Estuary

I always love exploring new restaurants I have not visited whenever reviews or pictures pop up in my social feed. When Estuary popped up in my feed, I was looking for a restaurant for a birthday celebration so I decided to make a reservation

Opened in mid-2022, Estuary is located in the basement of Palais Renaissance and is mainly a pescatarian restaurant. This was perfect for my friend who prefers seafood compared to other meats. The restaurant’s kitchen is helmed by Chef Polo Seah and Chef Gary Lian who were both previously in charge of many notable restaurants

The atmosphere gives off a modern American diner vibe with pink neon lights decorating the walls. The use of bamboo high chairs, lights as well as mosaic tiles near the bar also exudes a seaside bar vibe. The combination of both genres complements well for a modern chic yet casual restaurant environment

To start, we ordered the 1/2 dozen oyster platter which is half price during their happy hours from 4.30pm to 7pm. The Estuary offers different kinds of oysters daily and your platter ( 1/2 dozen is the minimum) will consist of the freshest kind on the day of your visit. We had 3 different kinds which had clear labels of the country of origin and the expected taste and texture. The staff even explained to us the order of tasting the oysters according to the flavour and the best dip for each oyster. The oysters were fresh and plump with very distinctive flavour and I do like every kind which was served. Having them at half the price was a steal and I would have ordered more if I did not have other items ordered

The next item we ordered was the Hokkaido Bafun Uni which is fresh uni stacked on an egg mayonnaise on top of a toasted brioche toast. The serving of each toast is bite-size even though I preferred to bite into them and savour each ingredient separately. The uni used was sweet and creamy and paired well with the egg. When eaten together, there is a nice explosion of flavours although I found the toast slightly too soggy

I rarely miss a chance to order this dish if I see it on a menu; grilled Octopus. Estuary offered only the grilled tentacle served on harissa yoghurt and chorizo. The Octopus was cooked perfectly with a nice charred flavour and soft tender meat. The dish itself is refreshing with a tangy sauce which helps to cut away the greasiness

One of the highly recommended dishes was the Dungeness crab kataifi served in crab miso sauce and topped with cured egg yolk shavings. The crab meat was wrapped with a crispy pastry crust and deep-fried to a perfect golden brown colour. The crab itself is quite dry on its own but when paired with the crab miso sauce, it was perfect. Allow the crust to soak up some of the miso sauce so there are great flavours combined in one mouthful

One of the key highlights of Estuary’s menu is its dry-aged seafood and we ordered the Japanese Hamachi which was served in a sweet corn creamy sauce. The dry-aged fish is much more compact than fresh fish in texture and is firmer to bite. Losing the moisture and flakiness to the process of dry ageing, the fish has a tough bite and chew with very concentrated flavours. I found the fish slightly salty yet simply addictive due to its intense umami flavours. It is perfect to eat together with the sauce or the corn niblets which provide a more balanced flavour as the sweetness balances out the savouriness

For our carbs, we ordered the Sarawak charred clay pot rice with crab meat, crispy Bario rice, asparagus and Ikura roe. You can also choose to top up uni at the price of SGD 14 per 10 grams. As the serving was not very huge, we ordered an additional serving of Triple Cheese Pancetta Mac and Cheese. The clay pot rice has a nice charred flavour with nice scorched rice at the bottom when you mix up the rice. The ingredients are also fresh and packed with umami flavours. The combination of the crab meat and Ikura gave a natural sea flavouring to the rice and the crispy Bario rice added a crunchy texture. Each spoonful of the rice was flavourful to the max but could be slightly on the salty side to some but very addictive to anyone who has a heavy palate. The mac and cheese was topped with smoky pork jowl bits, cheddar, parmesan and mozzarella. In terms of taste, the dish was flavourful but there was insufficient sauce and very dry. This was the only dish we had leftovers

Overall, the food at Estuary was pretty good and the flavours were unique and refreshing with items like dry-aged fish and fresh seafood. Personally, I like oysters, uni on toast as well as the octopus as they were very fresh or done really well. While other dishes were delicious, they were a tad salty for my palate and I got extremely tasty after the meal

Address: 390 Orchard Rd, B1 – 04 / 05, Singapore 238871

Operating hours: 5.30 pm to 10.30 pm ( Mon to Fri ) 11.30 am to 3 pm and 5.30 pm to 10.30 pm ( Sat ) 11.30 am to 3 pm only ( Sun)