black sesame” dessert which featured a warm chocolate and black sesame lava cake, black sesame soil, and black sesame ice cream.
The crispy Thai coconut warm custard, served with green tea gelato, was also interesting. While the coconut flavour wasn’t as intense as we would’ve liked, we enjoyed the contrast of textures between the creamy custard and its crispy skin.
8 Sentosa Gateway, 098269, Equarius Hotel, Lobby
+65 6577 7788 / +65 6577 6688
