Pidgin Kitchen & Bar

Arggg this is one of those places I really wanted to like. I love supporting local businesses, especially one that tries to push the boundaries of modern Singaporean cuisine. Unfortunately I have to say the fusion dishes didn’t quite blow our minds and the non-​fusion dishes were good. Ha!
I had a work dinner at Pidgin last night with 4 colleagues and we mostly ordered off the set menu, which seemed to encapsulate most of the best hits. Before I review everything I have to say the portions are generous so I’m not sure how Aileen N concluded that they were small.
For starters, I had the crab otak croquette, which smelled like otak but didn’t quite capture the rich chilli and coconut flavors you’d expect in the meat itself. The accompanying sauce apparently had chye poh but for the most part, it tasted like tartar. My Aussy colleague tried the tuna tartare and he seemed ok with it for the most part.
Next I attempted the roasted beetroot salad with local goat cheese. The dish kind of worked together but curiously, the beetroot slices didn’t taste or feel roasted. It was basically beetroot with a big slab of mostly sainte-​maure and some salad leaves on top — and somehow the flavors didn’t come together very elegantly. I’m guessing the sainte-​maure was quite young because it was creamy rather than chalky and not overly piquant.
On to the mains, I had the prawn capellini (I guess they’ve downgraded it from more pricey seafood stock) and one of my colleagues had the duck confit. My colleague said the duck was excellent and the sauce was wonderfully rich. My noodles, which are supposed to be a fusion take on wanton mee, tasted. umm…like not so awesome wanton mee? I think the stock and sauce for the noodles needed to be more robust because it felt very flat, though I did like the slices of chorizo iberico and green chilli. The wantons were fat but all I could taste was the well-​fried skin as opposed to the supposed tiger prawns hiding in there. Arg I really wanted to like this!
At least dessert was largely pleasurable all round with everyone enjoying the milo dinosaur and kaya bread & butter pudding, though the latter did come out a little dry.
Just based on my glancing through the dinner and brunch menus, I get the feeling that Pidgin has a little identity crisis. Because the mod-​sin dishes aren’t successfully pushing the envelope (see Wild Rocket’s laksa linguine as an example of success), it’s not making money on those dishes and it looks like the chef has acquiesced to the crowd with items like eggs benedict (yawn), duck confit, lamb rack and a steak (double yawn). I’m sorry if I’m being harsh here but if you want to be a mod-​sin restaurant than go all the way. Also, while the servers were attentive (there were only 3 covers anyway), they could’ve have championed the menu a little better by asking us if we’d been to the restaurant before and explain what makes Pidgin’s kitchen special.
I hope Pidgin stays in business but to do that, the owners need to figure out what their selling and sell it well.

First visit there, totally not impressed with the food. Lobster capellini was so average, can’t taste that it’s lobster and capellini made to taste wanton is just strange. Mac and cheese bak gwa does not go too. After the 2 items, we didn’t feel like trying anything else. Tiny portion, too overpriced!

writing a review after only one visit may not be ideal but first impressions, as we all know, are most important.
having read about them in the papers and magazines, i was indeed intrigued by what they have to offer.
i choped it and was instantly gratified.
for those not familiar but have been to dempsey hill, they are where pamplemousse used to stand.
love the high ceiling with understated wall prints and décor.
was initially given a choice of bar counter or next to the door table.
chose the table but found it weird that my reservations landed me such poor options.
upon verbalizing, my friend who entered the restaurant ahead of me failed to mention that we had a reservations because she, herself, was unaware, my bad.
the wrong was quickly corrected, and we were shown to our correctly choped sofa seats!
i love studying menus and fell in love reading theirs.
interesting ideas and combinations which i believe would work IF they can execute properly.
first up, uni toast, $ 18.
3 strips of soldiers with fresh uni sitting on cheese at one end.
uni was fresh but nothing mind blowing.
toast needs to be crispier and served hotter.
crab otak croquettes, $ 12, 3 pieces sitting pretty on a nicely tangy chye poh remoulade.
very well fried, chunk full of crab meat with a depth of otak and spices.
bak kwa mac and cheese, $ 20, served in a tiny casserole.
maybe they use lim chee guan’s bak kwa at CNY prices???
too creamy sans crusty chewy cheese with no hint of truffle oil as per menu.
penne a little on the hard side.
bak kwa was like the hunt for red october.
would recommend a no look, pass on this.
quinoa, $ 13, was a mushy meh mess.
totally bland and lacking in texture.
pork bone tea, $ 24, a dryish version of bak kut teh.
love the moreish tea smoked bone marrow bits!
tasty but not quite succulent pork ribs, best tackled with fingers.
did not have their must try famous duck confit but it looked rather yummy.
their milo dinosaur version 2.1 dessert, $ 15, was a winner for us.
every bite was sweet, rich and sin worthy.
service was helpful, attentive and polite.
a table of bloggers, obviously being treated to a meal here, were each lugging multiple DSLRs and flashily firing away like papa-​paparazzis.
but…
i’m not your biggest fan
i’ll not follow you until you love me
papa-​paparazzi.
but…
i will come back to try
your must try famous duck confit
papa-​paparazzi.