The Gong By Drinks & Co. Tasting Session 2019
7 Fraser Street
#01-59 Duo Galleria
Opening Hours:
Daily: 11am - 11:59pm
https://www.facebook.com/thegongdnc/
This was an invited media review. I did not pay for the meal during the free hosted tasting session, but I did pay the standard price during subsequent visits.
Attended with representatives from Chubby Botak Koala, Purple Taste, msginginly, With Rachelle, Epicurious Caniggia, and Her Pen And Fork. Returned with The Arctic Star, and HungryGoWhere.
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| Barbecue Smoked Duck Breast (SGD $24) |
Delicious Dishes & Fine Wines
(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)
Overall: 8
Ambience & Setting: 8
Food & Beverage: 8
Service: 8
Value for Money: 8
Budget about SGD $37++ per person.
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Opening in October 2019, The Gong By Drinks & Co., also known as The Gong, is a relaxing casual wine bar and restaurant, tucked away in a quiet corner of Duo Galleria. Offering a wide range of wines and a range of delicious Western and Asian dishes at wallet-friendly, affordable prices, The Gong is suitable for after-work, everyday dining and drinks. True to their name, they have 2 medium sized gongs on premise, which diners are welcome to hit!
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| The Gong Exterior |
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| The Gong Interior |
Ambience at The Gong is modern, spacious, and relaxing. There's ample seating both indoors and outdoors, both neatly arrayed with sturdy modern furniture. The outdoor al-fresco seats offer a view of the streets and the surrounding greenery, while the sheltered area means it's usually cool. The indoor restaurant seating is open and spacious, with warm decorative lights and a mosaic of checkered black-and-white floor tiles. A vast wine rack and bar takes up a length of a wall, allowing diners to browse for bottles. They also have a good sized private room for events.
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| Seating Outdoors |
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| Seating Indoors |
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| Private Room |
Service at The Gong is professional, friendly, and engaging. Staff are polite and courteous, quickly welcoming and seating guests. They display good product knowledge on the menu, being able to offer recommendations and introduce dishes as they serve. I observed them engaging and chatting with diners, gathering feedback and ensuring a pleasant dining experience. Cleaning up is done periodically throughout the meal, and they work quickly and efficiently to clear tables when diners leave. However, I didn't have the opportunity to test their wine knowledge.
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| Wine Display |
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| The Gong Happy Hour |
Food at The Gong draws on Western and Asian influences, including American, British, French, Italian, Chinese, Malay, Thai, Japanese, and Singaporean cuisines. The menu has good variety, and Head Chef Wan and the kitchen team execute on dishes well, serving restaurant quality plates that look good and taste great. Ingredients are fresh, and they also offer vegetarian and gluten-free options. Portions are sized either for individuals, or for communal sharing. Yet, prices are affordable and wallet-friendly, cheaper than most other restaurants. Budget about SGD $37++ per person for a meal with drinks here.
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| The Gong Menu |
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| Appetizers Flat Lay |
The Fever-Tree Premium Ginger Ale (SGD $5) is a refreshing fizzy cooler that is made from a blend of tonic water, ginger ale, ginger beer, and soda water. With a lively body and delicate sweet spice flavour, this non-alcoholic beverage is pleasing, and pairs well with dishes. Good!
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| Fever-Tree Premium Ginger Ale (SGD $5) |
The Wine House Pour Prosecco (SGD $10 / $13) is a good tipple to start, or for pairing with light bites and salads.
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| Wine House Pour Prosecco (SGD $10 / $13) |
The Wine House Pour Chardonnay (SGD $7 / $13 for 120ml, $11 / $17 for 240ml) works well when paired with seafood, fish, chicken, soups, salads, or the cheese board.
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| Wine House Pour Chardonnay (SGD $7 / $13 for 120ml, $11 / $17 for 240ml) |
The Wine House Pour Shiraz (SGD $7 / $13 for 120ml, $11 / $17 for 240ml) works well when paired with roasts, grills, beef, pork, stews, or spiced dishes.
