Cook & Brew at the Westin Singapore – New Lunch and Dinner Menu

Cook & Brew, the gastro-bar at Level 33 of Westin Singapore, has recently revamped its lunch and dinner menu with modern Asian-inspired specialties. You can expect pad thai flavours, for instance, with fries and beef carpaccio with Korean flavours. Recently, I was invited down to Cook & Brew for a media tasting – not my first time at Westin Singapore but my first time in this F&B venue.

Do pardon me for the photos but I was there for dinner and the venue was quite dark!

We first had the Whipped Buffalo Milk Ricotta ($14). It is one of the perennial favourites at Cook & Brew. It looks deceptively simple but the sweetness of the ricotta made it such a pleasure to spread it over the grilled bread – freshly baked and served hot and slightly crunchy.

This was followed by the Korean Beef Carpaccio ($18). We all know how good carpaccio tastes like but you get an added kimchi flavour – which means you get an extra sour and spicy kick – to go along with the deliciously tender raw USDA striploin. The menu does mention that it is a spicy dish but I thought the flavour was relatively mild. It is still a relatively easy dish to take even for those who don’t really take spicy food.

The Pad Thai Fries ($15) is an interesting creation. A first encounter personally, I did not know what to expect at first. For a better contrast of flavours, Cook and Brew uses sweet potato fries and tops them with a mix of lime, pad thai sauce, chicken, prawns and crushed peanuts. The result is almost exactly what you would expect Pad Thai to taste like except that instead of noodles, you get sweet potatoes.

The Black Truffle Fried Chicken ($32 for half bird/$59 for whole bird) was perhaps my favorite dish that night. The chicken was crispy and had that deliciously fragrant truffle flavour prominent with each bite. I had to consciously stop myself with one piece. Granted, we all know the true test of a good fried chicken is with the breast portion. I got the leg part instead which was also overflowing with juices within.

I loved the tender meat of the Maple Miso Black Cod ($41) but personally thought the accompanying miso sauce was a tad salty. That is not a problem though as you’re free to slather however much (or little) you want.

The Dean Marin Shrimp Cocktail ($24) for some reason evokes memories of a seaside promenade in the Pacific coast of the United States and Canada. Four plump tiger prawns are set on a stick. While it is too easy to get distracted at the sight of these crustaceans, don’t miss the delicious garlic mash and whisky beurre blanc on the glass.

For dessert, don’t miss out on the Caramel Butter Tart ($13) with the sweetness of the tart juxtaposing with the wonderfully sour flavour of the house made blood orange sherbet. I personally preferred eating them separately to fully appreciate the notes of each component but you could very well have them together as well for a sweet-sour kick.

Cook & Brew
The Westin Singapore, Level 33
12 Marina View, Asia Square Tower 2
Singapore 018961