Lunch at new restaurant Como Cuisine, Dempsey Hill

With the opening of Como Cuisine and The Dover Street Market Singapore, the Como Dempsey cluster of shops and food outlets at Dempsey Hill, Singapore is now complete. They are located in two adjoining buildings – Blocks 17 and 18 Dempsey Road. The first three restaurants to open – Candlenut, Ippoh Tempura and Dempsey Cookhouse are in Block 17. The new kids, Dover Market and Como Cuisine are in Block 18. We decided to have lunch at Como Cuisine and then check out the Dover Street Market next door.

Like the other three restaurants that preceded it, Como Cuisine is a smart casual kind of restaurant. The decor is simple and tastefully done. Good use is made of the high ceiling and natural lighting to create an attractive contemporary dining space. There are a few outdoor tables. The best seats are at the perimeter of the indoor space. There, the patio space has been enclosed with full glass walls yielding a space that has the best of both worlds – the feel of alfresco dining and air-conditioned comfort.

Como Cuisine Dempsey menu

The Como Cuisine Dempsey menu is a simple one that takes up just two pages of a small pamphlet. Here are pictures of the menu and a page from the drinks menu. Hitherto, we have not had a proper chance to taste the offerings by Como Cuisine. We had some fleeting experience with them at the F1 Paddock Club, but they were so popular and the place too crowded for us to hang around for long.

For starters we had the Baby Romaine salad ($18) and Grilled Squid ($18). The salad was presented as two balls of lettuce covered with grated parmesan cheese. We had expected more than that.

The grilled squid was also not what we expected but it was quite enjoyable. The small pieces of squid were very lightly grilled till they were just cooked. The beauty of this dish lies in the condiments. Watermelon is not an item we normally associate with squid. But the fruit together with the sauce and other embellishments made this a dish we can recommend to our readers.

For main courses we had the Tandoori Chicken ($28) and the Ocean Trout ($34). The tandoori chicken at Como Cuisine was expertly done. We think it can rival that served at many Northern Indian restaurants. We could eat it by itself. The accompanying condiments and sauce made it better.

The ocean trout was the most beautiful and substantial dish that day. The fish itself was nicely cooked. Add to that a myriad of multicoloured things – of which there are too many to remember, including pomegranate seeds. These added colour as well as complexity and texture to each bite of the dish. Very good.

All in all, it was exciting to finally visit the final chapter of the unveiling of the Como Dempsey lifestyle cluster. The food at Como Cuisine Dempsey seemed to have a constant theme – mainstream restaurant items presented with creative touches. We liked all of them with the exception of the salad. The portions served were quite small, so be prepared to order more items that what you are accustomed to. Thank goodness for the generous serving of the bread basket.