Food review: Moosehead Kitchen-bar

Freestyle gourmet

SINGAPORE — The cuisine at Moosehead Kitchen-Bar can be described as “contemporary-Mediterranean peppered with influences from around the globe” — in particular, the street food of Spain, Greece, Japan and South-east Asia. Or, as partner and culinary director Glen Ballis prefers to put it, “freestyle cooking”.

Clearly, the latter would safely cover the cuisine’s organic and evolving spirit, but it also means that the Greek-Australian chef — who runs five restaurants in Moscow and works closely with head chef Drew Wilson — prefers to let the freshest ingredients sourced from local markets dictate what works on the menu. Well, as much as a restaurant with a fixed a la carte bill of fare can, anyway. For instance, while the decision to pair roasted heirloom carrots with ripened persimmons modestly dressed in olive oil (S$14) remains an attractive proposition, neither produce on the day was as sweet as it should have been, while the dish suffered further from a rather heavy use of rosemary.

Thankfully, there were dishes on this revamped menu that quickly and easily earned their place alongside deserving mainstays such as the crispy spiced pig’s ears (S$16). One such dish is a remarkably unassuming combination of roasted beetroot dressed in a mingling of pomegranate, toasted chopped almonds and house-made ricotta (S$12) that was finished a touch of feta to complement what was the sweetest serving of beetroot I’ve had in a while.

Sticklers will say now isn’t a good time to have beetroot, though it really depends on where it’s sourced. But the fact is much of the outcome of this dish was owed to the low temperature slow-cooking process (that too few bother with), which yielded a velvety, deep-red gem rich in its naturally sweet and slightly earthy flavours. The dish also demonstrated the beauty of cooking with a charcoal oven, which is pretty much how 80 per cent of the food here is prepared.

Other standouts included a side of pork scratchings, made from scratch and topped with hand-cut beef tartare (S$6 each). Simple things done well always hit the spot, and this dish did just that with a touch of that freestyle panache. The tartare, though already well-seasoned, faired well with the addition of a little yuzu mayo, finely chopped spring onion and a light dusting of Japanese chilli spice. The dish of scallops (S$19) that was lightly marinated in mirin, rice vinegar and yuzu also enjoyed a similar touch of the unexpected — served dressed in a flavourful yet refreshing orange emulsion, topped with kombu and shavings of frozen apple.

The new dessert of strawberries and cream (S$12) flashed ingenuity. Clearly, the lack of space in the tiny kitchen for an ice cream machine didn’t stop the team from incorporating a housemade strawberry “sorbet” of sorts — using a similar process to making granita. Given the choice, though, I’d stick to the mainstay offering — a chilli pineapple popsicle (S$14), set atop a little banana cream and crowned with rich gula melaka frozen foam (made with a welcome hit of coconut cream) and some chocolate shavings. DON MENDOZA

Moosehead Kitchen-Bar

Where: 110 Telok Ayer Street. Telephone: 6636 8055. Opening hours: Monday to Friday noon to 2.30pm, 6pm to 10.30pm; Saturday 6pm to 10.30pm. Closed on Sundays