Willin Low of Wild Rocket, who introduced the concept of modernised versions of traditional Singaporean food, is responsible for the offerings at the new Po restaurant at the Warehouse Hotel, River Valley Road.
“Po” here is named after the term “Po Po”, Mandarin for grandmother.
The food is defined as Mod-Singapore, but I think Willin Low’s take is merely to tweak slightly with the dishes, but made use of expensive ingredients to justify the prices he charge. A bit exorbitant by Singapore standards.
- The -do-it-yourself popiah here, for example, is S$28 (US$20), but will cost a fifth of that in a hawker centre outside, albeit with less luxurious trappings.
- Baked, paper-wrapped chicken, stuffed with glutinous rice. Very tasty and the whole chicken remained moist. Fragrance from the marinade of ginger juice and Chinese Shaoxing wine:
- Hainanese-style kurobuta pork satay, with peanut sauce and pineapple puree.
The desserts were a bit more interesting -
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Popiah ice-cream: which came with 3 scoops of ice-cream in 3 flavours: pineapple, taro and peanut, resting on crushed peanut candy and rolled up in a rice-flour popiah crepe.
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Teh Halia panna cotta - an interesting take on Malay ginger tea, made into a panna cotta.
Overall, a good meal - just no fireworks.
Address
Po Restaurant @ The Warehouse Hotel
Robertson Quay
320 Havelock Road
Singapore 169628
Tel: +65 6828 0007
Opening hours: 12pm-2.30pm, 6pm-10pm, daily.
