I don’t know what came over me.

I am not good at meeting new people, and a disaster if thrown into a cocktail party situation.  I tend to talk to people I already know.

So what got into me to sign up for Khana Commune?

Khana Commune is one of Singapore’s new things, a secret supper club.

A what?

Secret Suppers are like flash mobs for eating.  In the instance of Khana Commune, host (the very lovely) Zina Alam opens her home to you and up to 15 others.  You pay to hang out at Zina’s home and eat what she prepares for you, with people you don’t know.

Usually something I would avoid like the plague, but I was piqued with curiosity and by pictures of Zina’s food showing up on my FB page.  You know I have a fondness for food (understatement).

My friend Mai described it ‘checking our social skills, to see if we still have any’.

Tiong Bahru is the new Club Street it would appear.

From a quaint deco-ish estate with long-time residents mixed with dormitories for foreign workers (legal or not I don’t know, but I went into a tiny property once that housed about 35 men, no windows, no air), to an influx of new residents paying $1m (it was $800k about 6 months ago) for a 2bedroom flat.

Part of the hipness is from the newer business opening there – uber-hip Books Actually and even uberer-hip Strangelets.  And the buzz around Forty Hands for stellar coffee.  All on one quiet street.

Now joining them on Yong Saik Street is new eatery Open Door Policy.  A resto-child born out of a ménage a trois of Cynthia Chua (Spa Esprit), Ryan Clift (Tippling Club) and Harry Grove (Forty Hands).

As it is the hot new thing, make sure you book well in advance, or wait a couple of months.

We only tried a few dishes, so please share on FB if you try the other dishes on the menu.

As usual I got so caught up in eating, I forgot to take pictures, so you’ll have to make do with the stock photos.

It must be that I’m not hip enough or too old, because the decor just didn’t do it for me.  Uncomfortable metal chairs (old school chairs?) that snag your clothes and your skin (if you’re wearing a skirt), cold metal ceiling, strange wood panelling.  The large skylight in the back of the space is lovely, and if you’re seated in that part of the resto, it’s got a very New York-y feel to it.  It could just be that I’m of the age that I would choose warm and inviting comfyness over edgy, painfully-hip decor.  You young hipsters might love it.

Happily though, the food is outstanding.  It’s tasty, tasty, very very tasty, it’s very tasty.  (you think I’m babbling, but I’m just quoting a commercial from the 80s!)

I felt like Gregg Wallace on Masterchef with every first spoonful.  Because really, the food here is all about the taste, and the genius in being able to extract as much taste out of a single spoonful possible. You really do get multiple hits of taste from one spoonful because of the chef’s skill in building complexity to a dish.  It’s not about comfort food and losing yourself in volume and a food coma.  It’s about making each mouthful count.

That thing you hear on those shows all the time – you have to really know your food to be able to combine flavours to make a masterpiece – yes, that’s here.   Much like how Willin Low manages it with his local-modern fusion at Wild Rocket.

We had 2 starters – the baba ganoush and the halloumi (menu here).  The baba ganoush made really interesting with the addition of curry oil.  Creamy, flavourful, with an uplift from the curry oil.  But the halloumi!  I would go back just for the halloumi.

As with all the dishes, beautifully presented.  Grilled strips of halloumi in a dish with olive oil, roasted cherry tomatoes, anchovies and olives.  Salty, bitey cheese, softened by the olive oil, sweetened by the tomato bursting in your mouth.  Don’t ignore the cubes of drenched focaccia in the bowl.  Yet another lovely flavour, yet another texture.

I had the much-buzzed-about beef cheek – 48 hour cooked sous vide.  And truly, it really is the tenderest cheek of beef you could hope to meet!  It really gently melts.  You have to love meatymeatmeat – because the central flavour of it is it’s rare-ish meatiness – much like tartare.  I don’t think I could eat it again as I like my meats adorned or really done.  But I’m glad I took the opportunity to celebrate flavour and texture like that.

Next time it’s the rigatoni bolognese for me.

We had the lime pannacotta with coconut sago and the white chocolate mousse with raspberry headache (still don’t know exactly what a raspberry headache is)  The pannacotta was yummy and comforting but the white chocolate mousse was stunning.  Little pellets of semi-frozen white choc mousse dusted in raspberry powder (the headache??) with raspberries on the side and raspberry coulis (all of those make for a headache??).  The sensation of the hard pellet melting in your mouth to release the milky sweetness countering the bite of the raspberry.  Damn.

