Warm comfort at Summer Hill

NEW RESTAURANT

Summer Hill #01-62, 106 Clementi Street 12 Singapore 120106 Tel: 6251-5337 Open for lunch and dinner Tues to Sun: 12pm to 3pm; 5pm to 10pm

IT'S taken us two years to come to Summer Hill - a tiny heartland eatery that's small in size but big on hearty, bistro fare cooked by people whose idea of intermittent fasting is to eat like a bear before hibernating for the next 16 hours. It started out literally as a one-dish roast chicken takeaway joint by ex-Cocotte chef Anthony Yeoh - now it's all grown up with a repertoire worthy of a French cafe in a location more chi-chi than a Clementi HDB block with a sleepy Korean joint and prata shop for neighbours.

But that's exactly what its appeal is. Summer Hill has assimilated as seamlessly into the neighbourhood as a North Korean undercover agent in Seoul's Myeong-dong (working from home includes K-drama indoctrination) and now you can't imagine it being anywhere else.

It's not so much a restaurant as it is a place for nearby residents who walk in and out without ceremony, hang around and are invariably fed. The restaurant's servers are so chill that you could traipse in wearing your pyjamas and they wouldn't bat an eyelid. They only get caught off guard when you suddenly show up and expect them to seat you.

If you're hoping to escape from the scorching heat by dining inside the restaurant instead of its pretty alfresco area, think again. There are three aircons inside that do nothing but blow at each other helplessly as whatever cool air that each exhales is sucked out by the hot open kitchen. The only cool air you get is from a portable fan unit next to your table. So get yourself outside to the cosy patio cooled off by ceiling fans and a wall covered with hanging plants. When the sun sets, fairy lights strung across the space give it a festive feel.

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But back to the overfeeding that this restaurant likes to do to you. First, there's a really good value three-course S$29 set lunch and dinner that kicks off with either a piping hot, creamy and sweet pumpkin soup with toasted sourdough croutons (which need to be toasted a little more to get rid of the evidence that they are slightly stale) or refreshing, sweet marinated tomatoes with just enough of pungent bite from raw onions, mellowed out with a good dollop of ricotta cheese.

Mains include the signature roast chicken - a hefty platter of a quarter burnished-golden tender meat, a torpedo-sized portion of mashed potato and plenty of roasted carrots and cauliflower tossed in a creamy romesco-like dressing with crispy deep-fried chick peas. Add an extra S$8 and you get a full-sized serving of seafood stew (priced at S$36 on the ala carte menu) - a tomato-based bouillabaisse that's stuffed so full of meaty sea bass, mussels and clams that it'll take at least two people to finish it off. We'd prefer some shrimp to break the monotony of the fish but otherwise, no complaints because it's fresh and so is the shellfish, which is more than we can say for some other versions in fancier places.

If the stomach is able, go for the duck fat aglio olio (S$24) which is as lethal as it sounds. Slippery pasta is slicked and sliding in rendered fat but addictively good, with barely any condiments apart from dried chilli and rosemary which leaves just a mild bitter aftertaste. And the roast Batallé black pork collar (S$42) seems pricey but would feed either one caveman or two medium appetites with its hunk of marbled meat pink-roasted and swimming in a fat-infused river of mustard-infused brown butter sauce, mashed potatoes and stringy haricot beans included like a sudden guilt trip.

Desserts for the set menu are simple if you don't want to top up $5 for something more fancy like a citron tart. So we end up with salted caramel banana bread and citrus, rosemary and olive oil cake - both are fragrant and light, and a little on the dry side but a side of light and sweet whipped cream help.

Summer Hill's food doesn't try to break new ground nor does it aim for refinement. It's a feeder and offers simple, no-frills comfort and a sense of neighbourliness. All of which we probably value a lot more now.

Takeaway options

SUMMER Hill has a good selection of takeaway meals with easy-to-assemble DIY meal kits for those who prefer dining at home. Everything is pre-cooked and vacuum-packed, with complete instructions on how to reheat and assemble everything for a complete meal.

Pick from its famous whole roast chicken (S$45) marinated in garlic butter and served with duck fat roasted potatoes and garlic confit; or a 1.2kg Cape Grim prime rib roast (S$198) with porcini mushroom sauce. Each of these are enough for two to three people, possibly four for lighter eaters. There's also a roast kurobuta pork collar (S$120) from Snake River Farms which rears antibiotic and hormone-free pigs. Similar to what's on the ala carte menu, it comes with a creamy mustard sauce, but with added brussels sprouts and pumpkin mash.

Just remember to order in advance because five days' notice is required.

Rating: 7

WHAT OUR RATINGS MEAN

10: The ultimate dining experience 9-9.5: Sublime 8-8.5: Excellent 7-7.5: Good to very good 6-6.5: Promising 5-5.5: Average

Our review policy: The Business Times pays for all meals at restaurants reviewed on this page. Unless specified, the writer does not accept hosted meals prior to the review's publication.