Chopsuey Cafe Dempsey by PS Cafe - new interpretations of Chinese and Local food

Chopsuey Cafe Dempsey is a another restaurant run by PS Cafe in the dining enclave in Dempsey Hill. The folks running PS Cafe must have a golden touch. Just like the PS Cafe in Dempsey, Chopsuey Cafe seems to be very popular. On a recent Saturday evening, we strolled around the restaurants in the area and noticed that most of the restaurants had room for walk-in customers. We only surveyed only two restaurants that were full, and Chopsuey was one of them. What is even more impressive is that they are located in a dark and extreme end of Dempsey Hill. Yet the customers were drawn to it like insects to the light.

There are two seating sections in Chopsuey Cafe Dempsey. The main air-conditioned dining area and an outdoor area. Both seemed equally popular. The only table available for us was in the outside area which was fine as it was a cool night. The only downside was the darkness which made it hard to take photos. With the only illumination coming from the mushroom-shaped table lamp, we had to grapple with extreme contrasts.

According to the Chopsuey Cafe website, they serve “an array of Chinese comfort favourites and new interpretations of traditional foods influenced by the Anglo-Chinese experience in the UK, US and Australia.” We had previously tried the Chopsuey Cafe outlet at Martin Road and thought they had pulled off the East Meets West fusion quite well. You can read about our experience here. This time we ordered different dishes. Here are some random pages from the menu.

Our drinks to start the ball rolling were a blood orange bellini and a Erdinger beer ($19 and $11 respectively), shown here with the mushroom lamp which was our main source of light.

First dish – crisped duck pow pock ($17). These were three buns (man tou) filled with pieces of crispy duck and vegetables. A bit like eating Peking duck, but more substantial. We liked this dish.

The next dish was Suzy’s spaghetti crab mee goreng ($26). This dish maintained its mee goreng character well. The only difference was the more springy texture of spaghetti and the greater abundance of ingredients as compared to the more humble mee goreng. The crab was noticeable in terms of taste but not visually i.e. there were no lumps of crabmeat, but they must have used small pieces of crab or some broth of crab in the cooking. Overall a good tasting dish and in a generous portion as well.

It was a good thing that we only ordered three dishes as the last dish was also a substantial one. Cooky’s pork chop with chips and edamame ($24). The taste of this dish reminded us of the legendary Hainanese pork chop served at the Han’s cafes in Singapore. Ideally this dish should be consumed with steamed rice. But we were already bursting. This could be just a simple meal for two the next time. Just order this and two bowls of rice.

Overall, it was an enjoyable dinner at Chopsuey Cafe Dempsey. The food is similar to their outlet at Martin Road but the decor and ambience of the restaurant is quite different. This looks like a Western restaurant while the Martin Road one has a more unique decor with Chinese restaurant touches. Reservations are recommended for Friday and Saturday dinners.