The Jackson Plan, Duxton Hill

This was a new British styled gastrobar (40 Duxton Hill, tel : +65 6866 1988) located but a few units from L'Entrecote. The intriguing name which this establishment has came from a plan which was done to engineer district distribution in this country back in 1822. Shortly after the arrival of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles. Then in recent years, an Italian man Beppe De Vito, who had brought us Il Lido and Forlino decided that it was probably a good idea to turn the name of that into one of a restaurant/watering hole.

How the reconciliation had happened, I did not know.

Westons organic cider

The bar features a bunch of ciders that I knew next to nothing about. I decided on a bottle of Westons organic cider by virtue of name and then decided that it wasn't really what I had been looking forward in a cider. However, their very helpful wait staff did follow up with a recommendation of the vintage cider of the same brand. That was pretty good stuff with what I felt was a better balance of body, apple citrus and of course, more alcohol. We had seconds.

Potted smoked mackerel, rye toast

The smoked mackerel was unexpectedly good. It didn't look like much and I was expecting bits of things I would recognize as fish instead of an oatmeal paste. The aroma of the smoked fish was appetizing and we enjoyed it sufficiently on its own that the lemon was left untouched. But the story of the lemon doesn't end here.

Cured ox tongue, celeriac & caper coleslaw

I had little idea of what to expect for the ox tongue and didn't imagine it to be soft with a velvet like texture on the surface. Much like thick wet cardboard. Lol. Jokes aside, the flavour was a little subdued for my liking for ox tongue. But if you had recalled the lemon that was left behind earlier...a squeeze of it along with a sprinkle of salt did quite a bit to spruce things up.

Scallops, black pudding, smoked cheese

The scallops and blood pudding were enjoyable. Almost everything came across as slightly sweet. The pudding tasted very much like sweet corn with a meaty afternote. The light tasting mashed potatoes were creamy and addictive. What was described as smoked cheese was actually aburied (torched). I'm not even sure if it was just cheese as it was a too fluffy and creamy.

Beef shin, bone marrow, potato cakes

This was probably the least exciting of what we had. The beef shin was tender, but much too lean for my preferences. The bone was a little small with not much marrow to speak of. I think it would be fair to mention that the French guys nearby do a much better job with that. All those capers did nothing to help either.

Real chips

Thick cut fried potatoes. One can even taste the natural sweetness from the tubers. Enjoyed it.

Eccles cake, rum and raisin ice cream

I had never heard of an Eccles cake until today. It is apparently a sort of fruit danish with sugar sprinkled over the top. It might have been great if it were freshly made instead of chewy and cold. The scoop of ice cream which was in all likelihood 50% raisins could have done with more rum. I didn't feel that dessert was much to get excited over.

Would I come back? Certainly.