Review: Open Door Policy @ Yong Siak Street, Tiong Bahru
Through the overwhelming response from our poll (though I would hardly call 20 overwhelming), Six&Seven headed down to Open Door Policy (ODP) for dinner to check what was the entire rave about.
Located at the heart of Tiong Bahru, parking there can be a bitch; public transport is just way out of the question. A safe bet would be to park at Tiong Bahru market itself and take a short stroll to ODP. Personally, I enjoyed the stroll through the rustic low-rise apartments.
It’ll be impossible to miss the modern-chic looking bistro among all the coffee shops. The bustling restaurant offers a great juxtaposition to the quiet neighbourhood locale.
Stepping in, I felt like I was part of a secret society clan, dining at a restaurant for people in the know. Though the tables were positioned pretty closely, it was not long before I began to enjoy the pseudo New York vibe in the air. If you crave for the Big Apple, ODP saves you the $2000 direct business flight to New York.
I’m usually not a huge fan of sparkling water, but I guess I have to thank my friend Shawn who taught me to appreciate carbon dioxide-infused water with a quadruple price tag. We ordered a bottle San Pellegrino ($8), that took up half the space of the table, and I feared the arrival of subsequent dishes would overpopulate our tiny island.
We had two starters to share – which means we needed side plates too (as if our table was not small enough already), but thankfully with some shifting around all was well. We had the Tuna carpaccio with radish and yuzu salad ($19). While the dish had a sashimi-esque air around it, I loved it. The tuna was perfection, and the dressing on radish with a hint of seaweed sealed the deal for me.
The Steak tartare with truffle mayo and potato chips ($19) however, was rather disappointing. The potato chips were glistening–under dim light I might add–with oil. I wondered if the bread (why are there so much carbohydrates?) was genuinely toasted as inferred from the grill marks, as the bread was rather tough and chewy. What about the truffle mayo? Maybe they left it out because there wasn’t any more space left on the table.
For mains, I had the Duck confit ($26). I was pleased with how well the French duck confit married the Indian lentils. Moving away from the traditional mashed potatoes, the lentils added a deeper and more exotic flavour to the dish. The duck confit, while slightly burnt around one edge, was juicy and tender to the core.
We also had Braised beef cheeks ($29) that have been cooked for 48 hours. For that amount of hard work and amazingly tender and flavourful beef, I was surprised the dish was a mere $29! And yet again, the European braised beef complimented well with the Japanese mochi potatoes.
We were already stuffed at this point, so we settled for a simple dessert to share – Chocolate and pistachio soufflé ($15).
Despite the filling of the soufflé being green, the taste of the pistachio was nowhere to be found (no it cannot be a space constraint issue again). However, with the crème anglaise filling poured in, it tasted like pandan. While that may not have been the intention of the chef, I do like the sweet pandan-ish taste that went with the chocolate.
ODP is like an Inter-racial Marriage Centre – successfully fusing Asian and European cuisines together. While the starters were borderline-high price, the mains are definitely a steal. The wait staffs were also extremely friendly – not friendly in a polite way, but friendly in an engaging way. Their outspokenness, coupled with the bustling vibe, gave ODP its unique vibe that I loved.
Did it turn us on?
Brings out the SPG side of me. In a good way.
As we value honesty and integrity here at Six&Seven, all food reviews have been paid for by our writers.
Open Door Policy
19 Yong Siak Street
Singapore 168650
Tel: +65 6221 9307
Operating hours:
Lunch: 12 to 3:30pm
Dinner: 6pm to 11pm
Closed on Tuesdays;
Wednesday only dinner.
