Dempsey Hill is a place full of nice restaurants and cafes to chill out or have a dinner celebration. I have heard many people talking about The Dempsey cookhouse and bar and finally had a chance to try the food here as we were celebrating a friend’s birthday.
The restaurant is huge and is spilt into 2 areas, the main dining area and the bar side where people can have their pre-dinner cocktails or post dinner chill session. The restaurant is designed in a modern contemporary style with orange warm lighting.
There is also an outside area for patrons to have their pre and post dinner drinks. The entire area is all lit in warm modern grunge drop lights with tall wooden chairs. The space between each table is great and you can have your dinner in private without hearing your neighbour’s dinner conversation. The service staff are very friendly and prompt to offer you their assistance.
The menu looks very modern in terms of design and also features plenty of dishes for the starters, mains and desserts. You can find the full Dinner Menu here and the Dessert Menu here
Once you have placed your order, you will be served a basket of warm bread and olive oil for dipping. The bread is a little dry and very general in taste.
We ordered 3 starters for sharing, the first is the yellowtail tartar at SGD 29 . The dish is paired with radish and a savoury based sauce. The dish is exquisitely plated but the taste did not wow me as I found the sauce overpowering for the fresh tartar.
The next dish is char grilled octopus with smoked paprika in a vinaigrette sauce which is SGD 26. The octopus was huge and juicy and had a nice charcoal fragrance. The impressive thing is that they managed to grill the octopus to perfection where the skin is crispy and the inside was so soft and tender. Like squid, octopus require great skills in cooking as any overcooking will render it rubbery so I got to say this is one well cooked octopus. A pity though, I did not find the slightly creamy and oily sauce a good compliment to the octopus.
The last starter we ordered was the caramelised foie gras with lychee, olive and rose for SGD 28. The size of the foie gras was quite generous and the top was well pan-fried with a crispy outer and a tender inside. This is a good foie gras dish for foie gras lovers.
We had 4 mains between us and 1 side for sharing. The first main is the Prosciutto Wrapped Pork Chop with glazed mushroom and sage. The pork chop is very well cooked with strong flavours of the prosciutto seeping into the pork meat. The prosciutto was pan-fried to a golden brown crisp and the pork meat wrapped inside is still tender with meat juices. This is a great dish for SGD 38.
The other poultry dish we had was the Crackling Organic Chicken with creamed sauce and buttery hot sauce. At SGD 32, I have to say this is like any chicken cutlet available at most restaurants. The skin was crispy but reminded me a lot of the KFC original fried chicken except that this was boneless. We were very disappointed as there was no crackling of the skin but just a crispy fried batter chicken cutlet. The only redeeming factor of this dish was the buttered corn which was very sweet and crunchy.
The Cheeseburger with Brie and Black Truffle Mayonnaise is pretty general as well. The patty is juicy but quite forgettable. At SGD 30, I know of other better burgers.
The last main we had was the Spice Crusted Red Snapper in sweet and sour broth at SGD 39. The fish was very fresh and came seeped in a tangy sweet and sour light broth. This dish is quite appetizing due to the broth and would appeal to those who likes to have a light dinner.
This is one dish that surprised me. Potato Purée at SGD 8 was so smooth and fine and creamy. It has a strong milk and buttery taste to it and reminded me of the ones Poulet sold. Other than the price, this is a really nice side to complement the mains.
Last but not least, the one dish that held the most surprise for me and this is by far my favourite dish for the entire night. This Toasted Almond Panna Cotta at SGD 14 blew my mind away. The almond taste was very strong and the panna cotta very smooth and creamy. One of my favourite childhood snack is the almond cookies and this tasted just like that so it totally hit my right notes.
Overall, i would not say the food was unforgetable since there were some hits and some misses. At this price range, I would say you are paying purely for the service and the atmosphere. This is great for those special occassions or private dining.
Address: 17D Dempsey Road, 249676
Operating hours: 12.00 to 3.00 pm and 6.00 pm to 12.00 am Monday to Fridays ( Friday till 1.00 am ) 11.30 am to 4.00 pm and 6.00 pm to 1.00 am Sat ( till 12.00 am on Sun)
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