Casual Luxe Local Cuisine Dining @ Enjoy Eating House (Stevens), Singapore (Impeccable Ingredients + Free Parking)
Proudly Singaporean
Enjoy Eating House is all about Singaporean flavours. It is about beloved dishes that we grew up with, recipes that are handed down through generations. The interior is colorful but nostalgic. Classic Mandarin pop play over the speakers.
Enjoy Four Treasure Soup $23
Rich, dense and flavourful soup featuring abalone, scallop, fish maw and crab meat
Wow, for a soup that is umami-intense, it nevertheless remains light and agreeable. The soup is rich but clear. Great appetiser.
Obiz Traminer Aromatico 2019 $12/ glass
Most restaurants offer chardonnay. It was quite smart of Enjoy Eating House to offer a traminer as a housepour instead. Orbis has an extremely agreeable fruitiness that pairs well with Chinese dishes. It pairs extremely well with the rich and dense Enjoy Four Treasure Soup.
Chef Joel’s XO White Fish Soup $10
White, collagen-rich fish soup that takes six to eight hours of preparation, no milk added.
This soup is like delicious healthy food. It is lighter but flavourful. The fish feels extremely fresh and clean. It is nicely complemented by the sweetness and fruitiness of goji berries as well as being chock full of vegetables. It feels like how we should be eating but we never do. Hahahaha.
Black Angus Beef Tenderloin with Foie Gras $30
Wok-fried with onion, garlic and bell pepper in a punchy, homemade black pepper sauce accompanied by pan-seared foie gras
I have not had such tender beef in a long time. When they say “tenderloin” here, they really mean it.
Il Fantino Chianti DOCG 2018 12/ glass
The red wine has a very agreeable fruitiness and cuts through the heaviness of the beef.
Ugly Cabbage in Fish Sauce $13
Its simple and unassuming appearance belies its strong wok hei-infused flavour
The sweetness of the cabbage, the cloud of wok hei this dish arrived in, and the beautiful char marks. I have been accused of being a meatarian yet I could not stop eating this. It’s not my fault – it’s just that other vegetable dishes are not done well enough.
Salt-baked Whole Barramundi $40
Baked in salt to bring out the freshness and natural sweetness of the fish
The show-stopping centrepiece of today’s meal. Unbelievable. I encounter good dishes but I have not tried such an excellent dish in a looooooong time. This dish takes time as they make it fresh in the kitchen.
Simplicity is best
The fish is unbelievably fresh. I understand that the fish is farmed off Pulau Ubin without antibiotics and chemical additives. Moreover, the fish is delivered within hours of being harvested off the sea. No wonder.
You taste the natural sweetness of the fish. They also provide you with 3 sauces —- Thai chilli (sour and hot), Pico de Gallo and squid ink jello (sweet, savoury touch of tanginess). All 3 sauces are delicious and they should make dishes out of them, but the fish definitely can stand on its own without the need for any sauce.
Silky Egg Seafood Crispy Hor Fun $17 (S)
Flat rice noodles fried to a crisp, topped with pork, prawns, fish fillet, squid and shitake mushrooms in a rich egg sauce. Simply awesome!
I usually hate hor fun. With the noodles and starchy cornflour slurry, it’s just too much of a sugar rush and it’s lethargy-inducing.
This one is an exception. It is chock full of protein and vegetables to slow down the sugar rush.
Popiah Garden $14
Three scoops of gelato – Blue Pea Pandan Lemongrass, Sea Salt Horlicks and Soursop – on a popiah skin “lawn”, with shaved peanut candy “soil” and coriander “shrubs”
Totally original flavours!
Compendium Teh-O Liqueur $14/ glass
Digestifs are usually offered by high-end restaurants, so it was a pleasant surprise to find digestis at Enjoy Eating House. I can say this one is really interesting — it’s like Bailey’s except it’s tea.
I usually hate local food. I mean, you can easily get the same flavours in a hawker centre. Enjoy Eating House confounds my pre-conceived notion. Being able to pair wine for an elevated experience helps a lot.
After dining here, yes, Chef Joel is great. The dishes ooze excellence. Most memorable is the quality/ freshness of the ingredients.
The space is not big so reservations are essential
Tip: there is free parking at Mercure on Stevens.
Enjoy Eating House
30 Stevens Rd, #01-07, Mercure on Stevens, Singapore 257840
Tel: 8511 1478
