Masons

Masons is located in one of the few remaining Black & White colonials in Gillman Village. Happy hour, from 4 – 7, is quite reasonable, and their strawberry daiquiri (if you ask them to serve w/​o refined sugar) is above average. The draft beer is tolerably cold. Service is so-so…but is typically well meaning and some of the staff do make a fair attempt. The food is largely ok, but we have not tried anything remotely memorable. If you work in the vicinity and are drawn to places with character, Masons is one of the few decent happy hour options… but I would not recommend for dinner…

Generally nice ambiance, but totally lacking in substance and service. The server could hardly speak basic service English. Pizza was just ok. COD was just average too. All in all, needs a lot of improvement.

In a nutshell: Impecable service, great gastronomical experience and lots of parking spaces outside the restaurant (free on weekends too!) = score!
We went there to celebrate mother’s day dinner and the place was huge. The titles were lined with black & white checked squares, reminding me of Alice In Wonderland. The walls were laced with old photos of Singapore back in the 50−60s? A private collection of the owner’s. The place wasn’t crowded on the evening we came. Our servers wrote white gloves as they place the cutlery and dishes on our table after each course. Our french server, I think he was the manager, took care of our table. He had a good sense of humor and made my parents laugh which was great! Dad can be picky about his food (especially when someone else, aka me, decides to try a new place for the first time).
1. Seared Foie Gras (with orange & cointreau) — Beautifully done! even though I am not a fan of Foie Gras, I took a little bit out of this one and it was perfectly pan-​fried. Slightly crispy on the outside while retaining all of its juices & flavor on the inside.
2. Lobster bisque — Good. I even found a piece of lobster tail in my portion. Yums!
3. Seared scallop, lobster tail & Cod tortellini with mussel sauce — Ok. I didn’t care much for the Cod tortellini which tasted a tad bit fishy. I liked the green pea paste and lobster tail. Excellent presentation.
4. Seared Wagyu beef fillet with roasted duck breast — Some slices of the Wagyu beef were slightly too undercook for my liking. I prefer my meat medium to well, but I could see why they would not risk cooking it for awhile longer. The slices were too thin and too much heat could have easily spoilt the beef. The duck was excellent. None of those strong smell that sometimes accompanies duck meat. I love the black vinegar-​like sauce that was drizzled over the meat. I only wished they gave more.
5. Lemon Tart with raspberry sauce and Crème fraîche? — Good. The top of the lemon tart was slightly caramelized like the top of a crème brûlée. The Crème fraîche was a little on the sour side but nonetheless was a good compliment to the sweetness of the tart.
6. Dark chocolate — Good. Powdered on the outside. Think Royce’s chocolates :)
7. Camomile Tea — I didn’t dare risk a sleepless night on a caffeinated drink. A pleasant, warm, soothing finish to an excellent meal!
PS: they have little napkins folded like shirts. adorable!

Great ambience, excellent quality food but slow service. Once all the art gallery this will be a fantastic location.

the gillman barrack’s website says they open at 11.30am.
but they don’t!
i was there at 11.50am and a european lady was still mopping the floor.
told us to wait for 5mins as they are not opened yet.
took a walk and came back at 12pm and still not ready.
sigh.
finally seated at 12.05pm.
the dining room menu does say 12 – 2.30pm and 6.30−9.30pm.
after i finished ordering from their ala carte menu, i couldn’t help but notice that other patrons were offered a set lunch menu, which we were not?!
out of curiosity i asked to see the set lunch menu.
it was a festive set lunch menu and regardless of whether we ordered from it or not, they should have shown it to us.
2 other staff, a local man and a chinese national lady were however very good in terms of service during our meal.
the freshly baked bread came piping hot but was very, very bland!
you definitely need the accompanying butter to give it any taste at all.
the calamari and fish and chips were both nicely done.
the batter was light yet crispy and the mayo dip had a nice tang to it.
the classic lobster bisque had a nice umami with chunky lobster pieces.
the foie gras was perfectly seared and paired well with the lovely plum jam and kiwi compote.
the amount of foie gras however was wanting.
finally, after a longer then usual break, the pork cheeks arrived and it was nice.
a good combo of flavours, colours and texture.
the roasted pears however could be softer and sweeter.
i can see potential and they should get better with time.
will be back for further validation.

We had a family dinner at Masons this evening on the behest of my Mum, who had read about this 2 month old restaurant at Gillman Barracks. I am not a picky person by nature but having lived and traveled a bit, I have often found it frustrating to find restaurants in Singapore that deliver good food AND good service with prices that leave you enough change for the cab right home. And don’t even get me started on service standards. So it was to our family’s delight (we were a party of six mind you), that Masons met all those check boxes.
Masons serves modern European cuisine in a former British barrack. The interiors have been done up in a modern Colonial fashion, with white and black tiles, teak tables, glass front windows and pictures of Singapore back in the day. A testament to the owner’s attention to detail are the fashionable white show and side plates monogrammed with the restaurant’s name, and white napkins folded into the shape of a shirt with a thyme «tie». The menu itself has some classic dishes like dishes like Roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, Coq au vin and Duck confit, but also innovative ones like roast pork cheeks with pear and sweet potatoes. For starters, my family ordered the gamut from lobster bisque and mussels to the fried brie. I liked the lobster bisque as it was flavorful (doused with cognac I think) but not too heavy. The fried brie was incredibly delicious — sweet, crunchy on the outside with a nutty overtone. Oh and the freshly baked bread rolls dolled out were all gone in minutes.
For mains, 4 out of 6 of us ordered Pork cheeks, which is really pork neck to the Cantonese and Spaniards. It was pan fried and topped with pear and some tart emulsion, along with local vegetables and sweet potato. This should be the restaurant’s star dish. Pork cheek itself is usually quite fatty (which is why it makes a killer char siew) but the cut served was surprisingly lean, very moist and fell gently apart when cut. The fruit-​based accompaniments went very well with the pork and who can complain about sweet potatoes? My sister had a grilled cod that was also very well done while my man had the duck confit. The duck was done pretty well and soft, but not as crispy on outside as he would have liked. We paired this meal with some Napa Valley Cab Sav, which was full bodied enough to handle the flavors on the table.
For dessert, we had the crêpe Suzette, dark chocolate mousse and chocolate fondant. All of which did more than an excellent job of finishing our meal. The same can be said of the service led by a French lady who I’m guessing was the maitre d. She explained the menu and what was available, made sure our glasses were always full and checked on our meal throughout the evening. The other waitstaff were also trained to serve our dishes without disrupting our conversation but careful to announce what they were serving. I wish I could commend this level of service more but it is TRULY appreciated and lacking these days.
So if you’d like a chic and enjoyable evening with good European food, I’d suggest checking out Masons. It is so much better than many of the over hyped, chi chi wannabe restaurants around town and it is about time we got some sensibility in the dining scene. Bravo.