Another surprising wow was the affogato – espresso over a dollop of ice cream.  The coffee is from Forty Hands and they take coffee really seriously here (no decaff) and wow, it really is something else.  That round-but-bitter, rich, intense coffee meeting the melting, creamy vanilla ice cream – just amazing.  I think that might have been the best coffee I’ve ever tasted.  It was definitely the best affogato ever.

Service was good, with young, knowledgeable, well-spoken staff.  We had a bit of a to-do with the maitre d’, but he did work very hard to redeem himself.  It did mar the evening and we did have to leave early because of it – but the effort he made to make up for the upset was appreciated.

It wasn’t the most comfortable experience ever, but it was one of my tastiest.  I don’t think it’ll become one of my default restos as it wasn’t terribly welcoming, but good food nonetheless.

All hail the chef and the coffee maestro.

19 Yong Saik Street

bookings: enquiries@odpsingapore.com

A friend passing through town asked me to pick a restaurant for dinner for our annual catch-up/philosophical debate/chin wag.  He’s pretty careful about his carb intake, so I thought this was the perfect time to try one of the several new steakhouses in town.

I am not much of a meat eater (in fact I’ve gone meat free many times in my life) but do appreciate a good steak every now and then.

I called Bedrock and was told that Saturday dinner was in 2 sittings.  From 6.30-8.30 or 8.30 onwards.  So – eat early and skedaddle somewhere else or eat late and linger.  Neither was attractive.

I called Cut at MBS and fully expected ‘we are full’ but lo and behold, they had room.  Mindful of friend’s wallet (he always buys dinner), I asked what the average $ per head was.  ”Starting at $300 per person for 3 courses”.  Wow.  That had to be pretty fine steak.

The menu is relatively simple – starters, then a choice of different cuts of different grades of meat (from USDA Prime to 100% Japanese Wagyu), with your choice of sauces and sides (from mac and cheese to caramelised onions to broccoli).  There are other dishes (chicken, pork) on the menu should you not eat beef.  (menu here)

Mr Puck and the various cuts on offer

Given that the beef is priced to be AMAZING (the cheapest cut starts at $70), we opted to avoid the starters and keep our appetites primed (pardon the pun) for the main event.

I opted for the cheapest New York sirloin (the USDA Prime aged 21 days) and my friend the Australian Angus, aged 35 days).  We had creamed spinach and broccoli, and I had the shallot-red wine bordelais sauce.

OMG.

It was amazing.  The seasoning was beautiful (13 herbs and spices) and the smoke-grill was evident in the multi-layered flavours.

The meat was firm but sliced easily (like butter).  Each mouthful was flavourful, with just enough chew before it melted in your mouth.

The sauce was delightful, and the sides excellent – beautiful creamed spinach, and perfectly cooked and seasoned broccoli.

This is NOT your average steak experience, but a connoisseur’s delight.

Without a doubt, the best steak I have ever had.  My friend said it was on his top 3 list (he’s eaten more steaks than I have!)

We were so satisfied we didn’t even want dessert to spoil it.

But of course, being a high end restaurant, you’re spoiled with amuse bouches and petit fours.  The amuse bouche was a fabulous choux concoction with a gruyere kick.  The petit fours were little macaroons and cookies – just enough of a sweet ending.

I had been fearful before dinner that the hefty price tag was because of the celebrity chef and not because of the quality of the food.  Happily, I was wrong.

The service was good (maybe a little forced, but I appreciated the effort), the decor upmarket-modern-American-casual-chic, with pictures of Hollywood stars gracing the walls (there is a Cut in Beverly Hills, and it’s a celeb favourite).

My gripe is that it’s awfully dark – I get the ‘romantic’ atmos attempt but seriously, I’d like to have been able to see more.  Turn up the lights a little.

What was amazing to me was the number of families and children having dinner.  Given that our bill for 2 steaks, some beers and bottled water was $400, how can people afford to bring their entire families for a casual dinner?  And would you want your 10 year old eating $100 steak?  It blew my mind, especially when I asked our charming waiter about it.  He said they were mostly local families, just having dinner, no special occasion.

Remarkable.  There’s obviously a lot of money wafting around, and Mr Puck must be sitting in his counting house yelling “KA-CHING!”

I want to go back again, to try the $250 wagyu steak (beautifully marbled).  I asked the waiter if that steak sang and danced in your mouth.  He said “no singing or dancing, but like heaven”.

Good enough for me.  Better start putting the pennies in the piggy bank so I can get back there.