Quentin's in Singapore

[prasantrin]

Has anyone ever dined at Quentin's in the Eurasian Community House? It was featured in Time Magazine (Asia Edition) in October, and I'm curious about it. Eurasian style food--sort of reminds me of Macau...It might need to go on my list (I have a very long list given how short my stay will be).

www.quentins.com.sg

[klyeoh]

I quite liked Quentin's - probably dined there 5-6 times in the past couple of years. It's probably the best Eurasian restaurant in Singapore overall, i.e. in terms of food & ambience.

But I stopped going to Quentin's about 8 months ago when I discovered Mary Gomez's "Mary's Cafe" in Waterloo Street. Mary's hands-down the BEST Eurasian chef I've ever met in Singapore (she's also the author of "The Eurasian Cookbook", Singapore's eponymous cookbook on this cuisine). However, Mary Gomez operates a smallish cafe (mainly al fresco seating) & only opens for lunch, Mon-Fri only. She cooks for the fun of it, but makes sure she's home to make dinner for her family. You never know what Mary's going to serve each day, as she prepares only 3-4 specific dishes on that day, depending on what she finds in the market.

Quentin's, on the other hand, is a full-service restaurant. Quentin Pereira is a great cook although, on some days, he leaves the cooking to his 2 Nepalese cooks. Quentin's father was one of the original owners of Casa Bom Vento, one of Singapore's most popular Eurasian restaurants in the early 1990s.

The dishes at Quentin's are pretty much hit-and-miss. My 3 favorite dishes there (perhaps the ONLY 3 dishes I really thought Quentin did well) are:

- Meaty Cutlets, huge tennis ball-sized corned beef-and-potato balls, crisp on the outside, encasing soft-moist delicious centres inside;
- Patchri, the best brinjal (eggplant) dish in town. The longish brinjal pieces are grilled, then topped with an intoxicatingly delicious hot-sweet-sour chilli/onion topping;
- Singgan Serani, an unbelievably addictive dish of crispy John Dory fillets, which comes with a slightly spicy salsa/concasse like topping. Unfortunately, the last time I had it, the Nepalese cook probably threw in a bit too much MSG ( I have quite a bad MSG-syndrome).

I have Eurasian friends here who loved the Beef Smore stew at Quentin's. I did, too, until I tried Mary Gomez's version - which totally blew Quentin's off the planet. Ditto Mary Gomez's Curry Devil, which is really packed full of flavors.

One thing to note: Singapore-Eurasian, with heavy British-Indian influences, is pretty different from Macaunese-Eurasian food with its Portuguese-Chinese roots. Some dishes have similar origins (e.g. Singapore laksa vis-a-vis Macaunese lacassa; Singapore belachan vis-a-vis Macaunese balicao) but bore little resemblance in taste.

[prasantrin]

Thanks!

Is Mary's at 96 Waterloo Street? I did a search, and if it's at that location, it would be better in terms of location (it seems to be almost equidistant from three different subway stations). And they have a discount on baked goods on Fridays! If only I were going to be in Singapore on a Friday...

[klyeoh]

Yes, Mary's Cafe is located in the Singapore Council of Women's Organizations (SCWO) building on that address. Her sugee & butter cakes sell for S$2 (US$1.30) a slice. She also makes Eurasian curry puffs & mini chicken pies.

[prasantrin]

I found her Eurasian curry puffs recipe on line, too!

Just for reference, here's her page on the SCWO website http://www.scwo.org.sg/cms/content/vi...