I've set foot into Relish @ Cluny Court a few times. Once with a lively, chatty, gathering of about 10 including a baby, all HY ex colleagues. Another time with 2 close friends. This time round, only myself, just to kill some alone time on a Thursday noon time (my legitimate 24 hours rest time after my night duty).
Relish is located on the 2nd level of some restored 1928 shophouses, which is now Cluny Court. The decor is more casual than the parent restaurant, Wild Rockets @ Mount Emily.
The interior is simple, white wash and adorned with a lively yellow and orange mural of flying pigs and cows. This gives the restaurant a modern touch in the otherwise, aged, pre-war exterior. During the day time, natural light is led into the restaurant through the many glass panelled windows.
Like I have described above, Relish is equally welcoming for someone who wants to chill out (a weekday noon 1pm would be good, its quite empty when I'm here alone, wonder if it's the effects of the credit crunch), or for a party of lively gathering. To add a booster to the liveliness factor, Relish serves beers from all over the world.
The menu is created by Chef Willin, owner of Wild Rockets and Relish. He creates ingenious burger dishes with American-European flair and incorporating local ingredients, carving a niche in the Singapore food scene. Good burgers were hard to come by until his two restaurants were founded.
The chalk board on the walls highlight the meal specials and their popular burgers with all the local touches. Some of the more popular burgers are, Wild Rocket (their signature beef burger), Ramlee, BBQ Char Siew Pork and Spiced Lamb Pita. I noticed many of the guests looked European which only implies that they are quite taken with the local touches in Chef Willin's re-creations of dishes that originate from their home countries.
The last few times, I had dishes from their a-la-carte menu. This time, I'm trying their burger set-lunch at S$26++ for 3 courses. The 2 course set-lunch is at S$22++. There are a few items to select from a list of starters, mains and desserts. Here's the set lunch that I've picked from the set lunch menu.
Standard Coffee (or tea) : I've asked for the coffee to be served first, so as to perk me up after waking up early this morning.
Starters : Baked gorgonzola polenta cake with shiitake mushroom - This is cake alright, but the savoury kind. The sauce makes the whole dish very appetizing and encourage one to look forward to the mains that's arriving right after.
Mains : Chicken Masak Merah Burger - Chef Willin has added local Malay flavours in this burger. Sandwiched between the sesame-ed burger buns is a big chunk of tender chicken thigh meat covered with bread crumbs and then fried. The "masak merah" (means red cooking), a popular Malay way of cooking, is where the local twist is added to the burger. The "masak merah-ing" involves a tomato based paste with chilli and other spices. In this burgur dish, the red paste is spread between the burger halves and meat. Some lemon grass is added to accentuate the taste of chicken.
A close up of the Chicken Masak Merah showing the fried bread crumb coated chicken stacked up with the "masak merah" gravy and some lemon grass.
Dessert : Pandan-infused Panna Cotta with gula melaka - This pandan-infused panna cotta dipped in the gula melaka sauce is the cherry on top of my cake. I've already enjoyed lunch up to the point when I finished the burger and to top it off, I'm most delighted with this version of panna cotta. The pandan flavour and gula melaka really blends well with this dairy based Italian dessert. Would you ever find this amazing panna cotta in Italy?
Apart from the above, the spiced lamb pita is also good. I haven't eaten their Signature Wild Rockets burger but I heard its good too!
Most of the service staff are young and I'm not sure if they work in Relish on a permanent basis. The service is good when the restaurant is not filled, like this time I was there. During dinner time, Relish will see more customers. This is when the service may not be as prompt as I like it to be.
Address : #02-01 Cluny Court (next to Serene Centre), 501 Bukit Timah Road
Tel : +65 67631547
Country : Singapore
2 comments:
I have no idea what your dessert tastes like, but I'd try it!
YUMMMMMMM! That's all I have to say.
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