Small Potatoes Make The Steak Look Bigger

Clinging to the dawn of dusk(wtf! lol) at slightly past seven on a Thursday evening, this place (New Harbour Cafe & Bar, 114 Tanjong Pagar Rd, tel : 6226 2657) is brimming with people for drinks and dinner. I'm glad reservations were made. I first took note of this place some time back on a couple of occasions when I visited Chen Li Yuan and Buko Nero along the same row of shophouses at Duxton and realised that this wasn't the just the regular watering hole that serves merely un-nutritious and greasy bar snacks. They too have un-nutritious and greasy meals served. There's a full menu of food to be had and despite the grazing mention regarding nutrition, it's decent chow and a stop worth a second look for dinner and some booze along the way.

The edibles served here are a mixture of local western (read Hainanese originated western), bar food and with a bit of local-ish fare thrown into the mix. Hell there's even sashimi, though I admit to being extremely apprehensive at ordering those in a place like this. I generally do not walk into such an establishment looking for food that requires finesse to prepare. Ahem!




The food here is generally slightly saltish, greasy and makes you want to drink. I thought the crispy pork belly wasn't too bad. I had expected more generous portions and it really isn't that much despite appearances. It does come with a very crispy skin and wasn't ladened with too much blood curdling fats. I would definitely have appreciated a more generous helping of that apple sauce (probably jarred variety) which we had to request for extras as it was merely a small dollop for all that pork belly. The monster burger wasn't close to anywhere as impressive as the name might imply. It's basically one of the regular burgers topped with some ham, cheese, sliced sauteed mushrooms and an egg. There was definitely too much noticeable fillers for the patty which I didn't like. For the price of $18.50, one would definitely start to make comparisons at price points. In the leagues of extraordinary fillings, I'd pick the epicurious one instead. Squid is just acceptable. I definitely expected more char out of them being grilled instead of being limp, however the genuinely "kick in the face" spicy sambal paste and sweet sauce did help it noticeably. Seriously, watch out for the sambal.