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| Wine House Pour Shiraz (SGD $7 / $13 for 120ml, $11 / $17 for 240ml) |
Loved the vibrant Florets Of Cauliflower (SGD $14), which features crunchy stalks of cauliflower tossed with crisp red radish, juicy red grapes, and soft mint leaves, in a bright grainy pesto sauce. You get the refreshing burst of herbal vegetal flavours of the pesto sauce first, followed by the vegetal fruity sweet flavours of the ingredients. Highly recommended!
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| Florets Of Cauliflower (SGD $14) |
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| Florets Of Cauliflower |
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| Florets Of Cauliflower |
The Gong Salt And Pepper Squid (SGD $17) features tender chunks of calamari squid, coated in a thin, crisp all-purpose flour batter spiced with salt, black pepper, garlic, sugar, and red chili. This results in a deep and robust savoury salty spice sweet flavour. Served with a drizzle of lemon juice. Nice, great sharing appetizer. Highly recommended!
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| Gong Salt And Pepper Squid (SGD $17) |
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| Gong Salt And Pepper Squid |
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| Gong Salt And Pepper Squid |
The Crispy Chicken Karaage (SGD $18) is fairly straightforward but well executed. The chunks of boneless fried chicken have a light crisp crunch to the exterior, and a juicy tender interior, with good savoury sweet flavour. Served with a light soy sauce, lemon juice, and chili dip on the side. While tasty, it's small in portion for the price.
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| Crispy Chicken Karaage (SGD $18) |
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| Crispy Chicken Karaage |
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| Crispy Chicken Karaage |
The House Iberico Pork (SGD $24) is delicious. Served over a bed of creamy brinjal / aubergine / eggplant puree, the tender moist slices of Iberico pork belly are so succulent. On the side are crisp slices of juicy red apple, tender roasted potatoes, and soft pickled shallots, finished with a drizzle of pork jus. Chef Wan says you're meant to eat a bit of everything together, resulting in a deep and robust burst of savoury salty sweet fruity vegetal earthy flavours. Loved every bite of this, would order again. Highly recommended!
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| House Iberico Pork (SGD $24) |
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| House Iberico Pork |
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| House Iberico Pork |
What stood out for me in the Barbecue Smoked Duck Breast (SGD $24) was the thick, succulent, juicy fillet of duck breast, which had a beautiful delicate smoky savoury salty flavour, with a light bouncy chew to texture. It's marinated in the house barbecue sauce, which is rich and thick with sweet savoury flavour. Served with a side salad using fresh ingredients that Chef Wan has (which means it differs from the menu), during our visit, this featured tender carrots, juicy peas, and crunchy baby corn, all with vegetal sweet flavour. Plated over a dollop of carrot and potato puree which is thick and gloopy with a starchy vegetal sweet earthy flavour. Highly recommended!
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| Barbecue Smoked Duck Breast (SGD $24) |
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| Barbecue Smoked Duck Breast |
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| Barbecue Smoked Duck Breast |
I understand they make their own pizza dough in-house, which results in a thin crisp pizza crust with delicate bready sweet flavour. With Zul's Satay Pizza (SGD $24), they've garnished the pizza with chunks of chicken and beef satay, juicy cucumber and white onions, and dressed it with a rich peanut gravy. Rather novel flavours of smoky sweet savoury vegetal nutty here. However, I did feel this was a little light on flavour, and could have done with more garnish and peanut sauce. Could be improved.
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| Zul's Satay Pizza (SGD $24) |
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| Zul's Satay Pizza |
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| Zul's Satay Pizza |
Loved the Assorted Wild Mushroom Pizza (SGD $26); this is the gold standard of mushroom pizza all should aspire to. This pizza features tender assorted wild mushrooms (button, shiitake), dollops of grainy mushroom duxelle, rich wild black truffle cream, and gooey mozzarella cheese. The signature house pizza dough, with its thin crisp pizza crust with delicate bready sweet flavour, completes. Bite in, and you get a bold yet pleasant hit of bright vegetal earthy sweet savoury flavour. So delicious, we wanted more. Highly recommended!
