Open Door Policy

We came across this place totally by chance. I had suggested going to Forty Hands because I hadn't tried it before. But to our disappointment, it was closed on Mondays. So we roam the area abit and found Open Door Policy opened and interesting. So we decided to try it out. Boy oh boy, were we impressed.

First thing that caught my attention upon being seated was the specials menu. Black truffle menu!! But it was quite pricey, and I didn't really want to subject my colleagues to my level of expenditure on food. So I tempted Lynn by sending her the menu instead.

Browsing the regular dinner menu, quite a few items caught my attention. So here goes... Broccoli and Stilton soup. I love blue cheese remember? So stilton is soo tempting. It came as a not too thick cream-based broccoli soup, with bits of stilton cheese in it. So you have to scrap the bottom of the bowl to fish out the cheese pieces, and that mouthful of creamy broccoli and pungent blue cheese had me sighing with pleasure.

Broccoli and Stilton soup

We decided on a red meat feast that day. Two beef one lamb. And all met and exceeded our expectations. The 48 hours braised beef cheek was tender and flavorful. Even J, who actually doesn't like beef, managed a small portion. We loved the sweet radish too. The slow braised short ribs was also very tender. J really loved the mango salad. It was very refreshing, in the midst of our otherwise carnivorous meal.

48 hours braised beef cheek with master stock quinoa and organic black radish

Slow braised short rib and red curry jus and green mango salad

What I really loved was the lamb cutlet. Three pieces! Just nice one for each of us. It was done perfectly. The lambiness wasn't overpowering, very nicely balanced by its sauce. The potato and pea stew was more of a mashed potato with peas, but worked very well. It was so good that I texted Lynn and said they were to-die-for.

Roast lamb cutlet with potato and pea stew, and fresh mint

When it came to dessert, we couldn't really decide but settled for the apple crumble and a souffle. The apple crumble was oh-so-good. So good that we actually ordered a second one after the first. J really really really loved it. It was hot, and the crumble crunchy. Beneath that crunch was a apple stew that wasn't overpoweringly sweet. With the vanilla sauce provided, it was divine. For the world of me, I cannot remember the flavor of the souffle. On their website's menu, the only souffle is a mango souffle with a bitter chocolate centre. I don't remember ours being mango so I'm not sure if the menu had changed. I remember it to be a nice souffle, but didn't make as huge an impression as the apple crumble.

Apple crumble with vanilla custard

Souffle

Open Door Policy is a nice cosy restaurant with attentive staff. The prices are a little steep, but worth the dollar for the quality of food given. I still wanted to bring Lynn back for the truffle menu. Upon checking with our helpful waiter, I was told it was a while-stocks-last menu. So guess what? I had already planned for a second exactly one week after. The place gets quite crowded later part of the evening so reservations recommended.

Update

As mentioned above, we had a second visit planned. J and X enjoyed the first so much that they decided to join Lynn and I for our truffle mania. CW came along too because he happened to be in town and wanted to meet us for dinner. He had never met us again since. I wonder whether I scared him off with the price of dinner? Lol...

Because there's more of us, we decided we could order more variety. For starters, we had the Jamon Iberico ham. It was served with a nice little salsa on the side. The ham wasn't too salty, and the crusty bread contrasted very nicely with the thinly sliced ham. 

Jamon Iberico ham

For mains, I ordered what I've been eyeing since the last visit. The wagyu burger with foie gras, truffle mayo and fresh black truffle. My three favorite items packaged into one single ginormous burger. I was hopping with anticipation. Upon its arrival, I carefully dissected it into 5. It was a huge effort but I did it. Sadly, the wagyu didn't have the classic wagyu aroma. The foie gras was blissful, but after dissection, each of us only got a small piece. The truffle flavor wasn't strong. We could smell traces of it, but it wasn't very obvious when we were eating the burger. Still, we were happy to see black pieces of shaved truffle on the fries. It was a decent burger, but we were definitely disappointed as we expected more 'wow'.

Wagyu foie gras truffle burger with a mountain of fries

The burger was huge!

Cut out view of the meaty burger

We ordered the same lamb and one of the beef, but somehow, they weren't as good as last week. Whether it was due to our initial disappointment from the burger, or did the standard really deviate, I can't tell. We also got a roast salmon, which was tender but not dry. A pretty good fish dish, I must say.

Roast Akaroa salmon with crushed potatoes, grilled baby leeks and brown butter jus

Maybe we were fuller from all the food we consumed. Or maybe the sense of novelty is gone. The apple crumble didn't impress us as much as the first visit. But bear in mind it WAS the first visit for Lynn, and she wasn't as wow'ed as we were with the lamb and the apple crumble. She did love the blue cheese soup. So I guess the restaurant doesn't hold up too well on standardisation. Which was really disappointing, making us unsure about a third visit.


Open Door Policy
19 Yong Siak Street
Singapore 168650
Tel: 62219307
Fax: 62219032