808 Eating House – New Joo Chiat Restaurant: Creative & Different (in a good way)

808 Eating House describes itself as ” … a modern Singaporean restaurant that champions local and regional ingredients”. The new restaurant along Joo Chiat Road has a humble, nondescript appearance. We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food.

New Modern Singaporean Restaurant at Joo Chiat

The 808 Eating House restaurant does away with the traditional signboard. Instead only the large numbers “808” are stuck on the glass frontage. It shares the same shop space with Province restaurant, a small eatery that occupies an inner part of the long shophouse space. Unlike the usual casual restaurants with predominantly all-day breakfast, pasta and burgers on the menu. This one is different from the run-of-the-mill.

808 Eating House Menu

It was hard to imagine what kind of food a “modern Singapore restaurant” would serve. A glance at the 808 Eating House menu gave an impression of an East-meets-West kind of fusion cuisine. Items with interesting names include duck fat financiers (with chicken liver mousse), flower crab chip and dip (with XO mayo) and mouth-watering chicken (with Sichuan chilli oil). Done badly, fusion may lead to dissonance. Fortunately that was not the case here. The ingredients were in harmony at 808.

Here are pictures of the 808 restaurant menu and drinks list. A set lunch menu is also available at $38++.

What We Ate at 808 Joo Chiat Restaurant

Financiers and Kailan

We tried two small dishes and three large ones. The two small ones were the Duck Fat Financier ($10) and Kailan and Bacon ($14). The financiers are small French cakes. These ones we ate for lunch were bite-sized. They tasted very good, probably a result of the duck fat. On the side of the dish was some chicken liver mousse, which sounds more weird than it turned out to be. We did not detect any liver taste. It was like an oily, mayonnaise-like condiment.

The Kailan and Bacon dish was another beautifully plated dish. Grilled kailan stems + crisp kailan leaves + bacon + cashew = tasty healthy starter.

808 Eating House Mouth Watering Chicken

Presumably the name of the dish drew inspiration from the Chinese Sichuan dish “口水鸡”. Underneath the pile of coriander was the sous vide chicken which was nice and tender. Sichuan chilli oil, toasted peanuts and scallions provided the requisite taste. Thankfully the chilli level was low and we were fine with it.

Roast Cauliflower and Barrumundi

Curry leaf and mint pesto, cashew nut sauce and toasted pumpkin seeds provided the flavours to the roasted cauliflower ($18).

A plain-looking dish, the Barrumundi was a piece of fish with garam masala pumpkin purée, pumpkin relish, shellfish broth and curry leaf oil. This follows the successful formula at 808 Eating House – enhancing the natural flavours of the main subject with a sauce made with a harmonious mix of various ingredients.

Ratings:
Food: 4
Service: 4
Value: 4
Atmosphere: 3
Overall Rating: 4 TOPs 

808 Eating House
153 Joo Chiat Road, Singapore 427431

Tel: +65 8946 8089

Opening hours:
Tuesday to Sunday 12 noon – 3 pm; 6 pm – 11 pm
Closed on Monday

Website

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The Ordinary Patrons | Real Dining Experience of Ordinary People
an independent Singapore food blog