Review: Native Restaurant features intelligent fermentation techniques & sustainable regional produce on Amoy Street

Mention ‘Native‘ and most Singapore-dwellers would likely leap to Vijay Mudaliar’s  ground-breaking cocktail bar, tucked away on the second floor of a shophouse on Amoy Street.

Opened in 2017, it made waves for its principles of using only local and regional ingredients alongside modern mixology techniques. Five years down the road, the team expands on their ideology and creativity with the full service Native Restaurant, located on the ground level of the same shophouse.

Helmed by Head Chef MJ Teoh – who honed her culinary chops at restaurants like Pollen, Nouri, and Appetite before running her own kitchen for the first time here – she brings a fresh perspective to a concise menu that pays homage to the concept’s Southeast Asian roots and heritage. Most dishes are vegetarian or pescatarian, perfect for those with such dietary restrictions.

We started with Native’s Miang Kham ($18), a gorgeous tray of ingredients that allow you to DIY the traditional Thai snack. Also reminiscent of rojak in flavours, what syncs the different elements (wild pepper leaves, ginger flower, lemongrass) is the pineapple shoyu concocted from trimmings leftover from creating Native’s cocktail Pineapple Arrack and gula Melaka.

Borlotti bean tempeh crisps and toasted coconut add texture and aromas to this one-of-a-kind party in your mouth.

Different from the cocktails served at the bar, Native Restaurant’s beverage programme is more casual, though equally thoughtful.

Refreshing highlights to kick off the meal include the Snow Pear ($25), a soft and floral cocktail with chrysanthemum gin with a slightly bitter finish from the apricot seed distillate, and Houji Highball ($25), where wakame lends its distinct umami flavours to roasted tea whisky and yuzu soda.

Things falter a bit with Really Cold Somen ($16). As flavoursome and tasty as the white kimchi and tomato granita is, it melts unevenly so we won’t recommend it those with sensitive teeth. The green chili and shiso add welcomed flashes of herbaceous spice and charred flavour for contrast. The Wild Mushroom Dumplings (S$19) is thoroughly enjoyable with its crispy sesame crust, boasting a nice bite with seasonal fungi like maitake, tea tree mushrooms, black fungus, and cordyceps flower.

Known as stinky beans, the petai dish at Native Restaurant are anything but. Served in a style that reminds us of bak kut teh with crispy dough fritters on the side, the Petai-So Clams ($27) boasts fresh and meaty Venus clams in savoury, umami broth.

Think house-fermented miso, rice stems, and a dose of 2019 GranMonte Viognier from Thailand in the broth, which also gets abit of a kick, courtesy of fennel seed and dried chili.

Created by one of the team members, the most comforting, belly-warming dish on the menu is none other than the Nose to Tail Chicken Pao Fan ($32). Roasted bone broth is served tableside into a claypot of free range chicken thigh atop a base of rice, chicken hearts and gizzard. Don’t miss the addictive Ah Moy’s Chilli Sauce on the side, named after Chef MJ’s mother.

For dessert, look to their take on an Eurasian staple and Indian import with the Sticky Jackfruit & Sugee Cake ($13). Topped with bay leaf and cardamom ice cream and pickled lemon, the brown butter sugee cake finds matches in caramalised jackfruit, gula Melaka and Ceylon Arrack (a Sri Lankan spirit distilled from coconut palm sap).

Raise the indulgence quotient by pairing it with the Keluak Martini ($25), where the nuttiness of buah keluak and chickpea miso takes the classic espresso martini in a different direction.

Native Restaurant is located at 52 Amoy Street, Singapore 069878, p. +65 8869 6520. Open Mon-Sat 5pm-10.30pm. Closed Sun.

This article was first published in City Nomads.