New restaurants at The National Gallery, Clinton St Baking Company and a watering hole at South Beach Quarter—these are just some places to check out in the next couple of weeks.
1. Aura
This new Italian restaurant by Il Lido boasts an impressive 6,000 sq. ft. rooftop space, which comes complete with a raw bar, gourmet salad bar and cake lounge, all overlooking the Padang and CBD. On the menu are modern, regional Italian plates ranging from starters like grilled endive with truffle bagna cauda and frog legs scottadito with basil and garlic foam, pasta dishes such as tonnarelli with sea urchins and trofie with truffle pesto and prawns and mains like the quail casserole with beetroot and mascarpone orzotto. The restaurant also offers an elevated brunch menu comprising items like live oysters with lemon and tabasco and kale, feta & home cured pancetta frittata, for those who’d like a break from a typical eggs benedict-type breakfast. Best of all, the wine bottles hover between $70-90, and cocktails at $16-18. #05-03 and #06-02, National Gallery, St. Andrew’s Rd., 6866-1977
2. Black Nut
Giving Emerald Hill a much-needed breath of fresh air, Black Nut, a colonial-chinoserie gastrobar, offers reliable tropical cocktails ranging from the colloquial Huat Ah, made of Barcardi white rum, midori melon liqueur, creme de cassis and apple juice, to the standard Singapore Sling. Its bar bites menu features Asian-inspired morsels such as baby back ribs, Balukoo wanton, stuffed with ginger, prawn, spring onion and black nut (or buah keluak) flesh, and Not A Cock Up, crispy wings marinated with pinnacle vodka. 2 Emerald Hill Rd., 6738-8818
3. Bird Bird
Chef du jour Bjorn Shen’s latest venture lets you get down and personal with Thai-style grilled chicken. Slated to open this month, Bird Bird at Ann Siang Hill serves up unpretentous dishes inspired by Northern Thailand, like a green papaya salad with crispy chicken skin, salted eggs and fermented rice vermicelli. All will be accompanied with beer and Thai milk tea, and set in a gritty, diner-like vibe.
4. Clinton St. Baking Company
Brunch is the national past time of Singaporeans. And at this famous New York outpost, you either order their sinfully more-ish blueberry pancakes with warm maple butter, or go home wishing you did. Skip the buttermilk chicken and waffles (it was pretty underwhelming the last time we tried it) and dig right into the Southern breakfast, a button-busting plate of two eggs in any style, sugar-cured bacon, cheese grits and fried green tomatoes. 31 Purvis St., 6684-4845
5. Joyden Treasures
A stalwart in local cuisine for the last three decades, Joyden Concepts has launched a new fancy zi char restaurant at Leisure Park Kallang. Given that many of its specialties are meant for sharing, it’s definitely not for a motley crew of two. Bring a boistrous group of friends or family and order signatures like the traditional salt baked crab, steamed red grouper with homemade soy bean broth and the absolute must-have: crispy fragrant duck cooked confit-style, and served wtih fluffy lotus-shaped buns. #02-42 Leisure Park Kallang, 5 Stadium Walk, 6446-8488
6. Odette
We briefly mourned French chef Julien Royer’s departure from Jaan, but now he’s opened modern fine dining French restaurant, Odette, with the Lo & Behold Group at the National Gallery. Details are still pretty scant, but we heard it’s a produce-driven, degustation menu. It opened this week, so watch this space for more info.
7. Maggie Joan’s
The father-and-son team of Moosehead, Glen and Daniel Ballis, have recently launched a real hole-in-the-wall Mediterranean-inspired restaurant, accessible only via a back alley and with the help of Google Maps. Pollen’s Oliver Hyde takes over with modern, aesthetically driven plates like yellow tail sashimi, carrots and bradade, smoked quail with Waldorf and grilled Iberico pork jowl, prunes and cauliflower and egg with dukkah and saffron mayo. The space, while intimate, is rather non-descript with typical wooden furniture and raw, exposed bricks. #01-01 110 Amoy St.,6221-5564
8. Smoke & Mirrors
Expect fancy showmanship at this terrace bar located above upscale Cantonese restaurant, Yan. Using smoke as a central theme, the cocktails, inspired by Southeast Asia, include the dramatically-named Tiger Blood Daisy, a mix of reposado tequila, fresh lime, homemade sour plum, Grenadine and Mombasa ginger beer. After knocking off a couple of rounds, slake your appetite with bar bites like the crispy roast pork belly and a range of cold cuts and fine cheese. #06-01 National Gallery, 1 St. Andrew’s Rd.
9. The Butcher’s Club Burger
Serious burger aficionados have another gourmet joint to check out. At The Butcher’s Club Burger, a Hong Kong-based burger chain, dry-aged beef patties are the name of the game. There’s no extensive, ambitious menu here—only a curated list of items like the Asian-inspired Wu Tang burger with a patty fried in sriracha and topped with tempura sweet potato and kimchi and a vegetarian chickpea and halloumi-based creation. The space, although located in the Clarke Quay watering hole stretch, is decked in cozy vinyl booths and wood interiors. #01-01B Clarke Quay, 3A River Valley Rd., 6837-0675
10. Vanity
Our beloved Ricky Paiva, formerly of Manhattan bar, has moved to this new outfit at the long-awaited opening of South Beach Quarter. It’s touted as a posh lounge, wine bar and club, with sleek Art Deco interiors, plush red carpets and heavy velvet drapes. Drinks-wise, he shakes up creations like the Nellie Lovett, a Sweeney Todd-esque concoction of rye, lemon, dry Vermouth, housemade Grenadine and house bitters; and the fancier Envy Me, inspired by a fragrance by Italian fashion house Gucci and made of bourbon, aperol, amaro nonino and lemon. 38 Beach Rd., 9829-2026
