Review: Our Korner @ The Scarlet
It was a post Christmas lunch, and I needed a quiet venue to host this humble celebration among loved ones. “Preferably somewhere new and obscure”, I thought to myself – New, so that I can share my experience with our loyal readers; and obscure, because the entire Singapore goes on leave during the week between Christmas and New Year, and I had maxed out my social quota over Christmas.
Our Korner @ Scarlett Hotel came to mind first – it was a new establishment in Scarlett Hotel that marries our love for local food with Italian cuisines. It was a small, yet cozy restaurant. If not for the blistering sun, I would have opted to lunch outside.
The service at Our Korner was truly remarkable. Not only were they attentive to every detail, they have an impeccable memory grasp. They’re one of those people that you don’t wanna play “Go Fish” with. Or Mahjong. Me, being the usual indecisive person that I am, ordered about 7 dishes with changes aplenty – my order was rifed with “erms”, “what about this one?” and “no, I want this instead”. Despite all that, she remembered all the orders. Without ever lifting a pen.
The first dish to arrive was the Crispy baby squids ($18). The squids were marinated in Sichuan sauce, and sprinkled with sesame seeds. If you frequent seafood restaurants, then you would recognize this dish from the picture above. It was a tad spicy, but the tomatoes gave it a nice burst of freshness, mellowing the spice.
Next up was the Laksa clam chowder ($14) that I have heard so much about. At every article I stumble across on Our Korner, it was bound to feature the restaurant’s signature clam chowder. With two flavours on opposite ends of the spectrum, it was hard to find a balance in taste – the truffle oil, was probably drowned out by the clam chowder; and the laksa was merely a lingering aftertaste that was perhaps, the laksa leaves talking.
The Chili crab sliders ($22) was definitely one of the highlights of the meal. There were 4 crabmeat patties sandwiched in buns, and accompanied with authentic Singaporean chili crab dipping sauce. It was as though a lazy genius (could be my long lost brother) realized the hassle involved in extracting the crabmeat from the shells, and so he peeled them for me. Then he went to fry it (hence, genius), sandwiched it in two man-tou lookalike, and provided a big bowl of that yummy gravy! Nobel award please…
Final appetizer was the Spicy garlic prawns ($16). I do wonder why I had ordered so many appetizers for just 3 people, because it obviously left us no room for desserts. This dish too was a chef’s recommendation, though I would honestly ask them to blanko that fact out. There was nothing spectacular about prawns stir-fried in garlic other than the chef being generous with the serving of prawns. (Which probably blew his budget for chili, because I could not taste any of it)
Moving on to the mains, I ordered the Chilli crab linguine ($25). As seen from the picture, the poached egg was done quite badly. Nevertheless, the intense flavour of the dish blew me away orgasmically. The rich flavours come so unique to the linguine as the chef put a Singaporean spin to a traditionally Italian dish. At $25, you sure do get a generous portion of crabmeat shredded into the spicy tomato sauce. And they even top the dish with a soft shell crab.
We also had the Beef ragout ($35), which was a surprisingly small portion in comparison to the other dishes. The broth was done well, rich in flavours of the beef, and the beef cheeks were amazingly tender – reminiscent of memorable beef cheeks at Open Door Policy. This dish comes with a choice of bread, garlic rice or mash. We were not able to taste all 3 options for obvious reasons, but our choice of bread was definitely not the best.
It was only later during the meal, that I noticed the “tealight candle” under the pot flickering in an oddly timely fashion. A further investigation showed that the restaurant had served us with an electronic tealight candle. I could not fathom why the restaurant had not chosen regular candles instead.
The final main we had was the Traditional Hawaiian pizza ($12 for a 7 inch, $18 for a 10 inch). Well the Hawaiian pizza tasted like, you guessed it, Hawaiian pizza. It is like ordering a bowl of white rice from a restaurant and expecting to be wowed by it. Traditional is, traditional gets. Good, simple and plain Hawaiian pizza.
Our Korner proves to be a nice place to kickback after a long day. The restaurant offers a good stepping-stone to patrons looking for a good fusion balance between Singaporean and Italian food. While not all their dishes were truly outstanding, the crab dishes were a definite highlight for me.
Did it turn us on?
Definitely. And will probably stay lit for a long time (given that the tealight candles ran on batteries)
As we value honesty and integrity here at Six&Seven, all food reviews have been paid for by our writers.
Our Korner
The Scarlet
33 Erskine Road
Singapore 069333
Tel: (65) 6511 3323 | Website
Opening Hours: 11.30am to 10.30pm daily
I like Saunder’s style of writing. The feeling is like “macam nak cubit pipi dia”. LoLx ok – Saunder’s will need to translate for Jazpster. ;)
like want to pinch my cheeks? is that in a cute way? Jasper’s cheeks are bigger
OH NO YOU DIDN’T!
lolx :x
yes yes that is in a cute way.
Great writing Saunders. Good descriptions and comparisons.
I’m very interested in provenance. Did you ask where they sourced their ingredients? Do they have special contacts overseas and thus import special ingredients that no one else has access to? I’d definitely to know this kind of info for high end restaurants, e.g. Basilico. Not so much for a place like Our Korner…but any establishment that prides itself on a speciality needs to make sure that it is indeed, special.
Hi David!
Thanks for your feedback. I am not too sure if Our Korner has their ingredients supplied by a special importer. That being said, we will definitely look into this aspect in subsequent reviews. =)