Morsels - 1st May 2016
Last Friday, my wife and I decided to try this hole in the wall restaurant called Morsels. Located in Little India, the downside was the difficulty in finding parking. The upside was the restaurant could accommodate us at last minutes notice. That is not to say the restaurant was empty, it was actually bustling by the time we finished our dinner. Morsels has been around for over 3 years which in Singapore standards means you must be doing something right.
Walking into this restaurant is like walking into a quaint living room. It is decorated nicely with pictures, art pieces and flowers. It is separated into two rooms with one flanked by the open bar and another by an open kitchen.
The menu featured a number of house smoked ingredients and fermented stuff with a good mix of meat, seafood and vegetables. As I found out, chef/owner Bryan loves working with meats and smoking them while chef/owner Petrina loves to ferment and work with seafood and vegetables. They seem to complement each other very well but hey, the proof is in the pudding.
I did the safe and easy way out, ordering all five of their signature dishes on the menu. Five dishes seemed like the perfect amount of food for two and also all sounded really delicious so why be adventurous when it was my first time here.
Steamed venus clams in fig broth and kimchi
Duroc pulled-pork shell pasta
The steamed venus clams in fig broth and kimchi was first to arrive. The clams were fresh and cooked perfectly but the winner here is that subtly sweet and bitter broth. We first used the slices of bread to soak up the liquid gold but eventually when we ran out of bread, I took a spoon and slurped up every last bit. The firecracker duroc pulled-pork shell pasta, habanero pesto and sour cream was so good but so filling. We ordered the larger size for $26 and had to stop halfway for fear of not finishing the rest of our meal. We gladly doggie bag the leftovers home to be enjoyed the next day. Duroc pork is like the Angus of pork. It is often the breed of choice for cross breeding with Ibercio pigs to improve the yield while not comprising too much on quality. The habanero pesto which we thought would be very spicy was calmed with the sour cream and mixing everything up made the pasta taste so comforting, so rich but so filling.
House-poached octopus, squid ink risotto and salted egg sauce
Ume-sake braised black angus short rib
The next dish we got was the charred house-poached octopus, squid ink risotto and salted egg sauce. The octopus was tender without being mushy and went so well with the rich and tasty risotto. The salted egg sauce added another burst of richness and savouriness to the dish. It would be tough to pick a favourite dish as everything was so good but I think this would be it. The ume-sake braised black angus short rib was served with Okinawan sweet potato and jus. The melt in your mouth short rib was coated well with the sweet jus and went well with the purple coloured sweet potato mash below it. Another rich and decadent dish.
We finished off the meal with their signature milo tiramisu. You have to dig past the rich mascarpone cream and powdered milo to get to the rum soaked sponge. It was satisfying but simply too much for the two of us.
I really enjoyed each and every dish however the next time it would have been better to order some less filling, less rich dishes. I walked out feeling so stuffed that I was glad I had to walk a few minutes to my car so that I could digest the food. Be sure to combine the morsels of food with their cocktails!
