Slightly over three years old, Tiffin Club, the restaurant housed in a charming shophouse in Chinatown, has launched a new menu featuring contemporary Southeast Asian cuisine — classic favourites from the region have been restyled and updated. Thankfully, the original creations here are comforting and strikingly familiar unlike other establishments that tend to go overboard with the jazzing-up of fusion cuisine.
The appetiser of char-grilled tamarind pork served with a fresh bean, asparagus and vermicelli salad brings to mind the perennial Thai favourite of yum woonsen. Here, the pork slices have been marinated and grilled, providing the dish a rich smoky aroma and delicious caramelised flavour that marries well with the tangy salad. Drawing inspiration from the Indonesian gado-gado, the Street Salad , featuring juicy chunks of pineapple and home-made potato crisps tossed in a light peanut dressing, is yet another refreshing salad that whets the appetite. The Jakarta beef soup with oxtail wontons, however, proved no match to its inspiration — the traditional soto betawi — with its broth disappointingly lacking in richness and flavour.
By keeping things simple and the flavours clean, Tiffin Club manages to shine with their mains. Highly recommended dishes include the tom yum char-grilled prawns served with spicy fried rice and Tiffin Club’s house achar and the gulai braised lamb shank, which is simmered slowly in an earthy West Sumatran curry until fork-tender and served with nasi ulam and the house achar. Another deliciously simple dish is the buah keluak ravioli, homemade ravioli stuffed with buah keluak and water chestnuts, and then tossed in a light butter sauce — a must-try for any buah keluak lover.
In a somewhat disjointed fashion, the dessert section of Tiffin Club’s menu reads just like any other. Graffeo coffee sundae, molten chocolate cake, warm sesame pound cake, though reasonable desserts on their own rights, show no signs of Southeast Asian influence. But if you must end the meal on a sweet note, go for the kaffir lime and lemon tart.

16 Jiak Chuan Road. Tel: 6323 3189

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