The Tippling Club, Singapore

For the GoodEggs a trip to Singapore usually means embarking on a Food Odyssey.  And a chance to hang out with our dear friends who live in Singapore is a bonus.  So I messaged Marilyn to make dinner plans (and Bobby text his best mate SP, who made the call to dine at L'Angelus). 

For dinner on the first night, we settled on The Tippling Club , mostly because it has an amusing website. 

According to British born owner and chef Ryan Clift, The Tippling Club is "fine dining without the snobbery" so I fretted a bit having given a wide berth to dress.  Bobby said he could do without the snobbery given that he'll be dressed in his work clothes.

That Friday evening Marilyn, her darling Saik and I headed over to The Tippling Club which is housed next door to Spa Esprit on 8B Dempsey Road.  I was in jeans and a dressy top, with Louboutins on my feet just in case Chef Ryan lied.  Walking in we were warmly greeted by his wife Leesa.  She's petite and pretty, dressed avant garde chic in 'deconstructed' black apron, black tights and flats.  She's an interesting start to our evening.  The noise of the kitchen hits me as I enter a room filled with a large 3-sided bar.  In the middle of the bar is a steel island where Chef Ryan and his merry little helpers concoct food that surprises you.  His partner in crime is one Matthew Bax, a bad-ass mixologist whose unique cocktails complements the chef's food.  Ryan and Matthew are partners in the restaurant, as is Cynthia Chua of Spa Esprit.

We sat at the corner of the bar, two abreast.   

Chef comes over to tell us that they can only cater for one course per group of diners so every one must either have the five, ten or fifteen course menu. Bobby, raring to try the 15 course menu, was thwarted by his dining companions who decided to take on the 10 course.

While waiting for our food I was taking pictures as you do but was politely discouraged by a Filipino waiter who told me the restaurant's No Pictures policy.  I can of course take pictures of my friends and if I wanted pictures they will email me the pictures from their stock.  I made a moue at this rebuff but its reasonable, I guess, to want to control your images online. So much for the the new non stuffiness.

The food however was a breath of fresh air.  Each of the 10 courses was paired with a drink.

Butter nut squash soup was a frozen butter nut foam with goats cheese and bitter chocolate, it came with a "teachers tipple", a bitter sweet cocktail served in a flask hidden in a book.  The container for the soup, an upturned squash, by some trick of the science lab and not the kitchen - melted into the soup at room temperature.   

"Satay" was pleasantly reworked.  Quail brushed with a sweet sauce in a green curry paste, the coconut  not only dessicated also freeze dried.  All taken together, this tasted like the classic street side food, though reworked so that each of the elements of the dish came from some where else, the crunch for example not coming from the peanuts (which you taste but do not feel), but from the coconut. The satay sauce coming not being a chunky brown, but a vibrant green.

42* egg.  A poached egg came in a bowl, with fried bread and a cheesy foam, complimented with an amaretto based cocktail served in a plastic bag.  Kopi-o with the breakfast, yes we get it.

Two types of foie gras, cold and hot. The cold looks like its hot, having been shot through with liquid nitrogen so that it steamed and the hot liquid foie gras deep fried in a casing and looking like a cold  dessert.

Pickled ray, was skate cooked in vinegar with picked veg. Kudos for the local ingredients. Bobby liked this, but a bit fishy for me.

A plate of wonderful fresh vegetables with mushroom soil, a star. We are wholeheartedly carnivorous, so who would have thought that a simple plate of vegetable could move you so?

To end the seven savories a plate of very nice barramundi .   

The pictures are courtesy of The Tippling Club.

Teacher's Tipple and Butternut Soup to start...

Foie gras, freeze dried and deeelicious.

The vegetables.

42*s Egg came with a Kopi-O.

You get to figure out the 1+2=4.

3 desserts, all with their own cocktails. Strawberry, banana and pistachio textures.

The food was quite lovely, in delicate portions. Some courses, especially the early ones make you think, and others thankfully, simply showcased good ingredients and cooking. 10 courses in all, and by the end a bit hard going. It was more to do with the large number of drinks, which never the less came in quite small pours. 

The food that Chef Ryan came up with is kinda like his website and his wife's apron, different and cool.  Imagine a laboratory, in a university cafeteria, in dark wood and steel.  Everyone, including the diners, busy and the atmosphere hip and happening.  Was it fine dining, yes I think so.  Was it snobbish?  A little bit, you know you can't imbibe progressive food and not feel a tad pretentious.

Four hours later I was bursting at the seams and delectably entertained.  Having a 10 course dinner late is no mean feat but I gladly suffered some indigestion while trying to sleep because The Tippling Club was kinda worth it.

Would we return? Have to say, yes. Bobby says bring on the 15 courses.   

~ Food bits written by BobbyGoodEgg

Comments

[rubbit]

Upon seeing the good reviews... tv ads and watever there is. 4 of us went to his place for dinner and were prepared to splurge. But upon seeing the menu, there are no a la carte, only four types of courses/ sets. since nobody filled in the pricing. let me fill it up for u guys. Five courses is 145++ which consists mainly of greens and no drinks, 240++ with pairing meaning each course comes with its specialized drinks. another set is 230++ which consist of 9 courses with no pairing, 380++ with pairing. And be warned that this is only for 1 person. We order 2 sets of 145++ and 1 set of 230++, we requested to share the 230++ because it was 8 courses and dont think 1 person can finish it all. But they do not respect us and insisted that it was not allowed. I thought dining experiences are supposed to cater to customer's needs? Plus we are there to try the food and not crawling in with starvation. We ended it by just walking out of the place. They could have easily earned $700 out of 4 people but they chose not to earn any by turning down a simple request to simply share 1 set. I will not return again

[EmmaGoodEgg]

Darling Sleepless - You know I'd never show and tell ;) xx

H. - Thank you, but I don't think I could do that. With regards, Emma

[H.]

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If you are interested, kindly mail back at [email protected], indicating your blog for reference, and I'll send you back pricing details, guidelines and processes. Looking forward to doing business with you.

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[sleepless]

yeah yeah i believe you that the food was great. dont really care for the foodie photos. I want photos of the louboutin..make that DEMAND!