The latest addition to the vibrant nightlife of Singapore's Clarke Quay is the much talked about Aurum, the city state's first molecular gastronomy restaurant. The intimate restaurant's medic-chic theme has attracted controversy - it features gold wheelchairs and steel dining tables with surgical-instrument drawers, which display the cutlery for the fixed 13-course gastronomy dinner (S$148/HK$750).

The menu has been jointly created by executive chef Edward Voon (who was the captain of the Singapore Culinary National Team) and the restaurant's technical consultant, Madrid-based chef Paco Roncero, who is a disciple of El Bulli founder Ferran Adria. The cooking is audacious, with several local dishes such as lobster laksa given the molecular 'treatment'. The evening starts with tapas of melon oyster 'air of vinegar' (a fresh oyster wrapped with a consomme jelly placed on a slice of watermelon and topped with a light 'air' of ginger vinegar), followed by a spherical combination of tomato and mozzarella, then a smooth wedge of foie gras between thin crostini slices drizzled with port and served with figs. Two of the meal's highlights are the martini lychee and gold caviar (above; caviar-like globules made of lychee extract drizzled with martini and presented in a caviar tin) and the Spanish omelette of the 'XXI Century' (caramelised onions topped with egg yolk and layered with potato foam).

Aurum is at The Clinic, block 3C, The Cannery, Clarke Quay, River Valley Road, Singapore, tel: 65 6887 3733.