The Royal Mail Restaurant & Bar

I’ll lead with the good news. The ambiance is nice, cozy, upscale. The food was very good, the chef and the culinary team are absolutely holding up their end of the bargain. Nicely seasoned, properly cooked, very nice. The service was humorously bad, you just don’t even complain any more so as to let your night continue smoothly, if unexpectedly. I ordered the set menu which was advertising a rib eye as the main, my dish came out exactly the same as someone who ordered the Roast Prime Rib. All of the sides were completely forgotten, eventually making it out after most of the mains had been completed. A request for sweetener produced an entire blue box at the table. Bottled wine refills had to be requested. The restaurant was not busy and there were staff standing around, but there appeared to be no teamwork, our one poor waiter was left to fend for himself. I doubt I’ll go back, as good as the food was, the price makes me hesitant and the service makes me certain I will not return.

I had a business lunch for three here. Won’t be back.
I had the set lunch — $ 35 — and had the watermelon salad and the halibut. The salad was pretty bad — hard little pieces of cheese (was suppose to be goat cheese, was two pieces of mozzarella and two tiny pieces of the ends of Brie — yuck) on top of hard watermelon with a side of arugula. Strange indeed. The halibut was fine, nothing to write about. Very small portions.
The service was so bad it was funny. At every course, they gave someone something that they had not ordered, it took 30 minutes for the food to arrive and 25 minutes for the entrees after the starters were cleared and that is after we asked. Although I enjoyed the company, an hour and a half for a business lunch is too long for most people.
Total bill was $ 168 for three. Paid cash and they made me sign a receipt. Again, strange, strange service.

Came here to try the Christmas set menu earlier, of which some items are also on the regular menu. Highlights for the starters include the Bay Scallops Salad with Walnut Mustard Dressing. Expertly cooked till the surface were lightly browned, the scallops were sweet and tender, complemented by red radish and mesclun at the side.
To most people, chestnuts means turkey stuffing or Mont Blanc. But here, chestnuts mean soup, a luxuriously creamy dish with bold splashes of subtly sweet balsamic vinegar reduction, giving it a great a multi-​dimensional sweetness. Bread is not missed here for the crunchy grissini breadstick works even better with the soup. Or one may consider soaking some of the amuse bouche of an aromatic, albeit deflated, Gruyère Cheese Choux puff into the soup!
Surprises never ceased as we were served a Turkey Breast Blanquette which was so unyieldingly tender and succulent that one would never imagined that it was a turkey. «Blanquette» generally refers to braised items in white sauces or stews for white meat. However, prior marinating before the sous vide process resulted in a flavourful cut on its own even without the fragrant truffle cream – a minimalist dream come true.
On the other hand, the Duck Leg Confit with Roasted Potato, Green Lentil-​scented mustard with brown gravy was a little lost on us. The meat seemed inconsistently done as some were tougher to chow than the others, though the skin was gratifyingly crisp. The lentils were also slightly undercooked.
A glorious mess it is, the Eton Mess was the most memorable dessert that night. It’s better than a pavlova, as the sweet-​salty manipulation between the fresh meringue shards and salted caramel sauce was deftly achieved. Loads of rich fattening devon cream but that’s the way it should be. Thankfully this is not only a festive dessert but a regular item available throughout the year!

