Artichoke at 161 Middle Road
Artichoke’s cuisine is Modern Moorish, drawing inspiration from the flavours and traditional recipes of Turkey, Lebanon, Spain, Greece Morocco - regions united by a common thread that winds its way back to Arabia.
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Our brunch Sundays continued today as we set off to find Artichoke. Armed with the native iPhone app (Maps) and gothere.sg, we thought we could find Artichoke easily. After all, it’s Singapore. How difficult could it be to find an eatery in town? Much less in the same district J was studying in?
Very.
We took at least 20 minutes, walking around in squares and rotating our phones to find our bearings. 397 meters. That’s what Google maps said Artichoke was from Bras Basah MRT’s Waterloo exit. After multiple crossings at the same traffic light, we came to the conclusion (yet again) that we couldn’t join The Amazing Race. We found the place soon after.
I strongly advice those who plan to visit Artichoke to make a reservation, especially if you mind sitting by the bar, or outdoors on a sunny and humid day. Unaware of it’s popularity, we had to settle for a bar seat, which wasn’t too bad given the air conditioning right above us.
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Lamb Shakshouka / $24 - Eggs simmered in a spiced tomato sauce, braise lamb, homemade labneh, pistachio dukka & toast
J ordered the Lamb Shakshouka, as recommended by both the waitress and his sister. I had a little of his dish and it reminded me of the Tunisian breakfast from Wild Honey, except with lamb instead of sausage. And less spicy. I don’t really fancy lamb as it has an overpowering taste at times, but I didn’t taste any of that in this dish. That was a plus point for me. The lamb was tender, and the tangy tomato sauce complemented it really well. Overall a good dish, but definitely not worth the $24 price tag that came along with it.
Scrambled Eggs and Smoked Bacon Chop / $20 - Soft scrambles, maple glazed bacon chop, blistered grape tomatoes, rocket & toast
Being the brunch addict I am, I had to try their much raved about scrambled eggs and bacon chop. The star of this dish wasn’t the scrambled eggs though. They were relatively hard (as compared to Australia Dairy Company’s) and had a rough texture to it. Perhaps it was due to the high volume of customers that forced them to cook their eggs in one huge bulk then portion their eggs, or maybe it was because I’ve tasted better scrambled eggs elsewhere (e.g. Food For Thought, or Australia Dairy Company). But their eggs were substandard. The bacon chop reminded me of kong bak… except it was really sweet. The star of this dish was the sourdough toast. I loved it. It was just the right thickness and toasted perfectly. Yet again, overpriced.
Sticky Date Pudding / $14
Of course we had to squeeze in a dessert. There is always room for one. This pudding had caramel malt bits together with crushed pistachio nuts atop the date pudding. This was a little too sweet for me, and trust me, I already have a sweet tooth.
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Overall, food was good, but not great. Will I return? Yes. But only when I’m feeling like I’ve got a couple of extra bucks.
Address:
161 Middle Road
Singapore 188978
Inside Sculpture Square
Telephone:
+65 6336 6949
