Wok & Barrel

Again, one of these newfangled, pretty hawker fare places that make me scratch my head and wonder WHY on earth am i paying an elevated price?
It is great to try once for the experience and to see what all the hype is all about. But the homegirl in me would much rather pay $ 3 for a real plate of grimy nasi lemak.

Writing this review actually pains me…
Like a story of fantasy, I fell in love with this place the moment I set my foot and sat down. I was in love with the concept. I was in love with their attention-​to-​detail. I was absolutely in love with their preparation and their spin on traditional dishes that many would consider… street food.
Yes, I adore thee… Wok & Barrel… and I am deeply saddened that your doors will not remain open after next month… especially when it would be of little surprise to be planted in the corner of your establishment consuming plate after plate of your nasi lemak.
Alas, we say farewell next month… and of all things, can it be something else instead of STAFFING issues? Really… as in REALLY? There’s no remedy for that? Why not HIRE fans like me? =)
So like many others in the group, I’m glad to have made it to the UYE to highlight this establishment before they disappeared off the map.
I shall always remember thee as follows:
1. Nasi Lemak — fragrant… fragrant rice… with a chilli atop cucumbers that can warm the coldest winter. (In other words, for people who can’t tank HOT spices like me, I was sweating up a storm.)
2. Fried chicken — the sweetness of the fried chicken (from — obvious — use of sugar) really brings out its awesomeness. (Side note: My grandmother makes the BEST chicken wings EVER before she stopped cooking meat… and after more than a decade, I dug out her secret ingredient… a hint of sugar. /​Mindblown!)
3. Sambal eggplant — a little sweet and a surprisingly light spiciness that paired perfectly with the rice.
4. 5-​spice pork — it tasted decent and didn’t really catch my attention like the eggplant and chicken.
5. Your sweet little selection of AWESOME brews. =)
HERE’S A WISH: I’m seriously hoping you’ll relaunch someday in the near future… and never run into… STAFFING problems again.
Unilocal 100: ¹⁴⁄₁₀₀

Had a friend come home for a quick trip, and he was asking about this place… and I couldn’t tell him anything about it because I’d never been myself!
No shame, let’s head there for lunch I said, and so we trooped in this afternoon. We walked in and I asked for a table for the five of us and here’s the first sign of trouble — lots of tables for four, and a reserved table for six… Where do we fit? The server umm-​ed and ahh-​ed as he looked around, and then whispered very loudly over to his colleagues, before finally asking if we could split the group between two tables. In my head, did he want one of us to sit alone? I was super puzzled that he couldn’t just pull up another chair to one of the other four-​seater tables… which is what we eventually did.
After that fun experience, we got down to the food, which totally saved the day.
Make sure you get the nasi lemak rice sets for $ 1.90, which are kinda like your starter kits: rice, a slice of omelette, ikan bilis and sambal. Then go nuts on all the other stuff! We had the five-​spice pork (excellent), crispy chicken (also excellent, with sweet crispy skin!?), and brinjal (slightly less excellent, but still… damn tasty). And yet there was so much more to try.
I hear they are closing for good in March, so make sure you pop by before you miss them forever!

Tried the bak chor mee pasta, beef rendang pizza and pulot hitam cake which came with coconut milk ice cream.
I enjoyed this rendition of the bcm pasta and rendang pizza. Conceptually interesting, and quite a fresh take on local fare. In terms of execution, though, I wasn’t particularly blown away by these two dishes.
The star of the bcm pasta was supposed to be the pork but since there were only shreds of pork in the noodles, which were quite thick and dominated the dish, maybe the pork wasn’t given full justice.
As for the rendang pizza, I know everyone loves this. It sounds cool. However, the taste was within expectations. It was rendang on top of pizza, no other toppings were used to blend the two together. The rendang here is supposed to be good, but again, the servings of meat on the pizza were quite small and I thought the pizza crust wasn’t enough of a foil for the rendang to let the rendang shine. Which is quite a shame.
I’m a fan of the pulot hitam cake dessert, we didn’t expect it to be so good. It’s supposed to be the local version of sticky date pudding and I think it does an admirable job. It’s drenched in gula melaka butterscotch, which we couldn’t get enough of. The coconut milk ice cream was also a delight. It was much lighter than I thought it would be, and went perfectly with the dense cake.

I visited Singapore and stayed with my Singaporean friend who recommended Wok and Barrel because it’s one of the few places she knows of that serves actual Singaporean food (whatever that is conceptualized as). Walking into this place, I didn’t really know what to think, since it looks kind of like a bare-​boned and white-​washed McDonald’s — there wasn’t much personality to the place. But don’t let the looks fool you!
The menu is expansive, with many choices. My friend and I tried a range of food, from the coconut rice to some beef and pork dishes, as well as the fried chicken. We did not expect the portion sizes to be so large, so we definitely over-​ordered! The dishes were all tasty, but the fried chili soft-​shlled crab was my favorite — though I didn’t like all the chili paste just dumped on top of the crab like that, but I’m not sure if that’s the «style» of how you make this dish.
Overall, I would recommend Wok and Barrel for some different flavors while in Singapore. It’s tucked near Neil Street by a bunch of tapas places, so this restaurant is a good jumping off point for going to some bars after dinner. We were here on a Saturday night and the kitchen did a last call at around 940pm, so this clearly is not a late place to go out…

Had dinner at Wok & Barrel yesterday for the first time and really liked it.
— The décor is lean and clean, and what I like, not pretentious at all.
— The service is very friendly and proactive.
— The food is «Singapore Fusion». Traditional cuisine — sometimes with a little twist. I had the beef rendang which was very tasty.

