Restaurant review: Marguerite blossoms with whimsical spring menus at Gardens by the Bay

Spring: a time when flowers and flavours bloom. And there're few finer ways to savour both than a trip to Marguerite in Gardens by the Bay, where chef-owner Michael Wilson has dreamed up a fresh crop of spring menus.

Occupying the space of the former Pollen, Marguerite relaunched in end-2021 with a striking new look and concept.

Set in the lush Flower Dome, the space takes inspiration from its nature setting: a massive pair of hand-carved, rough-hewn boulders serve as counters, set off with a sleek juxtaposition of white marble and dark wood. Fronting the dining room is a trio of kitchen islands, where the team preps and plates up courses right before your eyes.

Our Spring tasting menu for dinner ($248++) is a seven-course journey of whimsical creations, each artfully crafted to evoke a garden on our plate.

Both wine and teetotaler pairings are available, but we take the middle ground with a mixed pairing ($148++), where classic wine pairings alternate with an elegant array of housemade clarified juices and jun teas.

Right from the outset, the amuses-bouches steal the show.

A quartet of ingenious bites play a symphony in our mouths: first, a smoky explosion of a tart packed with aged kingfish, dolloped with smoked cream, and crowned with a generous globe of Amur caviar. 

Next up, a reinvention of steak frites in a single crunch — think rich steak tartare and a fried quail egg in a potato tart.

Another cheeky bite, the foie gras cornetto resembles a miniature ice-cream cone in every detail: an umami scoop of chicken liver and foie gras parfait, drizzled with prune puree and studded with walnuts.

The delightful finale is a delicate envelope of dehydrated apricot that cradles a nutty, funky jewel of 36-months-aged Comte.

Our first course of Dungeness Crab is spring at its lightest and brightest. Dressed with olive oil and pickled shallots, this sous vide crab comes perched atop a crisp cucumber meringue and adorned with French marigold.

We pop the sweet, clean morsel into our mouth at one go, then chase it down with a cucumber sorbet bathed in minty lettuce gazpacho.

It pairs well with our first temperance beverage: Granny Smith Shiso. A guilt-free riff on Sauvignon Blanc, this apple juice potion is surprisingly sophisticated thanks to a citrusy infusion of shiso and toasty notes from hay.

Morels rank among our favourite spring bounty, so we're glad to see the Morel Mushroom Egg Custard on the menu.

Chawanmushi gets a rich, nutty makeover with morel mushroom broth, homemade mushroom garum, and of course, a handful of sauteed morels.

Arrayed atop is what looks like a wild bouquet on our plate: garlic flowers, spring peas, and grilled asparagus add a herbaceous crunch.

The New Caledonian Blue Prawn arrives in disguise. What appears as a forkful of tagliolini has been crafted entirely from these famously sweet blue prawns.

Chef Michael ingeniously sieves out the prawn's tough sinews and transforms the rest into paste, yielding noodles that are unexpectedly supple and tender.

Just as slurpable is the rich bisque made from blue prawn heads and dressed with trout roe. No salt is added, and none is necessary — the pan-roasted shrimp provide all the intense umami we could wish for.

To pair, we have a Moscato — the Ca' d'Gal Vite Vecchia Moscato d'Asti DOCG 2016. This semi-sparkling number boasts a peachy, honeyed sweetness — though we might have preferred something more acidic to cut through the rich prawn flavours.

A seven-day stint in Marguerite's dry-ageing cabinet leaves the Patagonian Toothfish gloriously smooth and firm to the bite. A tangy splash of passionfruit sabayon sets it off nicely, while chewy slices of Pāua abalone add an intriguing textural contrast.

It goes beautifully with our temperance pairing of Oaked Celeriac and Gala Apple too. Caramelised apples are balanced with tart verjuice and celeriac, then infused with oak chips to evoke the toasty, butterscotch notes of oaked Chardonnay.

Fans of Chef Michael's signature duck neck sausage will be glad to find a reprise in the dry-aged Roast Aylesbury Duck.

Chef Michael turns the duck legs into a sausage farce, which is then stuffed into its neck together with chunks of foie gras.

Smoked in hay, the succulent sausage comes drizzled in fermented plum ketchup and a smoky-sweet quenelle of Jerusalem artichoke puree. A glass of dry Lebanese red — the 2014 Château Musar Rouge (Gaston Hochar) — amps up the deep plum notes.

It's worth pacing yourself for the two addictive desserts. There's a walnut macaron that melts in the mouth to reveal a buttery mix of gorgonzola dolce and fennel marmalade.

It washes down nicely with a herbaceous palate-cleanser of apple, chartreuse, and mint sorbet topped with a galangal espuma.

To round off our spring feast, we have a sinfully elevated take on pain perdu. Brioche is soaked in tonka bean custard and fried in butter, then thoroughly blanketed in tonka bean crème diplomat.

The cherry on top is two types of strawberries: tart wild strawberries and sweeter, fragrant Gariguette strawberries.

Marguerite is located at 18 Marina Gardens Dr, #01-09 Flower Dome, Singapore 018953, p. +65 6604 9988. Open Wed-Thurs 6pm-10pm, Friday-Sunday 12pm-3pm & 6pm-10pm. Closed Monday & Tuesday. 

This article was first published in City Nomads.