It’s the most wonderful time of the year again although this year came and whisk past in a blink of an eye and there is another 20 odd days before it comes to an end. While most of us would want the year to quickly past because of the Covid situation, most of us would still like to celebrate the festive season with the necessary precautions in place. Due to safe distancing measures in all dining establishments, it is crucial to make your reservations for dinner or lunch early if you intend to dine outside for Christmas.
If you are still looking for a location this Christmas, Changi Jewel is not a bad choice with their endless selection of dining options. For those who likes a traditional Western meal can check out Perch which is on the 2nd floor of Jewel right next to the Rain Vortex.
Perch is a casual styled wine and dine bistro offering Asian-European fusion dishes with a wide selection of 1855 The Bottle Shop’s extensive wine selection. They have both indoor as well as outdoor seats. Personally, I would suggest to book an indoor table as the outdoor seats are sort of located just along the walkway to the Rain Vortex.
I was seated at one of the outdoor tables so I had people just walking pass me and even people walking past and coughing and sneezing which is quite unsanitary.
For Perch’s full menu, you can check out here as well as make your table reservations online.
We ordered the festive menu which was good for sharing between 2 persons. The set came with butternut squash soup, Italian chopped salad, roasted brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes, 3 types of mains; grilled chicken, grilled lobster and grilled wagyu beef steak and a brownie log cake. If you order the set for 4 persons, you get an additional main of grilled salmon and extra side of mushroom ragout. As the set was for 2 persons, the serving size was quite generous. The pumpkin soup was more on the frothy and airy consistency with a nice buttery flavour. The soup was also topped with a generous amount of pine nuts, spring onions and olive oil.
The salad was really roughly chopped with fresh kale, lettuce, onions, cheese, bacon and chick peas. There was very light dressing but you could taste the freshness and crunch of the fresh vegetables and nuts. I would have loved to have a little more dressing.
The roasted brussels sprouts had caramelized onions and bacon chunks and was quite lightly seasoned. The brussels sprouts had little charred bits and has a vague bitter taste but was a good accompaniment for the rest of the meat dishes.
The mash potato was very light and fluffy with a creamy milky and buttery flavour which was the perfect side for the grilled dishes. This was one of the dishes I wished came in a bigger serving.
We ordered an a la carte serving of truffles fries which were quite well fried although the serving was quite modest. The truffle flavour was light but enough for you to get that subtle taste.
The mains came and would be perfect for 2 persons with half a side of lobster, 4 coins of wagyu beef steak and a medium sized chicken breast. There was 2 sauces served with the mains which includes a brown sauce for the steak and chicken and a creamy mayonnaise based sauce for the lobster.
The lobster meat was fresh and bouncy with a nice soft sweet flavour and the meat was well grilled so that it is not overcooked and dry.
The chicken was quite normal in taste and is just that slightly on the dry side but with the sauce, it was acceptable. The beef on the other hand was quite juicy and nicely done as per my dinner mates.
We also order 2 other mains for sharing as there were 4 of us. After falling in love with pork jowl meat recently, I cannot resist ordering when I saw this grilled pork jowl on the menu. The pork came with caramelized apples and some sauerkraut and was absolutely perfect. The pork was grilled well and every bite was very succulent
The last main we had was the prawn linguine which had 2 very huge tiger prawns which are seared perfectly with juicy meat. The linguine was done al dente cooked similar to an aglio e olio style with dressing of olive oil and lemon.
The final dish was dessert which was the brownie log cake and while it looked really pretty, it was so sweet that I could not go beyond 1 bite. I am known to have a sweet tooth but even this was over my limit for sweet cakes. The chocolate flavours were strong but the cream and sauce was just too sweet.
Overall, the food at Perch had some hits and misses and the selection was quite wide which should be good for family gatherings or gathering with close group of friends within the allowed capacity. The fact that it is Jewel also makes it a good location to spend the day before ending the day with a Christmas meal at Perch. Just don’t take an outdoor table.
Address: Jewel, 78 Airport Blvd, #02-244/245 Singapore Changi Airport, 819666
Operating hours: 11.30 am to 10.30 pm
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