Dine In An Urban Garden
We make a trip to two multi-concept eateries housed in heritage buildings by the 1-Group (behind restaurants like Una). Who knew we’d end up loving the more ulu option in Seletar? (A version of this story first appeared in Issue 1374, Feb 16, 2017)
THE SUMMERHOUSE
3 Park Lane, S798387. Tel: 8608-3340. www.thesummerhouse.sg
1. Wildseed
Café open daily except Mon. Tues-Fri 10am-7pm; Sat-Sun 9am-7pm. Bar open Tues-Thur & Sun 4pm-10pm; Fri-Sat 4pm-11pm. Last orders 30 mins before closing.
THE LOOK: The ground-floor café enjoys an airy glass-walled space that is made all the more lovely by the presence of Poppy Floral Studio. Its marble counter of beautiful blooms imbues the white-and-wood-clad room with a sense of lush and leafy femininity.
THE FOOD:
A moist, dense banana cake given a Southeast Asian spin with whispers of ginger (in the thick toffee caramel drizzled on top) and candied ginger flowers that lend a gentle acidity to cut through the cake’s richness. Yum.
While at a garden café, why not try the vegetarian option? Good thing all the elements of this hearty burger will fill you up nicely. The falafel (fried chickpea patties) is surprisingly light, tasty, and lubricated by an eggplant stew and yoghurt sauce, which give the burger earthy Arabic flavours. Crumbled feta cheese add a hit of moreish saltiness.
2. The Summerhouse Dining Room and Balcony Bar
Open Wed-Sat 6pm-10pm; Sun 6pm-9pm. Closed Mon-Tue. Last orders 30 min before closing.
THE LOOK: We love the modern tropical-chic furnishings — brushed wooden chairs upholstered in either olive green or white-and-blue floral fabric, rich wooden floors, and a couple of large-leafed plants that bring the garden theme indoors.
THE FOOD:
We’re told there’s a surprise inside each of these glossy red orbs. For us, the surprise is that beetroot could taste this good. Chef Ridder pickles the beetroot in raspberry vinegar, which eliminates most of its inherent earthiness, leaving behind a tender, piquant vegetable. It cuts open to reveal a core of oozy ricotta and burrata cheeses flavoured with barley
grains, black sesame and fried shallots.
A fragrant soak in buttermilk, juniper berries, bay leaves and barley, before cooking in a low-temperature water bath for 72 hours, yields a spoon-tender and incredibly tasty hunk of sous vide Iberico pork collar. The rich flavours are counterpointed by a sharp chervil sauce, bits of sauerkraut and sweet chopped almonds. Extremely satisfying.
Rambutan Shells
Flower ($15)
This dessert comes with a bit of a show. Chef Ridder smokes the rambutan shells with hickory wood tableside, unleashing the fruit’s natural perfume before he leaves guests to savour this delicate dish. There is guava yoghurt sorbet, lychee-coconut foam, raspberry puree, bits of rambutan and rose meringue with hibiscus powder, which all conspire to provide light yet intricately floral flavours that are an excellent way to end the meal.
BOTTOM LINE: The deliciously inventive tasting menu at the more upscale Dining Room is quite a good deal at $128. Meanwhile, the snacks and especially the cakes at Wildseed are fabulous. We’d be regulars here if it wasn’t so far-flung. $-$$$$
THE GARAGE
50 Cluny Park Rd, Singapore Botanic Gardens, S257488. Tel: 6264-7978. www.thegarage.sg
1. Bee’s Knees
Open Mon-Fri 8am-6pm; Sat-Sun 9am-6pm. Last orders 5.30pm.
THE LOOK: Located on the ground floor, Bee’s Knees is cheerful and modern inside, with patterned walls and banquette, table and bar seating. When it’s not sweltering, the al fresco area is a lovely space to relax amid verdant tropical greenery.
THE FOOD:
Softly chewy within and lightly crusty around the edges, the flavours in this pizza live up to its name, with minced chorizo, salty purple olives and crunchy green peppers.
This vegetarian number is surprisingly satisfying, with fresh goat’s cheese, sweet slivers of roasted pumpkin, succulent cherry tomatoes and crunchy greens bound by a balsamic vinegar reduction. All tucked between almost cottony slices of focaccia.
As far as chocolate fudge cakes go, this one is smooth, lush and tinged with a nice bitter edge. As a red wine chocolate fudge cake, though, it falls short, mainly because there is no discernable flavour of the vino.
2. Botanico
Open Wed-Sun 6pm-10pm, closed Mon & Tues. Last orders 9.30pm.
THE LOOK: Hidden away on the second level, Botanico is a more contemporary open-plan space appointed in muted shades of grey and blonde. Though it is tastefully decorated, its furnishings are so modular it feels more like an event space than a restaurant. Adjoining the dining room is a terrace bar serving botanical-inspired cocktails that is kept happily cool thanks to hidden air-con vents. The Garage Gin’onic ($16), gin and tonic with house-made elderflower syrup, is refreshing.
THE FOOD:
This appetiser mingles hand-chopped raw lamb with deep-fried capers, smoked olive oil, and egg yolk cream. Surprisingly, there is nothing gamey about this earthy combination with a lovely complexity of flavour and a mildly tart mustard ice cream. Morsels of pickled onions gave each mouthful pops of piquant brightness.
On paper, this dish has all the chops: sweet-salty Spanish prawns grilled in a charcoal oven, plump Bomba rice cooked in a saffron-spiked prawn broth, and a sprinkle of fatty pork trotter bits to finish. In the mouth, however, the rice is one-dimensional. Sure, it’s imbued with the deep flavour of prawns, but it needs a kick of sweetness or acidity. Once we were done chomping on the succulent, umami carabineros, there was little impetus to keep going with the risotto-like rice.
This is by far the most original mod Sin dessert we’ve sampled in a long time — and there isn’t an ounce of gula melaka in it! The grassy flavours of the laksa leaf ice cream are mellowed out by slivers of jackfruit, sea coconut and longan, plus the comforting warm crunch of biscuit crumbs and white chocolate turmeric ganache.
BOTTOM LINE: While Bee’s Knees is a decent spot for café classics in a lovely setting, we prefer the reasonably-priced Asian-influenced modern Mediterranean food served at Botanico. $-$$$