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| Assorted Wild Mushroom Pizza (SGD $26) |
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| Assorted Wild Mushroom Pizza |
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| Assorted Wild Mushroom Pizza |
The House Hokkien Mee (SGD $14) is presented restaurant style, and looks so enticing. Taste-wise, it's as good as most famous versions across Singapore. The medium cylinderical yellow egg noodles and white rice noodles are tossed with eggs in a rich pork and prawn stock, till it absorbs all the meaty savoury sweet eggy flavour and becomes soft and slippery in texture. They've done the wet version here, with a bright gravy, and garnished it with tender pork belly, bouncy squid, and large fresh tiger prawns which are nicely succulent. Generous use of spring onions and calamansi juice to complete. Served with a home made sambal belachan on the side, which has mild spicy savoury sweet notes. Good!
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| House Hokkien Mee (SGD $14) |
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| House Hokkien Mee |
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| House Hokkien Mee |
The Crab Meat Fried Rice (SGD $14) is decent enough, with just a hint of smoky wok hei / breath of the wok. The loose grains of fried rice are tossed with deshelled crab claw meat, small but juicy plump shrimp / prawns, eggs, and fresh vegetables including peas, corn kernels, carrots, and spring onions. Completed with a helping of juicy tobiko / flying fish roe. Tastes smoky savoury sweet on the palate.
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| Crab Meat Fried Rice (SGD $14) |
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| Crab Meat Fried Rice |
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| Crab Meat Fried Rice |
The Mixed Meat Platter (SGD $40 for 2 people / $56 for 4 people) has a good variety of meats, but requires skill to get right. Served with a fresh crisp mesclun salad (chard, mizuna, baby spinach) with vegetal sweet flavour, and a creamy mint yoghurt sauce which has bright herbal milky notes. The grilled beef was medium rare, but weak with a rather firm chewy texture and meaty savoury salty flavour. The cumberland sausage of pork has a snappy juicy chew with meaty savoury flavour, while the chorizo sausage of pork has a tender moist chew with meaty spice salty flavour. The chicken satay and beef satay were tasty with a light tender chew and smoky savoury meaty spice flavour, but cried out for lack of a peanut sauce to accompany. The grilled lamb rack was succulent, with a juicy fatty bouncy chew, and deep meaty savoury salty flavour that wasn't gamey.
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| Mixed Meat Platter (SGD $40 for 2 people / $56 for 4 people) |
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| Mesclun Salad, Mint Yoghurt Sauce |
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| Grilled Beef |
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| Cumberland Sausage, Chorizo Sausage |
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| Chicken Satay, Beef Satay |
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| Grilled Lamb Rack |
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| Mixed Meat Platter |
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| Mixed Meat Platter |
Absolutely loved the Tiramisu (SGD $13), as good as any version from an Italian restaurant, having all the classic flavours and the correct balance of taste, albeit deconstructed in presentation. The rich, creamy blend of eggs, white sugar, and mascarpone cheese is layered with fine espresso coffee powder and cocoa powder, over a soft sponge cake base, topped with a slightly crisp slightly soft ladyfinger biscuit / sponge finger biscuit. Surrounded by juicy strawberries and red grapes, decorated with more cocoa powder. Each bite is so decadent, with a lovely floral toasty milky sweet flavour. Quite addictive, we kept reaching for more. Highly recommended!
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| Tiramisu (SGD $13) |
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| Tiramisu |
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| Tiramisu |
Slightly let down by the Chocolate Lava Cake (SGD $13), because there wasn't any chocolate oozing out when cut. Instead, this is more like a rich chocolate fudge cake, and it's pretty good. With a soft moist warm texture, and robust chocolatey sweet flavour, this pairs well with the creamy smooth vanilla ice cream, sticky strawberry and raspberry puree, and juicy strawberries and red grapes. Could be improved.
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| Chocolate Lava Cake (SGD $13) |
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| Chocolate Lava Cake |
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| Chocolate Lava Cake |
Overall, we loved the relaxing casual ambience at The Gong By Drinks & Co., and their friendly engaging service. The variety of food and drinks is sufficient for repeat visits, and their affordable wallet-friendly prices means you can dine at The Gong almost daily without breaking the bank. Glad that we've found The Gong, it really is a gem of a restaurant.
