First to kick of a series of celebrity chef openings in 2015 is LA-based chef and restaurateur David Myers. Adrift, which sets up shop on the ground floor of Marina Bay Sands, takes its cue from Myers’ love for travel. The cavernous restaurant hides mysteriously behind edgy wooden slats, giving the bustle outside only glimpses of its round-tabled private room, cocktail bar, living room-esque lounge and open kitchen helmed by executive chef Dong Choi.
Deeper inside, the main dining room with a breezy Californian vibe features swing seats and banquettes that look out to a water feature and green wall outside. Another private dining room that seats 40 carries on the theme of wanderlust with its faux library shelf walls and holiday snaps from Japan.
The Charlie Trotter and Daniel Boulud-trained chef marries his love for travel and food in a menu that fuses Eastern and Western flavours in 30 sharing plates and bar snacks. Dishes on the Robata section of the menu fire meat and fish on binchotan coals, while trendy artisanal toasts sandwich ingredients such as Alaskan king crab with pimento and cheese for crunch and flavour punch. Plates like the refreshing soup of green papaya with lobster and sago, and caramel popcorn with togarashi (both featured at Myers' debut last year at the Marina Bay Sands Epicurean Market) are also served – munch them alongside foie gras banh mi and cod draped in chilli crab sauce. Myers aims to return to Adrift at least six times a year to mint new menus and stay updated on its progress, but he leaves the daily grind to Dong, with whom he's worked for over 11 years.
For the sleek, Ginza-reminiscent cocktail bar in the front, Myers enlisted lauded New York bartender Sam Ross to get the restaurant's bar team, headed by ex-Mozza bartender Anand Reuben, up to shape. The 14 cocktails created by Ross for the project pull together classic techniques with his research on tropical fruits, with options like the Penicillin ($23), laced with ginger juice, and his fresh fruit interpretation of the Singapore Sling ($23).
Adrift is now open for dinner, and will start lunch service in March.