Little bites with drinks are all the rage. We’re not stranger to Spanish tapas and Sangria, Italian Cicchetti with wine, so how about some British inspired tapas with specialty cocktails? The Royal Mail Bar, the extended beverage arm of The Royal Mail Restaurant, has recently launched its new cocktail menu, along with some yummy morsels to tantalize us social drinkers.
The Royal Mail Bar’s new bar grub menu was improved to complement their new drinks. My take on the pairing? Hmm… Well let’s discuss them separately for now. First, the drinks.
Agent 006 ($ 18) — a flaming mojito with a burning stream of Bacardi 151. Kinda strong for me. I couldn’t take more than a few sips.
Plum Job ($ 18), a Vodka and Sprite concoction with sour plum powder. Another really strong drink but also really sweet. It tasted very much like a sour plum juice.
Wrong Side of the Bed ($ 18) is what i’d call a dirty espresso, shaken up with Vodka, Kahlua and Baileys. This was kinda bland for me.
With Timeless English ($ 18), two classics are cohesively melded — earl grey tea and the classic martini drink. The drink is very light, and all the lot, i found this the most palatable.
We sampled all the bar bites from the menu just so that you wouldn’t end up eating the wrong things. I wouldn’t quite consider Garlic bread ($ 8, half loaf) to be a bar bite but this is served at The Royal Mail and it’s really yummeh. I loved how crispy and savory it was.
The straight cut fries ($ 12) are exceptional here and they are served with a rich and tasty truffle mayonnaise that had us double dipping the whole night. What’s awesome is that the fries remained crispy for a good part of the night.
For the meats, i found the Sauteed Chorizo Sausages ($ 16) to be decent even though they’re really fatty. The tomato concasse with saffron and chili was lovely as well though some may find the mix to be rather salty.
The Cubed Beef (Prime Roast 140g, $ 28) was decently done though i found the steak to be kinda oily. This was served with a Spicy Crab Tomato sauce which is interesting on its own but strange with the steak (no i don’t take ketchup with my meat). Skip the empty Béarnaise sauce.
The BBQ Sweet and Spicy Meatballs ($ 14) was sweet, no thanks to the raspberry jam. Again, i prefer my meat savory, not sweet.
The other bar bites were either too plain (tortilla chips, shrimp paste drumlets) or really bleargh (sweet potato chips and calamari rings) and should certainly be condemned.
If you need something more substantial, i’d say go for that Beer Battered Fish and Chips ($ 18). Even though our first plate was not thoroughly cooked, we gave it a second chance (they quickly replaced it) because it’s generously packed with real fish instead of stodgy batter.
This is certainly one of the better fish and chips around. Oh and it came with a stack of fries too! Make sure you upgrade it to the truffle mayonnaise! I’d certainly come back here if i have a fish and chips craving!
Anyhoo, we heard that the TRM Classic Beef Burger ($ 22) is also very popular.
Back to whether the bar grub complements the drinks? Well the food isn’t refined enough for cocktails but it would certainly work well with an ice cold beer.
Happy Hour at The Royal Mail Bar is from 5pm to 8pm, where all specialty cocktails go for $ 10 each, and 1-​for-​1 House Pour (Gentlemen’s Pour 45ml) go for $ 15.

Their set menus are actually rather good value for money. 58 for a three course dinner and under 70 for a 4 course. The prime ribs, which are their specialty, tasted quite good, although mine were a tad too salty. Besides that, I also tried their mushroom soup, foie gras and pear tart, which were quite delightful.
The downside of my dinner was the lack of transparency on their supposed 20% off ala carte items if you pay with a UOB card. The truth is that they do not split bills and if anyone in your party choses to have a set menu instead of ala carte, they are not able to give you any discount. I never knew it to be so difficult to split a bill or apply the discount to only the ala carte items.
I would recommend it if you want a quiet dinner somewhere in the center of the CBD. It is definitely decent food for a decent price. But do clarify with the staff about the ala carte promotions. I sincerely hope that they would figure out how to split a bill very soon.

Serving up modern British fare, The Royal Mail specialises in the classic British roast, with their varying cuts of prime rib served with Yorkshire pudding, garlic potato mash, buttered peas, and creamed corn. While the beef is great, I actually was much more impressed by the other mains and the starters.
The caviar and sea urchin tagliatelle is bursting with flavour, and the saltiness of the caviar goes very well with the creaminess of the sea urchin. We also very much enjoyed the Momotaro and Aged Parmesan Tart, where the tomato provided a good meaty flavour that satisfied even this most devoted carnivore. I also highly recommend the braised ox tongue. In a stew like mix of tomatoes and summer vegetables, it’s the perfect, hearty, nourishing dish to warm you up on a rainy day.
And and and, don’t, don’t don’t skip dessert. I’m not sure of the patissier’s name (all I know is that their patissier is female) but their salted caramel is one of the best I’ve had in ages. The Banoffee Tart and the Eton Mess are both MUST tries, and I’d go back again and again for dessert.
That’s not to say that the dining experience there is perfect though. Everything is reasonably price, and the portions are acceptable, however service can be inconsistent. We once waited nearly 20 minutes for our main courses, and though the staff apologised profusely, that was only after we called their attention to the lapse.
Overall I think that the Royal Mail is slightly pricey, but an above average dining option in the CBD, particularly if you have a sweet tooth. ;)