PUBLISHED May 6th, 2017 06:00 pm | UPDATED November 10th, 2017 11:15 am
Chef Petrina Loh’s star has risen. Shortly after she moved Morsels from Little India’s Mayo Street to the lush greenery of Dempsey Hill at the end of January 2017, the experimental fusion restaurant picked up the Restaurant of the Year award at World Gourmet Summit while she received the lauded Chef’s Choice award (Western Cuisine). And lucky us, we managed to pay a visit to Morsels’ new home the day after the awards ceremony. A barnyard-style standalone house in the heart of the dining enclave, it sports a four-seater by-reservations only Chef’s Table built into the kitchen and an open bar amidst the repurposed and reupholstered wooden furniture and hanging plants. Distrressed walls, exposed roof beams and brick walls enhance the rustic vibes.
Morsels might be in its fifth year, but it’s still the same rule-bending child we met three years ago that defies pigeonholing. The food is a hodgepodge of global influences that manages to be down-to-earth and novel at the same time. It’s not surprising, given that that’s the air that Chef Petrina, a corporate-type-turned culinarian, gives off herself.
For dinner at Morsels, you have the option of going a la carte or the Omakase Menu ($85 per person, wine pairing available at $45 per person for three glasses), where Chef serves up a multi-course meal comprising dishes from the a la carte menu and seasonal specials. Tip: if you’re looking for a cheap(er) date night, 6pm and 6.30pm seatings have the option of having the Omakase menu at $65 per person; but you’d have to return the table by 7.30pm.
First up, the Isigny Oyster No.3 ($6 per piece, minimum six pieces per order). Hailing from Normandy, these briny bivalves are dressed with kumquat shrub and pickled Kaiso seaweed for acidity and kumquat gel for a touch of sweetness. An alternative bite-sized snack would be the Deviled Egg ($4.50 per piece), filled with a generous mixture of egg yolk, smoked crabmeat, and home blend togarashi. Topped with house cured duck prosciutto for a pop of savoury.
For a couple of refreshing starters, opt for the Kasu-Cured Hiramasa Kingfish ($22) or the Compressed Watermelon Salad ($18). Cured with lees left over from sake production, the creamy Hiramasa Kingfish squared off with the creamy rhubarb aioli, burst of freshness from pickled grapes and wolfberries, and the sweetness of the pistachio praline. The latter, on the other hand, might not be well-suited to those who’re not a fan of greens since the typical salad leaves here are replaced by Asian bok choy. That, the air whipped burrata – hence creamier and lighter – is absolutely delicious with the watermelon, asparagus, and fermented watermelon salsa.
If you’re looking for warm small plates, you can’t go wrong with the Snake River Farms Kurobuta Char Siu ($24). Assembled with Szechuan style pickled cucumber and a homemade char siu sauce that’s not too sweet, the smooth, flavourful pork was on the edge of melt-in-your-mouth. While Chef Petrina chose to serve this particular kurobuta as char siu precisely because it’s not too fatty, the smear of fermented pineapple sauce gave abit of tartness and acidity to the dish. We do wish it had more of a char. Brined in Sichuan peppercorns, the Grilled Wild Sri Lankan Tiger Prawns ($24) brings a real spice to the table. We have no complains about the prawns themselves or the tamarind miso sauce for a bit of umami, but the accompanying Sakura ebi daikon cake can definitely afford to be more crisp and crispy.
By now, we realise that Chef Petrina’s culinary philosophy is to use a variety of ingredients to present all possible flavours – sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and umami – on one plate, as well as different textures and temperatures. In a bid to achieve this, you’ll see the different jars on the kitchen counter where ingredients are undergoing lacto-fermentation and pickling. One Morsels’ signature that features homemade cabbage kimchi in a way you’d never expect is the Steamed Venus Clams ($24). While the clams were sweet and juicy, we’d say the star of the dish is the tasty fig broth that the clams come steeped in. The secret to the broth, we hear, is a Chinese herb called yu zhu, the dried edible rhizome of the Solomon’s Seal flowering plant.
Our last large sharing plate was the Grilled Iberico Pork Jowl ($32). A twist on the classic pork and apple combination, there’s every flavour on the plate here as well, from the moreish Boston Bay blue mussels, fermented applesauce, taro puree, and quinoa. It’s not my favourite of the lot but it tastes good enough to order for a large group.
Before dessert, we managed to try part of their weekday set lunch, which is priced at $25 with an appetizer of the day. This is an avenue for the rest of the team to show their chops, such as each chef creating a noodle dish that reflects their own heritage. Apparently, one member of the team is from Penang so we got to sample his Assam Laksa, and granted, the broth is one of the most authentic I’ve had in Singapore. There’s a bit of contemporary thrown in, like using glass noodles instead of rice noodles and pickling half of the Norwegian mackerel (the other half is deep fried).
Thankfully, after all that we had, dessert was a simple slice of good chocolate cake with a blueberry compote and homemade sour cream crispy milk. Unfortunately, you probably won’t find this at Morsels now as it was part of a World Gourmet Summit-exclusive menu.
In a nutshell, eating at Morsels can be incredibly exhilarating, but it can also wear you out with so much on one plate. My palate started getting a little tired after the fifth dish and that was a real shame. So if you’re going a la carte, don’t over order; play around with pairing dishes with wines or cocktails instead for a better experience.
Morsels is located at 25 Dempsey Road, #01-04, Singapore 249670, +65 6266 3822. Open Tue-Thu 12pm-3pm, 6pm-10pm, Fri 12pm-3pm, 6pm-10.30pm, Sat 10.30am-3pm, 6pm-10.30pm, Sun 10.30am-3pm.