Restaurant Review: SIRI HOUSE Singapore Has Modern Asian Soul Food and New Al Fresco Seating at Dempsey Hill
PUBLISHED September 14th, 2020 04:00 am | UPDATED September 18th, 2020 10:57 am
Deep in the heart of Dempsey Hill‘s little enclave of upscale restaurants and stores, SIRI HOUSE by Thai luxury property developer Sansiri welcomes guests back after getting rejuvenated over the circuit breaker period. There’s now a beautifully transformed alfresco terrace for those who wish to dine while surrounded by nature and the sales gallery – now that most of the condos have been sold – now doubles up as a bar where you can enjoy pre-dinner drinks and bar snacks.
The kitchen, still helmed by the youthful Head Chef Leo Pang (who cut his culinary teeth at Le Benardin in New York amongst other places), also sees a new Modern Asian menu inspired by the team’s favourite food memories. The casual-fine style of dining is matched by the plush yet intimate setting coloured in with rich Italian velvet in jewel tones, deco jacquard motifs, and fauvist-inspired floral prints on the custom furniture.
We start with a couple of new aperitifs inspired by the flora and fauna of Dempsey Hill. Delicately floral and fruity, the Grape Expectations (S$16) is an inspiriting blend of Cocchi Vermouth Amaro, housemade osmanthus distillate and white grape fizz. More fruit-forward is the Orchard Crumble (S$16), a summery mix of fresh honeydew, apple crumble cider and Pimm’s.
Quintessential bar snacks at SIRI HOUSE include their improved fan favourite Biscuit 2.0 (S$12) and Papadum (S$10), inspired by childhood snacks Chicken in a Biskit and roti prata. The former sees crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth chicken fat cookies taken up a notch with curry spiced cream and liberal garnishing of chicken skin and turmeric mushroom dust. The latter is served with Madras curry crema topped with smoked fish chilli to represent the well-loved fish curry.
We also enjoyed Chef Leo’s use of smoke in both our smalls plates. Unlike some Hokkaido Scallops (S$29) we’ve had, the wild caught shellfish here are tender, sweet and briney. The natural flavours of the thick-cut scallops are accentuated all the more with cold hickory-smoked ikura, umami dashi jelly, sea grapes, and savoury hamachi bacon.
You’ll feel the effects of smoke more directly in the Szechuan marinated Chicken Oysters (S$19) grilled over binchotan, which are beautifully charred and almost luscious when dipped in the accompanying egg yolk tare sauce. If spice is life, feel free to let the kitchen team know that they can raise the spice level stakes.
For mains, Chef Leo keeps his pan-seared Barramundi (S$32) interesting with a tasty laksa-anchovy emulsion. The firm yet juicy flakes of fish is complemented by sweet charred Australian leeks and nutty cremini mushrooms. Next, and our favourite of the lot – the Unagi Risotto (S$32). Think Japanese rice cooked with burnt onion dashi and tomato consommé and earthy, sautéed chanterelle mushrooms topped with pickles and a gorgeously grilled unagi glazed with sweet soy.
Sweet endings await with SIRI HOUSE’s reinvention of local desserts. A hybrid between soya beancurd and ice jelly, the stroke of genius in Tropical “Tau Huey” (S$15) is the chili and lime dressing of the diced mango garnishing the gelatin-set coconut cream and tart passionfruit granita. The Jam & Toast (S$16) re-imagines everyone’s favourite kaya toast with an emerald-hued kaya cremeux topped with shavings of cured egg yolk, toasted milk ice cream, and brown butter crumbs.
If you’re the sort to pick a cocktail over a sweet treat, we’ve got just the nightcap. Their take on a clarified milk punch, Got Milk? (S$22), is an aromatic but not-too-sweet concoction of Darjeeling tea, milk, sherry, rum and lemon juice – complete with a housemade ghee biscuit to nibble on.
Delivering robust and stunning flavours in almost every dish, we look forward to sampling more from the team at SIRI HOUSE in the future.
SIRI HOUSE is located at Blk 8D, #01-02 Dempsey Hill, Dempsey Road, Singapore 249672, p. 9487 1552. Opens Tues-Sat 11.30am-2.30pm, 6pm-10.30pm, Sun 11.30am-4pm.
Top image: Jam & Toast
