Hello all, blessed new year to all and may all of you have a great year of 2025 savouring good food around the world. Sunday lunches are typically a time that me and wife always explore food places or cafes to find good food. Today's location is unique one which from the looks of it, you will not expect to be eating local hawker centre cuisine in it and of a much higher quality than those you can find in hawker centres. So let's go ahead to look at the place today and the amazing food it served.
The Place
Daruma Tavern
Address: 25 Springside Green, #01-14 The Brooks II, Singapore 786015
Notes on this place: The restaurant is found at the ground level of a SOHO (small office, home office) apartment along a range of other restaurants and eateries as their neighbours. This restaurant is also a pub where many gather after work for a drink. Parking is easy to find at this place as there is visitor parking available at the basement of the apartment. A place with interesting decor and an area to drink in front of the bar counter, it is an ideal place for both food and drinks.
The fridge in the picture has many interesting beer that is not often found in other places. Selections include fruit beer and many other flavoured beer. If you are a fan of interesting alcohol options, this is a place not to be missed.
The Food
Now to the main highlight of this post, let's talk about the food that this restaurant serves. While this looks totally like a pub and beer place, the owners of the place are actually the second generation of a local hawker owner of Soi 19 Wanton Noodles. They serve many kind of cuisine here, from local food such as Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodles and Wanton Noodles to Western Cuisine such as burgers and chicken chop, authentic Thai food such as Tom Yum Soup and also Japanese food.
However, since the family is famous for the Thai Wanton Noodles, my wife and I decided to order it and some bar bites:
- Thai Wanton Noodles (Black Sauce)
- Bar Bite Platter
Let's start looking at each of the food item closely as I review them
Thai Wanton Noodles (Black Sauce)
Since this place is opened by the second generation of local hawkers who brought us Soi 19 Wanton Noodles, we definitely have to try this. For our global friends whom don't know what a Wanton is, it is actually a meat dumpling wrapped by a flour skin which can be either cooked in soup or deep fried. Wanton Noodles is a local food found in hawker centres around Singapore which typically comprise of ingredients such as Barbecued pork (Char Siew), blanched vegetables and wanton that is served with nice springy egg noodles either in soup or dry where the noodles are mixed with sauces.
My personal preference will be the dry version as it is more flavourful as compared the soup version. And for Thai wanton noodles which I always eat whenever I visit Bangkok for short trips, on top of the usual ingredients that local wanton mee have, they are served with dried chilli flakes and also thai fish sausage. When I ate the wanton mee in Bangkok, the dried version with black sauce is my favourite and so when I came here to Daruma Tavern, I had to order the dry version with black sauce.
And indeed it did not disappoint, the wanton noodles served was really good and even had both soup and dried wanton served. I will review based on each ingredient use in the noodle:
Noodles: The soul of the dish. If noodles are badly done, then everything will go south. But for the noodles served, it was done very nicely. It had a good springy texture and the black sauce made it really flavourful. Foundation laid for a good plate of noodles.
Wanton: We have both soup and fried wanton served here. Meat in both types of wanton is nicely flavoured with nothing overpowering. Soup wanton was cooked well with no breakage in the skin used to wrap the wanton. Fried wanton was fried nicely with a good crisp.
Blanched Vegetables: No complains on this. Blanched well which allowed the vegetables to maintain a good crisp and bite. No chemical taste.
Barbecued Pork (Char Siew): They used leaner meat to make the Char Siew as compared to other outlets whom made better Char Siew using pork with more fats. While it didn't had the melt in your mouth kind of texture when fattier cuts were used, it had a good bite and nicely roasted with the marinate done very evenly.
Fish Sausage: This elevates the dish to the next level. Not found in typical local wanton mee, it adds an additional dimension of flavour that enhances the taste of the noodles. Really good and I don't mind have more of it. Do note that they do sell the fish sausage standalone as a bar bite dish if you really want to have more of it after eating the first piece. It is very addictive.
Putting everything together, this wanton noodles was really a stellar dish and carries the place. And I am certain the owners had definitely learnt well from their parents and cook this really well. Good taste and good texture, what more can I ask from this dish?
Bar Bites Platter
A simple dish of easy to eat finger food, comprises of fried chicken fillet, luncheon meat, fish ball, mini sausage and Shiitake mushroom. All nice and lightly fried. In the metal saucer, there is wasabi mayonnaise provided for dipping which is good to remove the oiliness of the items and gives a refreshing taste. Nothing out of this world for this, just simple bar bite which is really good if coming here to hang out and have some drinks with friends or colleagues.
Overall:
The wanton noodles were awesome and there are other local delights that my friends tell me is on par with the wanton noodles which I will try on my next visit. The food served is very much affordable and for the wanton noodles, it is way better than what we can typically find in hawker centres. A good place to chill, nice ambience and have some beer. A definite place to return to.
Closing
Thank you for coming by and reading my post. I am really wowed to find a place that serve better local delights than what can be found in local hawker centres. Many more things on the menu which I have yet to try, so I definitely will be back and try the other items.
See you in the next post!