Tamarind Hill

Deciding to be fancier this year, we had two meals to celebrate V-day! For this meal, we were searching for a place that offers a curated culinary experience and an Arcadian ambience away from the crowd. And that’s how we found our way to Tamarind Hill.

Nestled on a hill amongst the greenery of Labrador Nature Reserve, walking around the premises felt like a bit of an adventure in itself. Flanked by its sister hotel, Villa Samadhi, private walking trails meander between the trees; if we’d been there closer to early evening, it would have been perfect for a stroll. However, the terrain is not kind to those of us who live in heels – I wore my lowest pair and my toes were still crying.

The restaurant is housed in a colonial bungalow, with décor drawing modern parallels to shapes and materials in vogue of that era. There are no stuffy suits for the staff here – instead, you can find everyone skilfully balancing gigantic trays with fragrant dishes perched precariously atop in flip flops and boxy pants inspired by fisherfolk of the region.

Its extensive menu features creations from its Thai and Burmese halves, including heirloom dishes kindly offered up by their chefs. Despite our initial impression of stifling prices and stiff portions, we found the prices fair, and portions incredibly generous. (When ordering, you’re advised to stick to ~3 dishes/2 pax lest you be overwhelmed. Heed it.)

Missing Thai food, our dinner of the day consisted of some of my personal favs. To whet our appetites, the Clear Tom Yum ($34) and Thai-Styled Fish Cakes ($18). To fill us up, the Deep-Fried Ocean Farmed Barramundi Fillet ($42) and the Quick Wok Sautéed Assorted Mushrooms ($18). And finally, before we said goodbye, Steamed Tapioca ($6).

It is hard to pick a fav for the night – the soup had a cornucopia of seafood and shrooms; the fishcakes were filled with actual fish and not fillers; the barramundi was sweet yet savoury, soft yet firm; bursts of spices danced amidst the earthiness of the shrooms. If the flavours were turned up a notch to mirror those back in Thailand, it would be near perfect.

Housed in a beautiful black&white colonial-style house, decorated with class. Knowledgeable and pro-active service staff. Unfortunately, the food is not very innovative, and except for a few dishes like red tom yum, extremely average - quite unmemorable. There are many places in Singapore that serve better Thai food. Prices are high. No wonder when we were there, the clientèle was exclusively expat (primarily Caucasian).

Tamarind hill is beautiful.. the food is as exquisite. Featured is their dessert platter$28 comprising an array of thai sweets that ended a dinner date beautifully

Pictured: Stir-fried Fish Paste Noodle with King Prawn in XO Chilli Sauce, by Chef Edward Chong @edwardchongkf of Peach Blossoms, double award finalist for WGS 2019.
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This coming Sunday, the World Gourmet Summit brings in the best in the F&B industry - from Tamarind Hill, Morsels, Mitzo, and Peach Blossom - for one of the biggest gourmet parties of the year. Immerse in the natural greenery of Labrador Nature Reserve. For that one special Sunday of the year, the nostalgically archaic architecture will house some of WGS’s most passionate partners and individuals that will strive to sate appetites with delicious morsels and stress-inhibiting beverages. Rub shoulders with influential chefs and personalities in one of Singapore’s most infamous Sunday brunch.
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Date/Time: 28 April 2019, 11am - 3pm
Venue: Tamarind Hill
Booking: https://shop.chope.co/products/wgs-gourmet-brunch
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Update: the event below (UNGA Gastro-Market) is cancelled.
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[Cancelled] Besides that, there's also the United Nations Gastronomic Assembly (UNGA) Gastro-Market Place ($10 per entry). Dine on a Spread of Gastronomic Excellence in Singapore at the United Nations Gastronomic Assembly: Gastro-Marketplace. Enjoy a fun evening at the courtyard of Chijmes, where you will taste the culinary gourmet dishes of the world, as well as some of the best beverages to go along with the food, all at affordable prices ($10 for all food and beverages)
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[Cancelled]
Date/Time: Tuesday, 23 April 2019, 6pm – 10pm
Venue: Chijmes Lawn
Booking: https://shop.chope.co/products/united-nations-gastronomic-assembly-unga-gastro-market-place
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📸: Cover photo mine. All others by @worldgourmetsummit
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#worldgourmetsummit #chijmes #foodphotography #exploresingapore #burpple #singaporeinsiders #cbdeats #foodiegram #sgfood #foodsg #instasg #foodstagram #instafood #instafood_sg #foodcoma #f52grams #hungrygowhere #foodgasm #sgfoodblogger #vscofood #onthetable #sgig #yummy #cafehoppingsg #eeeeeats #singapore #liftingnoodles #finedining #noodlss #finediningsg

The ice cream itself was fantabulous and the dried coconut bits within provided a stunnint textural contrast. One of the best coconut ice creams i've ever had.

The aroma and the taste of the juicy jackfruit was inpeccable as well, but it does overpower the other ingredients to the extent that i thought there was jackfruit in the coconut ice cream simply due to the fragrance of the jackfruit.

Chilled coconut flesh. At first i tot it's gonne be completely tasteless next to such a rich coconut ice cream but how wrong i was. Never knew chilling the flesh could change the flavour profile and texture of the coconut flesh so much. A wonderful addition to the dessert.

Pink diamonds. Was expecting red ruby but i turned out to be wrong. This was in fact water chesnut with a red ruby like exterior. Cant say i prefer this to the red ruby's chewy texture but at least it's interesting.

A rather value for money dessert unexpectedly if u can get past the initial disappointment that pink diamonds arent red rubies and never will be :'( otherwise the quality of the ingredients do shine

Overall for the price i expected much more but at least one dish(the lamb) delivered so it wasn't a complete letdown. Honestly some of the food u can find at other places at half the price or less, and the food here mostly isn't worth it. I mean freshness of ingredients is to be expected at a fine dining already so in the flavours component most of the dishes failed to impress or even surprise. Moreover the service staff needs some work. They actually forgot to give me the executive lunch menu with the excuse that no one else had it today. Well of course no one will order if they didnt even see the lunch menu right. And the service staff told me there would be sticky rice in the lunch set so i happily ordered but turns out there wasnt so maybe a miscommunication between the staff and the kitchen? Also what's with the insanely difficult to find menu online? Heard the chef doesnt want an online copy to be available and there isn't one online. I dont get it. The menu was so simplified there wasnt any trade secrets in there anyway. I never had more trouble searching for an established restaurant's menu. Online lunch menu can be found on quandoo. Rmb it might be a long walk from labrador park mrt into the heart of the park where the restaurant was situated and do bring insect repellants for it is a park

This is changed daily based on the chef's discretion so do check with the service. Here we have:

Pumpkin custard: really creamy and pumpkin flavour was enjoyably subtle

Pandan jelly: definitely loved this! Pronounced pandan aroma and beautiful textural contrast in the small bits within the jelly.

Yam cake: i seriously dont understand why fried shallots are used as garnish. The crispy texture and savouriness completely threw off the cake's subtle sweetness and flavour. Would have been great without the garnish