Morsels Restaurant & Private Dining at Dempsey Hill - Lovely Meal at a Lovely Cottage House

Going down to lush greenery surrounded Dempsey Hill, I'm just looking to try Morsels' latest set lunch that looks promising, and in the midst of a nice ambience. But when I slide open the door of a barn-like building and then step inside, I go, "Wow!" So homely, so quaint, so lovely, the place's interior is so different from those of other restaurants in Singapore. This is like a rustic cottage house, filled with pretty handmade crafts, cute ornaments, lots of real fresh blooms (I love fresh flowers ...), seashells, glowing soft lights and solid wooden furniture. This is like the ultimate place to get that feel of being in countryside, with all the comforts. So yes, I end up taking lots of pictures.

Awesome ambience aside, what matters most is still the food here, and it definitely matches up to the ambience, delivering subtle surprises with a myriad of clean and unique flavours. Various techniques of curing and fermentation are employed to extract different kinds of flavours for use in the French dishes, and it works beautifully. I love every course of the set lunch.

Service is outstanding: being very friendly, patient, thoughtful and knowledgeable about the food. Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoy myself here.

The pretty trio of appetisers are:

Fresh Seasonal Oyster soaked in citron green tea kombucha vinaigrette and olive gel. Refreshing in taste, with loads of umami and hints of zest. This oyster packs so many harmonised flavours. A very good start.

Second appetiser is Sanchoku Corned Vegetable Cream. Original version is beef, they nicely changed it to vegetarian version due to  my dietary preferences. Within the crispy pani puri contains a delicious lava-like, creamy, savoury custard, perked up by the tanginess of cornichon, a small pickled cucumber.

Mushroom Garum Broth is so comforting to sip on. It is made from extract the essence of fermented mushrooms, resulting in a clear broth that tastes so meaty and earthy. The puff pastry twisty, spinkled with powdered herbs, is a nice crispy accompaniment to the broth.

The Multi-Grain Bread here is filled with the aroma and goodness of grains. The texture is so great, being crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. The taste of grains is instantly perked up by the simulating flavours of fermented green chilli butter spread. I love the novelty of the spread here.

Cured Stolt Farm Turbot Carpaccio is clean in taste, highlighted by the array of subtle flavours of smoked zucchini dashi, fermented cucumber gel and 8Gems Caviar. The crunchy texture of iceberg vegetable is such a nice contrast to the carpaccio.

Tender Jeju Abalone with light briny sweetness & also tender Sakura Chicken goes very well with the lightly flavoured multigrain risotto (Japanese rice, California Shortgrain, Bali Rice ...). Puffed rice scattered on top gives a nice crunch to the texture. When trying the risotto on its own, I can fully appreciate the deep flavours of Morsels 4YO doenjang and pickled beets.

Primrose Farm Pork Tenderloin is unbelievably sweet and tender! It goes so well with sauce Rockerfeller, and especially so with kumquat red pepper kosho that lifts up the whole taste. The baby gem is crunchy and delicious too.

Classic French hospitality with sightly sour, nice palate cleanser served.

Apple is one of the best Panna Cotta I ever have. The rice whipped panna cotta is creamy yet light at the same time due to the addition of apple lemon balm kombucha. And the shiso granita is what makes this dessert simply amazing. The refreshing flavour of shiso cuts through the creaminess to elevate the entire taste.

Yummy Petit Fours, and I especially love the creamy and slight chewy nougat with cherry and raisins packed within.

Nice French wine recommended to go with the set lunch.

A very special barn-like door as the entrance to this quaint restaurant. Take note of the sign hanging off the door handle to know if the restaurant is open for business already.

Actually I had heard of Morsels a long time, but didn’t got around to come here. The new set menu introduces a fresh breath that makes me sit up and take note of this hidden gem. Chef Petrina Loh’s unique and creative take on preparation of the food really impresses me. I look forward to savour more.

Thoughts: Wonderful Experience like no Others

25 Dempsey Road #01-04

Nearest MRT: Napier