Dinner at House @ Dempsey

80 Dempsey Road, Level 1, Singapore 249672

Tel: 6475 7787

Website: http://www.dempseyhouse.com/main/house

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dempseyhouse

Located directly across from the beautiful Henri Charpentier, I remember wandering over to House and peeking at their interesting decor as well as hightea set. Well, The Beau and I ended up here by mistake this evening, but we decided to stay, and ended up having a great time - sometimes, certain mistakes are but beautiful mistakes...

Designed with the solace of a home away from home in mind, existing for the purpose of enabling its patrons to unwind, chill out and just enjoy meals or drinks in utmost comfort. It is a spacious gallery-residence with a rather rustic charm to it, and one of the prettiest (unexpected!) washrooms I have visited, especially amongst restaurants.

House has one of the most cluttered menus I have come across as well. encompassing different kinds of cuisine all into one - from salads to burgers to different-flavored fries to meat dishes prepared the Western way, as well as Chinese food items such as red beanpaste buns (tau sar paus)! They also serve pizzas from Skinny Pizza, so it was a little baffling and we were spoilt for choice.

On top of that, House has one of the best cocktails deals - 3 house cocktails of choice for a mere SGD$35.00! The usual price of a standard house cocktail costs SGD$17.00 onwards, so this is as good as buying 2 getting 1 free! Did they try to serve minion-sized drinks for that price? NO. Did they stinge on the alcohol in that case? NO, as well. This is a steal, and as much as I detest the idea of people flocking here to enjoy this good deal (hence overcrowding this place) - I have to make this wonderful deal known! :)

So, we had the Mint Berry Gin Fizz, Madagascan Mojito and Tiffin Punch (the latter was really cute because it was served in a tin literally). All the drinks were refreshing and lovely.

Service was good throughout; the only drawback was that food took a long while to be served.

For starters, we had the Pumpkin Hazelnut Fries (SGD$12.00); both our eyes fell on that on the menu unanimously, and hence ordered one of it to share. The straw-cut fries were crumbly on the outside, with a lovely crispy batter of flour and hazelnut; the inside was a little mushy but endearingly sweet with pumpkin's flavour. Paprika and chilli joined the union of salty and sweet combination - the contrast was awesome; we were both glad we'd chosen this.

Then my Lemongrass Chicken Salad (SGD$16.00) was brought over. This is officially one of the most interesting salads I ate as well - grilled chicken salad tossed with long ribbons (note, not shredded or cut!) pickled carrots, carrots and cucumber, tossed with zesty lime, chilli and coconut dressing (where is the lemongrass?). The result was a flavourful dish with tender chicken meat, crunchy strips of vegetables that the palate loves and we could not get enough of it.

Finally, the Jamaican Jerk Pork Tenderloin (SGD$27.00) prepared with exotic Jamaican spices, and served with roasted garlic potatoes, roasted asparagus and peach-cranberry chutney. The pork was thoughtfully sectioned into smaller pieces, so that the diners need not do the hard work - but anyway the pork was so tender, cutting it would have been a breeze. Yes, so lovely it disintegrates in the mouth upon contact with the teeth, and the smokey hints merged beautifully with the herbs infusion, making this dish another palate pleaser.

We enjoyed dining here very much, and would love to come back to try other items, such as Asian Sliders (kong bak paus), desserts or even the vintage hightea (available on Thurday and Friday afternoons from 3.00pm till 6.00pm).