Salt Grill by Luke Mangan

Its the kid's birthday and since he is very big into steak, we decided to go upmarket. After checking out all the reviews, we decided that Salt at Ion was interesting enough. Got quality food, good view and great service. So we went there. Getting to the restaurant itself was already an eye opener. First we had to find our way to an obscure corner of the mall and there was a counter there where we were greeted by a staff and then shown our way to the lift that will take us to the 55 floor where the restaurant is located. And so after a 'long' ride, we reached the place.

We were served throughout by a very attentive Caucasian staff. I not too sure what they call these people in the restaurant (restaurant manager?} but it is rare to see someone take so much pride in his work here in Singapore. He was able to rattle off everything in the menu, told us what each item were and recommend them to us.

Beside the usual bread, we were served a complimentary soup which tasted like tomato soup and which came in a teeny weeny bowl. 

We ordered two starters to share. This weird looking dish is "sashimi of kingfish". Of course it comes with some other stuff. The taste was very unique. Being a country uncle, I especially like the yellowish sauce that they pour over it.

This is the crab omelette. Some egg and crab and enoki mushroom. It was real good. Too bad that like all atas restaurant, all the food comes in small portion not enough for the 3 of us to slurp it down.

The kid and I had our usual steak. This a an Australian restaurant so the steak are Australian steak. Not that I can tell the difference where they come from. A cow is a cow to me. But then again, I quite like my piece of steak. It has some toppings that is not usually found in other restaurant. And the size was big enough for me. Not a tiny little piece. Of course, it didn't exactly come cheap though.

The kid had this "miserable" looking piece that comes with chips. He assured me it wasn't miserable at all even though there was no other sides that comes with it.

M had the barramundi with prawn. She didn't complain either and wolfed down everything. I don't recall her passing me some of the stuff so either she was very hungry or it was real good. 

What is a birthday celebration without a birthday cake? Well since we didn't buy any cake, we decided to make do and ordered something from the dessert menu. We let on that it was the kid's birthday and the ice cream dessert came like this. No cheesy birthday song over the PA system or a group of waiters standing there singing to embarrass the crap out of him. Thank goodness.

We also ordered this Mango and coconut bomb. Why did we ordered this? Because we like that it was called a "bomb".

Overall, it was an expensive, probably the most expensive meal I ever had in one sitting for just 3 person. The staff were so friendly and so helpful. I mean they looked at our appearance but could probably tell we are country bumpkin and gave us the cold shoulder but no, everybody was so nice. When we walked out to the lift, the lady there asked whether we had took in the view and when we said no cos we were too shy to walk, she led us right back in to take in the sights. 

The view was great. The cameraman not so. Unsteady hand, poor lighting and a phone camera make for lousy photo. 

Overall, it was a great experience. Did I said that already? We enjoyed the food. Great service. Great view. But it not a place that we can afford to eat at regularly so I don't think we be back any time soon though. But for those who have some money to splurge and want to impress a date, this got to be The Place.