Marguerite

Taking over the space from Pollen, Marguerite is the renewed concept restaurant still helmed by Michelin-starred Chef Michael Wilson. An awarded 1 Michelin star restaurant, Marguerite offers a dining experience amidst the lush garden of the Flower Dome

Taking inspiration from the natural surroundings, Marguerite’s 7 course-tasting menu showcases visually creative plates with bold flavours. Every season features a different menu with the inclusion of the freshest ingredients from the season with the exception of their star dish which is available every season; New Caledonian blue prawn ‘tagliolini’

As Marguerite is located deep within Gardens by the Bay, a free shuttle is available for diners from the main entrance of Gardens By the Bay ( carpark A). You only need to show your reservations to the driver and they will send you to the doorstep of the restaurant

The restaurant itself is circular, where the kitchen takes the centre core and cannot be seen from the seating area. Upon entrance, you will be greeted by the front-of-house server before passing some pretty display of plates and kitchenware and 3 main kitchen island counters where the food is plated artistically before being served to the table. We were seated at a table right next to the exit to the flower dome

The menu featuring the 7 courses is placed neatly on the table with an envelope where you can place your face mask during the meal

You can see the actual lunch-tasting menu we had which is slightly different from the 7-course tasting menu. The lunch tasting menu is only SGD168 before tax

For a start, we were served 4 dishes served on these cute wooden plates; kingfish and caviar, foie gras cornetto, apricot and comte and steak frites. As some of us do not take beef ( the one with a mini sunny side egg), they replaced it with a fish version. They were very generous with their high-quality ingredients which were fresh. The caviar and kingfisher were bursting with flavours of the sea while the foie gras was creamy and luxurious. All the items were tiny bite size so the flavours were strong yet refreshing in that one bite as your palate is brought through the flavours from sea to land

The next item was the Dungeness crab, cucumber and lettuce gazpacho. This is served in 2 parts; the first is on top of a savoury cucumber meringue with pickled shallots

The 2nd part is served in a bowl of cucumber sorbet with lettuce gazpacho made from 10 different vegetables and herbs. I totally forgot to take a picture of this dish after the servers poured in the lettuce gazpacho

We were also served sesame bread with butter. The bread was warm and crispy outside, and soft and fluffy inside. The dome-shaped bread is actually quite fluffy and hollow inside so it doesn’t really fill up your stomach

This dish is the wood-grilled Domaine Saint Vincent asparagus, wild garlic, and kale with black ants. From the picture, it is not too obvious but the black bits are actually fried or baked ants. Not sure how they cooked it but the ants were crispy with a tinge of a sour aftertaste. It was scary to think of eating ants but it is really quite ok in terms of taste. The servers did ask us if we are willing to try the ants before serving the dish so those who want to opt out of the ants, can inform the servers beforehand

For mains, we had the Iberian suckling pig, savoy cabbage, chou farci and bacon jus. The skin of the suckling pig was semi-crispy and I would have liked it if it was crispier. The meat was succulent and was not heavily seasoned so you can taste the original flavours of the pork

The other choice for mains was the Patagonian toothfish with broad beans and fennel passionfruit sabayon. The fish was fresh and springy with the passionfruit providing the acidity to balance the creaminess of the broad beans

They ended the meal with desserts which were the Garigeutte strawberries, pain perdu and tonka bean tart and an assortment of mignardises served with coffee or tea. The tart was not overly sweet and just nice to end off the meal and some of the mignardises which are bite-sized sweets, cakes or tarts have a very interesting and refreshing taste

Overall, having a meal in Marguerite is like enjoying an art exhibition as you see each course as a meaningful art piece in itself. The taste in each dish is carefully curated and is light in itself but yet flavourful enough for you to appreciate the creative innovation behind each dish and ingredient. Settled in the beautiful and serene surroundings of the flower dome, the meal was relaxing and enjoyable with the attentive servers attending to your request. The best part of dining at restaurants within the flower dome is you get to tour the flower dome for free before or after your meal

Address: 18 Marina Gardens Dr, #01-09 Flower Dome, Singapore 018953

Opening hours: Closed on Mon and Tues. 6pm to 10 pm on Wed and Thurs. 12 to 3pm and 6 to 10 pm on Fri, Sat and Sun

Only available via reservations