Izy Fook / Izy Dining & Bar
27 Club Street
https://www.facebook.com/IzySingapore/
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| Izy House Salad (SGD $12) |
Modern Izakaya With Tasty Mod-Sin Dishes
(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)
Overall: 7
Ambience & Setting: 8
Food & Beverage: 7
Service: 7
Value for Money: 7
Spent about SGD $38 per person.
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Originally established as Izy Dining & Bar in July 2013, the team expanded and rebranded in June 2019 to Izy Fook, with new partnerships in the form of the Roast Paradise team and celebrity DJ Sonia Chew. Where Izy Dining & Bar once touted modern Japanese izakaya fare, the revamped Izy Fook features modern Singaporean dishes instead, retaining little of the previous venture's menu and dishes. Izy Fook has quickly established itself as a media darling. Overall, we rate our visit as "a good experience, but ultimately forgettable".
Ambience at Izy Fook is styled like a comfortable lounge. Designed for lingering communal meals, the place exudes a quiet and sophisticated elegance. Choose from 2 areas, out front by the bar with its bustling activity, or in the back which allows for more intimate meals. Dimly lit, with colours of black, red, white, green, and silver, the place is adorned with a mash-up of modern anime and retro cartoon decor. Furnishings are comfortable and spacious, though this means they seat fewer diners than elsewhere. I love the use of mahjong tiles to form a showpiece wall.
Service at Izy Fook is casual, engaging, and efficient. Staff are happy to engage with guests, displaying good product knowledge, and they're quick to guide diners to make the right choices. Orders are quickly fulfilled, and staff help to shift plates around when serving. They also offered a change of cutlery mid-way through the meal. Finished dishes are proactively offered to be cleared, and they quickly clean up when diners leave. They seem practised to hosting celebrities, as such, they offer a decent level of discretion for well-known clients (Joanne Peh was present during our visit).
Food at Izy Fook is Modern Singaporean, featuring familiar flavours presented in novel, creative ways. This also means dishes can be a hit, or a miss. A mainstay on the menu is the roast pork - courtesy of their partnership with the well-known Roast Paradise brand. Generally, we find dishes well executed and tasty, just falling short of memorable, and lacking that unique 'hook' to cause diners to return for more. Portions are designed for communal dining, and should be shared. Prices are comparable to other gastrobars, budget about SGD $38 per person for a meal here.
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| Izy Fook Exterior |
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| Izy Fook Interior |
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| Izy Fook Menu Food |
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| Izy Fook Menu Drinks |
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| Seating Outdoors |
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| Seating Indoors |
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| Seating Booth |
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| Seating Bar |
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| Mahjong Tiles |
The Beer Suntory The Premium Malt's (SGD $16) is a traditional Pilsner. It has a light straw golden colour, aromas of grains, corn, and malt, with a clean, light, crisp body that has medium carbonation. Taste is of lemon citrus, hops, wheat, and barley, smooth and sweet with a tinge of sour, almost creamy. Finish is dry and sharp. Refreshing and drinkable.
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| Beer Suntory The Premium Malt's (SGD $16) |
The Izy House Salad (SGD $12) visually looks like a fresh garden salad, but tastes exactly like a Singaporean Chinese rojak salad, just without the dark fermented shrimp gravy. This is achieved through the use of calamansi juice, laksa flower, and galangal. The medley of fruits and vegetables (lettuce, chard, baby spinach, pickled cucumber, red onions, pineapple, starfruit, cherry tomato) are fresh and juicy sweet, but the dressing lends a depth of tangy sharp sour earthy spice flavour. Interesting combination, and I love that it helps open the palate. Good!
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| Izy House Salad (SGD $12) |
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| Izy House Salad |
As bar snacks go, the Izy Karaage (SGD $12) is decently tasty, but ultimately forgettable. The chunks of boneless chicken thigh are coated in a blend of balsamic vinegar, mayonnaise, and teriyaki sauce. Bite in, and you get the crisp crunch of the exterior chicken skin, followed by the juicy tender chicken meat interior. Has bold tangy sour sweet savoury salty flavour. Slightly expensive for its portion size though, I could replicate this at home. Could be improved.
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| Izy Karaage (SGD $12) |
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| Izy Karaage |
A novel idea that falls flat on execution. The Beef Brisket Satay (SGD $16) sticks look hearty, with thick chunks of beef brisket on 3 wooden skewers, served with a chunky nutty savoury peanut gravy, and crisp tangy sour pickled shallots on the side. I like the flavour of the beef brisket satay, with its bold spice savoury meaty notes. The meat slides off the skewers easily, but it was dry when we bit into it. Disappointing, we expected better. Could be improved.
