Alma by Juan Amador @ Goodwood Park

A guest visited from overseas and was staying at Goodwood Park Hotel. So to make things simple, we decided to meet and dine in the hotel premises.

Nestled in the historic Goodwood Park Hotel right in the heart of town on Orchard Road, Alma by Juan Amador is a 1-Michelin-starred restaurant, awarded since 2016.

With an executive chef on board since 2023, Alma now offers two tasting menus at lunch and dinner, featuring well-crafted European dishes strewn with Asian accents. The menus change every three months to keep pace with premium seasonal produce. Today’s lunch has been designed and prepared by Executive Chef Yew Eng Tong and Chef De Cuisine Tan Suhoo

The dishes used nothing less than the best ingredients, combined with a pure culinary passion to showcase Asian-influenced, Modern-European cuisine.

Snacks

First up, a couple of amuse bouche of seaweed cigar that is like a cannoli filled with savoury filling that with pulled pork with the exterior dusted with seaweed powder, and chopped blue fin tuna served in kueh pietee cup with shaved parmesan cheese. Wonderful little bites to start.

Swordfish Tartare

Daikon | Avocado | Dashi Jelly | Caviar | Crustacean Crème

The first course was a swordfish and avocado tartare (more like a ceviche) wrapped like a Vietnamese spring roll and cut into pieces like a maki. Came with a sauce made from shellfish stock and thickened with cream and lime zest, while the maki was topped with glass noodles made from dashi jelly and sprinkled with cod caviar. The whole thing was topped with shredded daikon and microgreens. Complicated but surprisingly simple in taste though.

The bread service took its inspiration from the Singaporean chilli crab with a fried bread done mantou style, which went well with the smoked butter. The crab butter was also nice but was slightly on the fishy side.

Chilled Chawanmushi Espuma

Edamame-Tofu Puree | Ikura | Algae Powder

This was not chawanmushi, which literally means “steamed in a tea cup.” Instead it was an egg dish that was served cold. Further departure from the word was that the egg was more a foam (espuma) than custard

Then came the bombshell, there was no egg. The “egg” was made from edamame and tofu puree. Ikura was added into the foam for texture and umami. The whole thing was sprinkled with algae (seaweed) powder that made its appearance in the amuse bouche. This illusion was quite tasty, almost fooled me that I was eating egg.

US Scallop

Celeriac | Lemon | Purple Curry

And the appetisers continued with a single pan-fried scallop that came with crusted with some chopped celeriac and freshly grated horseradish and lemon zest. The sauce was made from beet and infused with a bit of curry. Quite a weird combination, couldn’t say I like it.

Foie

Brick | Tamarind | Condiments

The block of duck foie gras was wrapped in a crispy crust made from popiah skin, smothered with a vinaigrette glaze made from tamarind and then topped with crushed rice pops, scallions, pickled ginger aka sushi style, and edible flowers. Delicious, not too much to spoil the appetite for the rest of the meal.

Seasonal Fresh Fish

Oyster Beurre Blanc | Green Vegetable Remoulade

The seasonal fish was monkfish. My guest is a very health conscious elderly gentleman, so he picked all the right choices. And he only ate half of everything. The waiter was concerned if the taste was not right for him, but he simply laughed and said he was on a diet. He commented that the monkfish was very good, given that it was the first time he had it.

Roasted Pigeon

Purple Cabbage | Chicory | Purple Curry

For me, it’s the pigeon. I always order pigeon whenever it is available in the menu. I had to say that this was one of the better ones by far in Singapore, and trust me, I have eaten a lot of pigeons in Singapore.

Spiced Orange

Orange Mousse | Cardamom Carrot Sorbet | Pink Ginger Gel

My guest chose the spiced orange dessert that featured a quenelle of cardamon carrot sorbet served on a bed of meringue. As I am not a fan of carrots, I asked for a change of dessert which they happily obliged.

Peach

Soursop Sorbet | Sakura | Salted Buttermilk Sago | Red Shiso

I got the peach dessert from the four-course lunch set instead. The sorbet was replaced with a soursop sorbet, which blew me away totally. It has that familiar F&N fresh soursop juice taste (do they still sell this? Leave me a message to tell me where to get it) and sakura flavoured meringue (made into the sakura shape), and red Shiso mousse with salted buttermilk and sago cake. Delicious.

Petit Four

I was quite disappointed that the “small oven” came with only one item (for lunch), a saffron flavoured canelé. I was told they would provide a few more for the dinner menu.

Portions were okay – we had thought that we might still be hungry after the meal, but we were satisfied. Unlike most fine dining, the descriptions were not as complete in the menu, but the waiter made an effort to explain everything to us. Service overall was impeccable, a worthy place for a business lunch. Heard about the legendary wine list, but that would have to be for dinner on another day.

Alma by Juan Amador
22 Scotts Rd, Singapore 228221
Tel : +65 6735 9937 (Reservations)

Visited May 2025

Michelin Singapore Guide 1 Star 2016-2025