Private dining concept Side Door opens full-fledged restaurant-bar 

Chef Tryson Quek and his bartender wife Bannie Kang are no strangers to Singapore’s food and beverage scene. 

Their careers took flight at Fairmont Singapore’s Anti:dote bar, where Ms Kang, 33, was the head bartender and Mr Quek, 36, was the chef de cuisine. He also helmed The Stamford Brasserie at Swissotel The Stamford. 

In 2019, the couple moved to Taiwan, where they ran the now-defunct Mu:Taipei bar. 

They returned in 2021 and opened Side Door as a private dining outfit in their home, with plans to eventually launch a bigger commercial space. 

In December, Side Door officially opened as a full-fledged 40-seat restaurant-bar. It offers desserts, coffee and tea from 3 to 6pm, followed by a dinner menu and cocktails from 6pm. 

Menu highlights include the must-order double-fried fries ($16), which are coated in a light tempura batter and topped with garlic aioli and crispy garlic bits; and stingray steak ($32) with housemade rempah and preserved radish. 

Side Door’s private dining still lives on at this venue, with a room for six to eight people tucked at the back of the 1,200 sq ft space. Limited dates are available for January and February, and bookings have to be made at least three days in advance. 

I like that it still feels like I’m in the bubbly couple’s home, as they enthusiastically introduce each dish in the eight-course menu ($198++ a person), which includes an alcohol or non-alcohol pairing by Ms Kang. 

The star dish on the menu is the Texture of Chicken, paired with The Macallan Sherry Oak 12 Years Old. It features a warm chicken soup poured over potato foam and paired with a piece of translucent, paper-thin crispy fried chicken skin. 

The other stand-out is the Korean-style slow-cooked wagyu short ribs served with a flavourful garlic rice cooked in chicken stock in a claypot, paired with a more savoury Naked Malt infused with leek and fat washed with burnt butter. 

The current alcohol collaboration is with No.3 Gin and Naked Malt. It will run till February before the menu changes in line with the next partnership. 

Where: Side Door, 3 Neil Road
MRT: Maxwell
Open: 3pm to midnight, Tuesdays to Saturdays, closed on Sundays and Mondays
Info: Message @sidedoor_sg on Instagram for private dining bookings

Old Hong Kong charm at Hey Kee 

Enter old-school Hong Kong at the new Hey Kee restaurant at the former Singapore Badminton Hall in Guillemard Road, which opens on Jan 5. 

The sprawling indoor 110-seat dining room is decked out for the Gram, with a live seafood section, a decorative barber shop, nostalgic memorabilia, as well as red chairs and green banquet tables. 

The outdoor space seats 100 and there is also a 24-seat private dining room (minimum spend of $1,500) – complete with karaoke system – which is perfect for family gatherings. 

On the food front, Hey Kee brings together two powerhouses in Singapore’s food scene – Mr Reuben Chua, known for bringing the Yun Nans chain here, as well as Mr Keith Kang, founder of the popular Yang Ming Seafood. 

Highlights from the extensive menu include the steamed soon hock with spicy chopped yellow chilli (from $9 for 100g); Typhoon Shelter-style stir-fried crab ($98 for 1kg) loaded with a delicious crumb of garlic, scallions, chilli peppers and fermented black beans; and Temple Street crispy roast chicken (from $22.80). 

Even the unassuming sizzling kai lan with dried prawns in claypot ($23.80) and signature claypot seafood porridge (market price depending on the prawns, crab or lobster ordered), which is cooked in chicken broth, are simple yet tasty.

Good food and ambience aside, the other major plus point is that there is no service charge.

Where: 102 Guillemard Road, 01-01
MRT: Mountbatten
Open: 11.30am to 3pm, 5.30 to 10.30pm daily
Tel: WhatsApp 9891-0950
Info: str.sg/BGXe

Sumo stew at ENChanko

Moving into hotpot season with Chinese New Year coming up, the place to go is ENChanko Hotpot & Kamameshi at VivoCity. The 76-seat restaurant specialises in chankonabe, a nutritious Japanese stew typically eaten by sumo wrestlers during their training period. 

There are three options – signature tori chankonabe (from $30 for two), buta motsu chankonabe (from $35 for two) and kaisen chankonabe (from $39 for two). 

The star dish is the buta motsu chankonabe, which is pork-based and features the most robust of the three broths. 

It is not as potent as what I have tried in Japan, but it is easy enough for those not usually keen on innards to enjoy. It is packed with ingredients such as pig’s stomach, large intestine and tendon, as well as Iberico pork tsukune paste to add to the soup. 

I like the inclusion of Japanese dried chilli, just enough to give a mild spicy undertone that cuts through the richness of the broth. 

The kaisen chankonabe – with the lightest broth of the lot – is packed with seafood such as tiger prawns, salmon, Hokkaido scallops and white clams, while the tori chankonabe includes plump free-range chicken and mochi kinchaku (mochi-stuffed tofu-skin money bags). 

I would like the tori chankonabe a lot more if there were no bean sprouts in it. 

All the hotpots include mixed vegetables, tofu and Japanese glass noodles. 

Individual portions are available too, from $16.80 for the chicken set. 

You can add ingredients to beef up the meal. I highly recommend getting a portion of Himokawa Udon ($6.80) – flat and wide udon noodles that are popular in Gunma, Japan. 

Or, pair the hotpot with kamameshi, a traditional Japanese rice dish cooked in an iron pot, with seafood, meat and vegetable options (from $14). 

The accompanying genmai dashi (made of genmaicha, kombu and bonito) can be added to the remaining rice, to be enjoyed like a Japanese-style ochazuke. 

Where: ENChanko Hotpot & Kamameshi, 01-52 VivoCity, 1 HarbourFront Walk
MRT: HarbourFront
Open: 11am to 10pm daily
Tel: 6255-9188
Info: enchanko.com.sg