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| Beef Brisket Satay (SGD $16) |
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| Beef Brisket Satay |
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| Beef Brisket Satay |
The Grilled Okra (SGD $9) was promising, but was let down by poor execution. The chunks of lady's fingers / okra are fresh and crunchy, grilled till the natural vegetal sweet flavour takes on a smoky aroma. The main problem was the chunky black bean sauce, which had been cooked too long, and tasted burnt and salty, completely lacking any earthy savoury sweet flavour I'd usually associate with it. Could be improved.
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| Grilled Okra (SGD $9) |
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| Grilled Okra |
The Charred Pepper Pork (SGD $13) will appeal to those who prefer lighter peppery flavours. This features chunks of tender juicy pork belly, thick cut and tossed with shallots, curry leaves, teriyaki sauce, white pepper, black pepper, and chili, then decorated with spring onions. Rather addictive with its savoury sweet peppery spice flavour. Will pair well with white rice. Good!
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| Charred Pepper Pork (SGD $13) |
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| Charred Pepper Pork |
I enjoyed the Cold Capellini Noodles (SGD $15), though it has to be eaten quickly, lest it gets clumpy. The thin silky strands of capellini / angel hair pasta noodles are served chilled, in a creamy gravy blend of coconut cream, salted egg yolk, and truffle oil, giving this a bright floral earthy nutty sweet salty savoury flavour. Paired with briny salty juicy globules of flying fish roe and crisp micro-greens, this was refreshing and appetizing. Highly recommended!
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| Cold Capellini Noodles (SGD $15) |
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| Cold Capellini Noodles |
Courtesy of their Roast Paradise partnership, the Char Siu (SGD $10) & Roast Pork (SGD $10) are consistently good, though executed slightly differently. The char siu / char siew / marinated roast pork loin has a sticky caramelised honey glaze, and a juicy tender fatty bite, with less pork meat but more fat. Good sweet savoury flavour, but it lacks the smoky char that their other outlets have, and I also wished it had more meat. The sio bak / roast pork belly has a tender succulent bite to texture, with a crisp crackling skin that crunches loudly, and decent savoury salty sweet flavour. Of the 2, I enjoyed the pork belly more. Good!
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| Char Siu (SGD $10) & Roast Pork (SGD $10) |
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| Char Siu & Roast Pork |
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| Char Siu & Roast Pork |
The Apollo Roasted Spring Chicken (SGD $17 Half) features a half chicken, marinated in light soy sauce and dark soy sauce, then roasted till the skin turns almost black. Served bone-in with a diced ginger and scallion dressing, the chicken has a tender, moist, succulent texture, with natural sweet salty flavour complemented by the herbal spice notes of the dressing. What slightly irked us was the bones, we wished they had carved these out. Worth ordering!
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| Apollo Roasted Spring Chicken (SGD $17 Half) |
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| Apollo Roasted Spring Chicken |
The Smoked Duck Breast (SGD $26) feels like something I could replicate at home with smoked duck purchased from the supermarket. The tender moist slices of smoked duck carry decent salty savoury smoky flavour, and the dressing of orange juice, kicap manis, and crunchy diced white onions lend a burst of fruity citrus sweet sour earthy flavour. For the price though, it tastes too similar to something that was pre-made, making this poor value for money (even if it wasn't). Could be improved.
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| Smoked Duck Breast (SGD $26) |
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| Smoked Duck Breast |
I would return again for the Steamed Clams In Dashi (SGD $18). Easily the best dish we had here, this is a warm, hearty, comforting bowl of meaty tender steamed clams with bright sweet savoury flavour, in a thin yet flavourful soup / broth of dashi / seaweed stock, garlic chives, scallions, and coriander. The soup / broth has addictive sweet savoury earthy herbal notes, so good we kept reaching for more. Highly recommended!
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| Steamed Clams In Dashi (SGD $18) |
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| Steamed Clams In Dashi |
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| Steamed Clams In Dashi |
The Superior Prawn Mee Pok Noodles (SGD $19) was pretty good, and I would order it again. Think of this like a fusion of bak chor mee and Hokkien mee; with soft chewy mee pok egg noodles in a gravy of rich prawn stock, having bold sweet savoury salty flavour. Garnished with tender minced pork, fresh bouncy deshelled tiger prawns, crisp sakura ebi / river shrimp, a wobbly soft onsen egg half, and crunchy fried shallots. There's supposed to be lup cheong / dried Chinese pork sausage according to the menu, but we didn't have any in our serving. Still, this was a delicious, filling bowl of noodles, pure comfort flavours. Highly recommended!
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| Superior Prawn Mee Pok Noodles (SGD $19) |
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| Superior Prawn Mee Pok Noodles |
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| Superior Prawn Mee Pok Noodles |
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CONVERSATION