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Update Jan-2020: Returned to The Gong By Drinks & Co. just a few months later, as we had a good dining experience, and wanted to revisit. Having only been a few months, the ambience, service, food quality, and prices remain the same as our prior visit.
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| Us |
The Wine House Pour Sauvignon Blanc (SGD $7 / $13 for 120ml, $11 / $17 for 240ml) works well when paired with seafood, fish, chicken, soups, salads, or the cheese board.
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| Wine House Pour Sauvignon Blanc (SGD $7 / $13 for 120ml, $11 / $17 for 240ml) |
The Wine House Pour Cabernet Sauvignon (SGD $7 / $13 for 120ml, $11 / $17 for 240ml) works well when paired with roasts, grills, beef, pork, stews, or spiced dishes.
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| Wine House Pour Cabernet Sauvignon (SGD $7 / $13 for 120ml, $11 / $17 for 240ml) |
The Wine Big Bunch Hawkes Bay Merlot 2014 (SGD $48) is a red wine, made from 100% Merlot grapes, by the Te Awanga Estate winery under the Big Bunch brand name, in Te Awanga town, Hawke's Bay region of New Zealand. It has a deep garnet red colour, with aromas of dark cherry, tobacco smoke, oak leaf, and rosemary. The body is silky smooth, robust, and medium thin, with tastes of cassis, black berry, plum, and cloves. Has a juicy earthy fruity herbal sweet flavour, with supple tannins, a gentle acidity, and a dry finish.
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| Wine Big Bunch Hawkes Bay Merlot 2014 (SGD $48) |
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| Wine Big Bunch Hawkes Bay Merlot 2014 |
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| Wine Big Bunch Hawkes Bay Merlot 2014 |
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| Wine Big Bunch Hawkes Bay Merlot 2014 |
The Skinny Truffle Fries (SGD $16) are rather addictive. These thin, crisp shoestring potato fries have a delicate earthy savoury salty flavour, thanks to the infusion of truffle oil. Served with a rich creamy truffle mayonnaise on the side. Actually, I think it also goes well with tomato ketchup. Best shared. Good!
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| Skinny Truffle Fries (SGD $16) |
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| Skinny Truffle Fries |
The Pan-Seared Foie Gras (SGD $25) features 2 thick, tender moist, succulent slices of foie gras, with deep fatty savoury salty flavour. Plated over crisp pourous toasted bread, which crunches delightfully, perfuming its delicate bready sweet aroma. Served with a selection of juicy fruity sweet seasonal fruits; during our visit, this included strawberries, red grapes, and cherry tomatoes. A decadent plate. Worth ordering!
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| Pan-Seared Foie Gras (SGD $25) |
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| Pan-Seared Foie Gras |
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| Pan-Seared Foie Gras |
The classic British English Bangers & Mash (SGD $27), this version features thick snappy juicy English cumberland pork sasuages, with deep meaty savoury salty herbal flavour. Plated over creamy smooth mashed potatoes dressed with a caramelised onion gravy, which lends a starchy sweet savoury flavour profile. Topped with battered onion rings, which has a crisp but oily crust, yet is tender and juicy within, having delicate earthy sweet savoury flavour. An overall satisfying dish. Good!
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| Bangers & Mash (SGD $27) |
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| Bangers & Mash |
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| Bangers & Mash |
The House Iberico Pork (SGD $24) is as good as before, except they've now included smoked broccoli florets as part of the dish. These smoky vegetal sweet broccoli have a firm moist crunch. I'll order this again. Highly recommended!
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| House Iberico Pork (SGD $24) |
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| House Iberico Pork |
We tried the lamb as part of the platter last time, and it was good enough to prompt us to order the ala-carte Lamb Rack (SGD $34) on our return visit. The medium large cuts of lamb rack have tender juicy lamb meat, coming easily off the bone. Succulent to the bite, with bold meaty savoury flavour, the thick gravy of tomato marmite lends a floral earthy sweet contrast of taste. Served with smoky charred broccoli florets with a firm moist crunch and enticing smoky vegetal sweet flavour, and tender roasted baby potatoes with starchy sweet salty flavour. Good!
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| Lamb Rack (SGD $34) |
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| Lamb Rack |
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| Lamb Rack |
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CONVERSATION