Terra Seita @ Tras Street

My date at Terra Seita was met with a closed tag because we arrived 10 minutes too early and the manager was still briefing his staff before dinner service. No complaints except nobody came to the door either. Subsequently, we were asked for our reservation name before we were invited into the restaurant.

First impressions? I was far from impressed.

The visit came to fruition not because of its michelin starred achievement but because of its Japanese-Italian cuisine that has been popular over the last couple of years.



The restaurant is limited in space, cosy corners are almost non existent and my privacy was as good as this arm's length.






Table set up.

Our affable waiter comes by to introduce himself, spots my camera and decides to make small talk about food blogging and I got lost in his rumblings somehow.



My hand towel that stopped wowing after the first encounter.



We get shown the day's freshest catch before the menu card is shown. Four menus up for selection ($128, $168 and $208), the last priced at $308 needs advanced reservations. No mention of ingredients, just number of courses and the waiter once again reiterates the more dollar dished out, the better ingredients served. Right.

$168 it was since both had to order the same menu and we made a switch of our pasta dish to include their famous uni pasta - who can resist uni? I can't, for sure.



Explanation on the chalkboard which I doubt anyone reads since the waiter would repeat anyhow.



I was wishing and hoping the musk melon made its way into our menu.



The casual vibe of the restaurant is seen through these cheesy wall artwork.



I'm not sure what Terra Seita replaced but I am sure I have seen this same green wall at the now defunct May May too.



Botan shrimp and a medley of vegetable morsels. Flesh was somewhat clammy and lacking in that fresh crunch and burst of juices but I liked the plating and flavours on the plate enough.



More of the beautifully deshelled shrimp.



Okay, I really could not resist snapping it much to amusement of my companion. Beady eyes that threatened to water if I continued eating it - hurhur.



Homemade bread with morel mushroom butter. I enjoyed the chewyness of the bread and the earthyness of mushrooms.



Two bags full of single portions of bread later, no refills were offered. Ho-kay.



The most gorgeous looking scallop (I can imagine Gordon Ramsey describing it in my head) in gratin which in my opinion is not the best way to present the fresh scallop. Granted it was bouncy and yummy in cheese - for real, is there anything cooked with cheese that tastes bad?



Uni pasta that was swapped over from the cheaper menu - and king crab meat is priced higher than sea urchin. The grading perhaps? Sea urchin was fishy and mixed in with my al dente pasta - the big question that loomed was, is this worthy of the michelin stars bestowed? Upon feedback, the waiter attending to my table stopped soliciting for feedback after every dish.



And for the star - supposedly sweet as can be king crab meat which was sweet but limp. I was not sold on their pasta dishes at all.



Alas, the redeeming fish dish so beautifully seared.



And the herbed wagyu that made sense of the meal. I wished portions were bigger though in all the succulence and melting fats.



Their idea of a celebratory cake with a candle on top - no complaints except there was no melon in sight.



My sweet finish.



I was unfortunately not blown away by the food nor experience though the restaurant was packed. The michelin stars were definitely not shining that night or we have loads for improvement in the real sense of a michelin star experience locally.

Terra Seita
54 Tras Street