The hot topic for the week has got to be the opening of The Coconut Club’s newest digs — having moved out of the former premises at Ann Siang Hill, The Coconut Club is now part of the The Lo & Behold Group, and takes over the former premises of Nox — Dine in the Dark along Beach Road (they have since relocated to Club Street), just beside where Hvala’s latest takeaway-only outpost is also located. Apart from the famed Ayam Goreng Berempah Set that had brought The Coconut Club to the forefront of Singapore’s dining scene ever since its inception, the opening of the new Beach Road outlet also sees The Coconut Club serving up more sharing plates, as well as starters and a wider range of desserts. Interestingly, The Coconut Club now also carries a newly-introduced Breakfast & Tea menu that is served between 8:30am to 11am, as well as from 3pm to 6pm — the Nasi Lemak, starters and sharing plates will not be available during the hours where the Breakfast and Tea menu is being served. A larger selection of drinks are also available with the expanded operations of The Coconut Club at Beach Road — expect non-alcoholic options ranging from coconut-based concoctions such as the Coconut Milk Cold Brew, Coffee (both brewed using beans roasted by PPP Coffee), Tea and mocktails, as well as alcoholic beverages such as cocktails, beer, wine and spirits.

Was in to give their Charcoal-grilled Kaya Toast but the item that was the show-stopper for us was the Kueh Bakar Keledek. Described on the menu as a “sweet potato cake”, the Kueh Bakar Keledek comes with a scoop of Coconut Sorbet that is churned by Birds of Paradise (yes, that one with the Thyme Cone at The Red House along East Coast Road, as well as Jewel Changi Airport, and Craig Road). Rather than to call it a sweet potato cake, we found the Kueh Bakar Keledek to be really similar to a Kueh Bingka Ubi (i.e. Baked Tapioca Cake); the texture of the Kueh Bakar Keledek was less moist than that of the typical Kueh Bingka Ubi — probably so since potatoes do contain less water content than tapioca. The result is a slightly more dense, not as moist cake that carried that inherent sweetness from purple sweet potatoes; it was also somehow was easy to cut through — the slightly drier texture here is easily remedied by having the cake with the coconut sorbet, which was thick and rich and almost similar to a gelato on its own. The only gripe where the sorbet is of concern is probably how it was stored; noted that there was a rather substantial chunk of ice in the middle as we dug through the sorbet, though it was largely enjoyable save for that one chunk of ice we encountered. If anything, the crusted surface of the Kueh Bakar Keledek deserves a mention — it’s crisp, warm and really comforting; like having a freshly-baked Kueh Bingka Ubi that just came out of the oven. Overall, a dessert which we will happily find ourselves ordering again.

Can’t really comment much about how consistent they are at their Beach Road location against our previous experiences when we visited their various locations at Ann Siang — after all, we did make it a point to try out the items that are newly-introduced with the opening of their Beach Road location rather than to go for the Ayam Goreng Berempah Set which we typically would order whenever we end up here. Still, The Coconut Club has come really far; no doubt there may be changes in ownership over the past couple of years, but for The Coconut Club to be a rising star in the local dining scene back then serving just a single variant of Nasi Lemak and limited options of beverages to a full-fledged restaurant with bar operations and being the establishment that paved the path for more artisanal Nasi Lemak establishments to come (i.e. Uptown Nasi Lemak, Dickson Nasi Lemak, Wild Coco etc.) — probably something that is pretty unthinkable from its humble beginnings which they do deserve all the credit for. We would most certainly be back to give the Ayam Goreng Berempah Set a go again; but for now, we would probably be thinking about the Kueh Bakar Keledek as the dessert to go for when we make our subsequent visit here some time in the future …