Modern Asian Food for the Soul at Siri House

Siri House, Dempsey Hill - Restaurant Review

Location: Dempsey Hill
Price: ££
Value for Money: 5/5
Overall: 5/5
Perfect for: Classy Cocktails, Alfresco Dining, Brunch

Dempsey Hill is a part of Singapore which is renowned for housing a host of quality dining venues. In fact I was impressed with the sheer number of restaurants in the area when I first ventured through, all of which looked just as appealing as the next.

Siri House is one such restaurant which is nestled in amongst the lush greenery and brigade of restaurants on Dempsey Hill. But this is not just a restaurant, but a creative lifestyle nexus that brings together art, people, culture, design music and of course food. As well as the restaurant, there is a Collective Market Shop, events space and at times resident artists too.

The Decor:

Siri House consists of a beautifully styled outdoor dining terrace, a main dining space which exhibits an eclectic array of furnishings, and a gorgeous lounge area where diners and drink or eat.

When we arrived we were graciously greeted by the staff and lead to our table with view of the open kitchen as well as the elegant bar.

What instantly stood out to me is the amount of effort that had gone into curating a scintillating space to dine in. Everything from the multiple glistening and ornate chandeliers to the opulent wallpaper was added with thought and intent.

The Menu:

The menu at Siri House offers contemporary Asian plates which are perfect for sharing. We dined here for lunch and were presented with a lunch menu offering an appealing range of small plates, pastas, mains and desserts. There are also fresh salads, soups, pastas and light bites that are exclusively available for lunch.

We opted for a handful of dishes to enjoy on a sharing basis amongst the two of us. As good cheese is hard to come about in Singapore, we decided to start with two of the cheesiest dishes. We opted for the Burrata, paired with red chilli salsa, garlic chive crumbs, tomato honey and papadums. The creamy burrata combined with the crunchy papadums and sweet tomato honey was the perfect mix of textures and flavours.

We also tried the Bikini, which is Siri house’s delicious version of a cheese toastie. This three layered sandwich is cooked to order in a pan with butter, and filled with 2 different kinds of cured meat (coppa ham and salami), a trio of cheeses (including fresh mozzarella and emmental and gouda), a homemade truffle tomato sauce and pickled mustard seeds. This dish and all its greasy deliciousness was fantastic - a perfect hangover food which was most probably inspired by Head Chef Leo Pang time working in New York.

Next we opted for a much lighter dish, the Snapper Crudo. The local snapper is brined in wakame salted water for an hour and then dressed in lemon shoyu vinaigrette (a mix of white shoyu, lemon zest, lemon juice and yuzu kosho). It is then garnished with apples, radish, ikura and wasabi tobiko, adding bite and texture to a refreshing and appetising dish.

After this explosion of flavour we moved onto our mains, which came highly recommended by the staff. We opted for the Unagi Risotto, served with mushrooms, sweet soy and pickled radish.

This was my first time trying Unagi (freshwater eel) and I really enjoyed it. It wasn’t in the slightest fishy or tough and chewy, in fact the moist meat melted in the mount. The risotto was infused with a mixture of burnt onion dashi and tomato consomme meaning it wasn’t thick and heavy as it can sometimes be in Italian cuisine.

We also tried the Lamb Ribs, which was part of the specials. The ribs were cured and brined for 36 hours with a mix of spices, lemons and oranges before being slow braised for another 36 hours and grilled. It was served with a garnish of fresh salad of shaved apples, spring onions and crispy shallots. I really enjoyed the deep flavours in this dish evoked from the mix of spices used in the preparation of the meat.

Our main courses were delicious and we took a little break before our desserts. We decided to explore the grounds and spaces in Siri House before settling into the next course.

For our dessert we tried the Sicilian Pistachio ice cream, served with a brown butter crumble base and topped with shavings of cured egg yolk (egg yolk is cured in sugar and salt and dehydrated) and shaved parmesan. This was a dessert I had not seen or tried before, and I loved the combination of sweet pistachio ice cream with salty egg yolk and savoury parmesan.

We also tried the Tropical ‘Tau Huay’, which is a play on the traditional local dessert. This rendition consisted of set coconut cream with passionfruit granita and diced mango macerated in a chilli and lime dressing. This bowl of delights housed all my favourite tropical flavours of coconut, mango and passionfruit and was the perfect light dessert to end our meal.

The Cocktails:

Siri House has a very impressive looking bar with a wide collection of tipples on display. Each of their drinks are expertly made using house made infusions, distillates, homemade syrups and spice blends. As such they also have a reputation of creating classy and classic cocktails of which we tried a few.

My favourites were Hunting Season which uses Fernet hunter as a base that is blended with sherry, champagne vinegar and gin and tonic. I also enjoyed the Scotch and Honey, a delicious mix of Scotch, Fernet-Branca, honey and citrus, as well as Flower Power, which took inspiration from the locally well-loved whisky and green tea combination and modernised it with their impressive in-house chrysanthemum distillate.

I was very impressed with the variety and range of cocktails on offer at Siri House and would recommend indulging in them on your visit.

The Price:

Siri House has a lunch, dinner, brunch and private outdoor menu as well as several events with special menus.

A la carte plates start from $14 to $26 and the average main course costs around $30. They also have a very well priced lunch set menu, offering 2 courses from $38 per person and 3 courses at $48 per person.

Overall:

My meal at Siri House was more of an experience rather than a simple lunch. Everything from being able to see the chefs in the open kitchen crafting the eclectic mix of dishes, the one-of-a-kind house made infusions and distillates in the cocktails, and the friendly and knowledgeable staff who bring their expertise from working across the globe to Siri House, make dining here a memorable experience.

This is certainly a restaurant I will return to, especially for their Brunch menu as the atmosphere and decor lend itself to leisurely weekend gatherings with friends and family.

Book your table at Siri House online.
Address: 8D Dempsey Rd, #01-02 Dempsey Hill, Singapore 249672
Email: contact.sg@sirihouse.com
Phone: +65 9487 1552

Her Favourite Food & Travel x