I’ve realised that if I want to live the champagne lifestyle on a beer budget, the trick is to go look for lunch specials. Wok & Barrel has an excellent one – for under $ 10, you can get a nasi lemak set (crispy pork or crispy chicken), and a drink. It’s a fantastic introduction to their yummy food – in the set you get the protein of choice, sambal, omelette, peanuts, and an Asian slaw. I’ll see if I can get the slaw changed to achar the next time, but then I don’t like cabbage lah. We also split an order of sambal brinjal (had better) and a pulot hitam cake (think pulot hitam sticky date pudding OMG). I will be back!

Wok and Barrel is located in the corner of the road of shophouses along Duxton Hill. Its owner — Shen — made her name selling nasi lemak at the Maxwell Food Center, a 5 minute walk from Wok’s present location. Having just opened a year ago, Wok has already made a name for itself among Singapore foodies for serving yummy nasi lemak, and modern bistro classics with an updated spin. For example, instead of serving traditional ba chor mee, Wok replaces the noodles with pasta, serving the pasta with pork marinated in 5 spices, and cooked in prawn butter. Definitely worth the subsequent doctor’s visit.
Aside from the food, Wok and Barrel also serves a decent range of craft beer. Favourites include the Delirum Tremens, a light beer from Belgium with a delightfully high alcohol content — 9%. 2 beers for me, and I’m good for the night (: Other popular drinks at Wok include ciders from Sweden, Japanese beers made from sweet potatoes, and a locally brewed mango rose beer. Nothing too ‘conventional’ is served at this place!

When I think craft beers, I think of this place and well maybe because my office is right above them and I practically get to look into their bar through the shophouse air well. Serving local delights such as Beef Rendang, Nasi Lemak and Curry Chicken to go with your beer, Wok & Barrel also serves a mean dessert. I had the Guinness infused warm chocolate cake which was simply delicious. The heat of the cake really brings out the Guinness flavor which was just right, not too strong so you get a good taste of the rich dark chocolate as well. As for the beer I had their famous Jungle Beer on tap which is a beer infused with rose and mango if I am not mistaken. Light and fruity, it is definitely a great beer to have in the hot afternoons if you can sneak out of your office to nip a quick one. Well, I’ll have one myself right now, just a flight of steps down!

Wok & Barrel is set up by Shen of Madam Tan Nasi Lemak stall fame at the nearly food market. The restaurant represents mod-​sin cuisine in a cozy setting. The place also features a wide variety of beers so you can be sure to have a good pairing to go with whatever you are ordering.
Some dishes you should definitely try just to form your own opinions on it will be the Nasi Lemak that comes with two types of chilli and you can pair it with redang (which they are very proud of), fried pork, fried chicken, mutton curry. Other notable dishes include the Bak Chor Mee pasta (sweet meet with thick pasta) and Desiree pizza.
The desserts are awesome ending notes for your meals, being deconstructed versions of popular local desserts like the Shendol. I dropped by once and got treated to a banana crack parfait by Shen which has the perfect notes of creaminess and sweetness, so that was a memorable one too.
One thing to note is that not to expect big servings. But I do think the sizes works well for sharing between ladies.
Be sure to make a reservation because I hear it can be really popular on weekends!

Wide variety of craft beers and creative twists to local food is what’s on the menu in this addition to Duxton Hill.
With ex-​hawker and chef extraordinaire Shen constantly revisiting and tweaking the menu, Wok & Barrel is always worth a second, third or fourth visit.
The standard fare is the Asian A La Carte where you order nasi lemak rice and pair it with local dishes like beef rendang and mutton curry. Apart from that there are also mains such as Bak Chor Mee pasta and Rendang pizza. I also love the Nicholina and Desiree pizzas.
The self-​proclaimed pork lover also has a variety of pork dishes, including Bak Kwa ribs and Grilled Pork Cheeks, the latter of which I had the opportunity to try a few weeks back. The succulent flavours would be well-​pared with the beers Shen has on tap, including locally-​brewed mango-​infused Jungle Beer, as well as Delerium Tremens (try it!).
The extensive and well thought-​out menu includes interesting desserts such as the «Shendol» (Chendol with a twist; coconut panacotta and red-​bean ice-​cream) which you must definitely find room for. The banana crack parfait is also one of my favourites.
This convivial place is ideal for groups of friends to catch up in a relaxed atmosphere. Brunch on Sundays is also highly recommended, with either Asian or Western options on offer. Price-​wise it is not the cheapest option, but the good ingredients and interesting dining experience makes it worth it.