WOLF | 4/5

SINGAPORE — As palates become ever more adventurous in Singapore, it was only a matter of time before someone brought the nose-to-tail dining concept to town.

The Prive Group’s new WOLF restaurant off Club Street pays homage to eating the entire animal — glands, brains, tongue and all.

The idea of chomping on innards and offal is nothing new. But WOLF brings with it a Western take made popular by quirky British chef Fergus Henderson who proclaimed it “disingenuous to the animal not to make the most of the whole beast”.

He’s right, of course.

But one must be able to make innards delicious. For that, WOLF chef de cuisine Alysia Chan spent time at Henderson’s acclaimed St John restaurant in London. The result is some pretty outstanding dishes including a mushroom risotto topped with pan-seared sweetbreads (S$34). The sweetbreads here come from the thymus gland of veal. To be sure, it doesn’t sound that delectable, but never judge a book by its cover; and if you’re none the wiser, you’d have thought those crisp-without-creamy-within nuggets crowning the richly flavoured risotto were foie gras — just without all the fat.

Likewise, the grilled ox tongue (S$32), served on a bed of puy lentils, was as enjoyable as a good steak. The thick pieces of meat were incredibly tender with just a tinge of delicious gaminess.

Chef Chan shows her mettle by brightening these otherwise heavy dishes with jolts of acidity. In the risotto, shaved lemon zest gave the deep flavours vibrancy, while the ox tongue and puy lentils were liven by acerbic touches of salsa verde.

Not everything was quite so well balanced, however. The pig’s head and trotter brawn (S$18), essentially a terrine chock full of pig parts bound together by aspic, was a little one-dimensional even with the zesty parsley salad and whole-grain mustard that it was served with. Sure, it was as fresh and luscious as a pig’s head terrine gets, but it needed an extra punch of deep flavour.

For the not-so-intrepid eater, there are some conventional offerings on the menu. One we thoroughly enjoyed was the mackerel fish cakes (S$18) with an addictive green goddess dip.

You should note that the dishes here are extremely filling. My dining companion and I had one starter and one appetiser each, and we shared the pear tarte tartine (S$16) for dessert, which was excellent — crisp, caramel-ly and moist. And we rolled out of the restaurant ready for a midday nap.

It attests to what a satisfying and excellent value meal it was — even if it included brains, glands and tongue. ANNETTE TAN

4/5

WOLF

Where: 18 Gemmill Lane

Telephone: 6557 2224

Opening hours: 11.30am to 3pm; 6pm to midnight. Closed on Sundays