Jam at Siri House, Dempsey
Here’s a new spot to check out in Dempsey – Jam at Siri House. The perfect place to “hide” away from the crowd, Jam is located all the way at the back end of Dempsey, as part of Siri House, and surrounded by lush greens.
Before I go on about the food here, it’s interesting to note that Jam at Siri House is a partnership project with Thai luxury property developer, Sansiri. The restaurant is the brainchild of Lolla Head Chef and current co-owner of Park Bench Deli, Ming Tan with Jeremy Cheok, previously from New Ubin Seafood. And Sunday Punch’s Mark Tay and Yap Hwee Jen complete the team ascreative forces behind the restaurant’s stellar bar programme.
In essence, Jam at Siri House is a creative lifestyle nexus that brings together art, people, culture, design, food and music- all the essential ingredients for a sought-after place of gathering. Apart from food, you will also be able to enjoy art in the adjoining art gallery; view the Sansiri’s latest luxury project in the adjoining showroom; shop for items that are made by some of Thailand’s hot list of artists and designers in the carts by the front of the restaurant.
After being seated, the evening started with an aperitif. You’d get to pick between three different appertifs that will come to you rolling in a cart. There’s the Umemi, Siri House Negroni and the Paper Plane ($13 each), which are all crafted in-house. I personally liked the sweet Umemi, which is a nice blend of green tea, vodka and dry umeshu.
Before I go on to the food, I’d just like that say that the food here is super homey. And no, it’s not Thai food. We spoke to chef Ming Tan and he said that the food here is the kind of food you’d cook at home and serve to your guests. For most of the dishes, utensils not recommended.
We were first served the Chicken in a Biscuit ($12), which quickly became my favourite dish here. You’d find no chicken pieces here, because the chicken is literally in the biscuit. The super melt-in-your-mouth biscuit is made with chicken fat, spiced cream cheese and flavoured with ginger and garlic. Then, cream cheese is added on top and crumbly chicken skin is sprinkled all over the biscuit. It’s absolutely sinful and amazing.
ext, we had the Scallop ($30). Thick cut Hokkaido scallops are dressed with yuzu, extra virgin olive oil and some black truffle. The scallops are then topped with pearls of wild trout roe and garnished with Arame Kombu, a sort of seaweed.
Add some greens into your meal with the Broccolini ($25). This was quite a surprising dish, as I didn’t think broccolini could taste so good. The broccolini is gently blanched and charred in a charcoal oven till it produces a smoky, crisp exterior and a sweet, tender interior. This is served with fresh burrata, sumac and quick pickled onions on the side.
For our main, we tried the Pappardelle ($33), which features handmade fresh egg pasta in a crustacean sauce that takes more than 8 hours to make. First, the prawns and a lobster head are roasted in butter, then they're gently cooked down with cream and mirepoix for more than 8 hours before being strained to form a reduction. The end product is a super flavourful bisque-like sauce with strong prawn and lobster flavours.
We also tried the Cod ($38), which was my favourite main dish as the fish was just perfectly cooked such that it was soft and flakey, yet not dry or overcooked at all. Inspired by the Chinese steamed fish with ginger and garlic, a Chilean seabass is cooked low and slow in a dry pan until the skin is crispy, then placed in the oven to bake. It is then topped with mushroom dashi and cubes of burdock.
And now, to end dinner with some desserts. Desserts here at Jam are prepared by Pastry Chef Charis Wong, who has trained and worked in the pastry kitchens of Matt Moran’s Chiswick, Pollen and Whitegrass.
The first we tried was the Apple and Ice Cream ($17), which is chef Charis' play on a traditional apple crumble. Here, apples are infused in a rosemary caramel then paired with crumb made from brown sugar, oats, butter and four, then served with a side of cinnamon and clove ice cream.
A dessert that calls out to chocolate lovers out there, the S'mores ($18) is rather heavy but worth every last space in your tummy for this. An egg-free marshmallow is torched to a warm gooey goodness then sandwiched inbetween 2 pieces of housemade graham cinnamon biscuits with a layer of with house raspberry ganache --made with 64% Valrhona Manjari chocolate -- and raspberry puree.
Based on my experience dining here, it's somewhere I would definitely be back for the food as Jam at Siri House stays true to its mission of serving up homey goodness.
Jam at Siri House
8D Dempsey Rd,
Dempsey Hill, #01-02,
249672 Singapore
Tel: +65 9667 0533