Roadhouse, Dempsey Road

Roadhouse (13 Dempsey Road, #01-07, tel : +65 6476 2922) it seems is another venture by the Privé Group that's mushroomed out at Dempsey. The characteristic element of Roadhouse as with the current profile of Privé seems to be food powered by the Josper Grill. We dropped by over the week end without reservations and managed to get seats.

To be honest, we were a little spoilt for choice because quite a number of items on the menu sounded like they might be good. We ended up with their Shrimps in a Blanket which was basically bacon wrapped prawns roasted in the oven with a coat of maple syrup. Yeap, those were a little too large for me to call them shrimps. Large and succulent prawns they were, flavored by the smokiness of the bacon and sweetened by maple syrup. I would come back just for these again.

The Roadhouse Ultimate Breakfast was ultimately a disappointment. The portions were hardly what one could consider hearty and the hash browns were the frozen variety that one could have bought anywhere. The poached eggs did look unusual and the butter they had provided for the toast was tasty, but on hindsight, I should have saved myself the $22 and spent it on something else.

Coming from the flaming depths of their Josper Grill, was the Juicy Lucy. Basically a cheese burger with more cheese stuffed in the wagyu patty. While it looked ordinary, this was really one of the better burgers I've had in a while. Living up to it's namesake, Lucy was juicy even though it was cooked way beyond my request and the house recommendation for medium rare. The fragrance of the char was evident in each bite and what I liked about them was that there wasn't unnecessary complication of sauces or spreads. Just lettuce and tomato. And very soft toasted bun. Will come back here for the burgers!

We had a warm salted triple nut tart for dessert. What made the good to great was the luscious caramel that accompanied the tart. It was the old salt and caramel that they pulled here, but it was pulled off pretty well. The scoop on the top was vanilla bean ice cream and not mashed potatoes.

Didn't have too much comments about their drinks, but I'm certainly agreeable to coming back just for more of their menu.