Cheek By Jowl At Boon Tat Street - Interior from the front

Cheek By Jowl At Boon Tat Street – Telok Ayer, Singapore

When I got to know about Cheek By Jowl along Boon Tat Street has opened its door to welcome diners, ever since, I was eager to try them out. As I have my regular meet up with this group of foodie colleagues, I took the opportunity to have a feast there. And guess what, we ordered almost the entire Dinner menu. Lol!

 

I was surprised that one of my friend went to read up about the restaurant and the Chef. We were in anticipation of the dinner.

 

Cheek By Jowl At Boon Tat Street - Tables by a side

 

Cheek By Jowl At Boon Tat Street - Tables by the other side

 

Cheek By Jowl has a very much, I would term as open concept. From the kitchen and even the front door. As such the cigarette smoke got into the interior dinning area which was quite annoying for me since I am sensitive to the smell. The ambience was causual. It is interesting to see the only round table at a corner of the restaurant.

 

Coming to the dinner menu, all its dishes at Cheek By Jowl were designed for sharing, staring from light bites, small plate, large plate and lastly desserts.

 

Cheek By Jowl At Boon Tat Street - Oyster ($5 / pc)

 

We started with Oyster ($5/pc) as the light bites. The oysters were topped with shaved tomato ice. Oh my! It was icy cold and with the tomato aroma, it was refreshing and masking any strong seafood flavour. We enjoyed so much till we ordered more of it. The two other light bites which we missed were Marinated Olives ($6) and Padron Peppers ($9).

 

Cheek By Jowl At Boon Tat Street - Beetroot ($17)

 

5 small plates were offered at Cheek By Jowl. We ordered everything except the Roast Pumpkin ($22). First on the table was the Beetroot ($17). Interestingly, it consisted of beetroot marinated in 2 ways. The lightly sweetened beetroot was topped with the pickled beetroot. These were sat on goat cheese. It was an appetiser to us, whetting our appetite for more food to come.

 

Cheek By Jowl At Boon Tat Street - Ocean Trout ($22)

 

The Ocean Trout ($22) has a colourful plating while its combination is genius. All the ingredients, Cucumber, picked green, sauce and buttermilk, complemented the lightly seared Ocean Trout.

 

Cheek By Jowl At Boon Tat Street - Wild Venison ($22)

 

Cheek By Jowl At Boon Tat Street - Wild Venison in Tartar

 

Next on the table was the Wild Venison ($22). It is a dish which was enjoyed by all 3 diners. This dish is in the form of Tartare, so it is usually raw. Interestingly, the venison was lightly pan-fried on the side before dicing it. It is much like rare instead of raw. The entire flavour was sourish and due to the pepper and garlic, these added much flavours to the dish.

 

Cheek By Jowl At Boon Tat Street - Braised Rabbit ($24)

 

Our final small plate at Cheek By Jowl was the Braised Rabbit ($24). We were attracted to this dish as it has the Northern Chinese cooking ingredient, Szechuan Peppers in it. The Szechuan Peppers aroma was light and it reminded me of a popular Northern Chinese dish, the Chilled Chicken. But certainly, this is a healthier version compared to the mentioned Chinese dish. In case you have not tasted rabbit meat, it is very close to chicken. If I were not told that it was rabbit, I would have mistaken it for chicken.

 

Cheek By Jowl At Boon Tat Street - Confit Duck Leg ($36)

 

Cheek By Jowl At Boon Tat Street - Confit Duck Leg with waffles

 

Moving to the large plate. Our first was an interesting Confit Duck Leg ($36) served with waffle. This dish has an Asian twist contributed by the sauce. That’s how I feel. The sauce tasted like the Chinese BBQ sauce which is a little sweet. We enjoyed dipping the waffle with the sauce. Waffle was no doubt fluffy and yet with some bread like denseness in it. By its side was a Asian like salad.

 

Cheek By Jowl At Boon Tat Street - Rangers Valley Ribeye ($55)

 

Next was the Rangers Valley Ribeye ($55) with doneness rare. Simple but yet enjoyable. It was accompanied with Romaine Lettuce with, I think is, Mustard dressing. And a Chinese like soy sauce was available for the steak. We prefer having the steak without the sauce.

There were 2 other large plates on the menu which we didn’t order were Lamb Shoulder ($36) and Barramundi ($32).

 

Cheek By Jowl At Boon Tat Street - Coconut ($15)

 

Finally, it is dessert time. There were only 2 desserts on the menu and we ordered both. First was the Coconut ($15). It has the Laksa Leaf Ice Cream which was too light to savour the laksa leaf fragrance. The rest of ingredients to complement the dessert were pomelo, green chili and some meringue like. Despite not savouring much Laksa Leaf flavour, we enjoyed the dish as I like the various texture coming to play in the dessert.

 

Cheek By Jowl At Boon Tat Street - Black Olive Cake ($15)

 

The last dish of the night was the Black Olive Cake ($15) with diced strawberry on the top and by the side were yoghurt and strawberry ice cream. Though I couldn’t savour much olive aroma, we enjoyed the dessert. This is especially so when all the components were eaten together.

 

 

NAHMJ Verdict

 

This was the first time that we were satisfied with all the dishes we ordered. It was truly an enjoyable night at Cheek By Jowl.

 

 

 

Cheek By Jowl

21 Boon Tat Street, Singapore 69620
Tel: +65 6221 1911

Websitehttp://cheekbyjowl.com.sg/
FBhttps://www.facebook.com/cheekbyjowlsg/

 

Opening Hours

 

Monday – Friday  1130 to 1430, 1800 to 2230; Saturday  1800 to 2230; Closed on Sundays

 

Getting There

 

By MRT:

  • Downtown line – Telok Ayer station
  • North-South or East West line – Raffles Place station

 

By Bus:

  • alight at the bus stop opposite GB Building along Cecil Street   57, 131, 167, 186, 700, 970, 971E (nearest bus stop to Telok Ayer Road)
  • alight at the bus stop after Capital Tower along Robinson Road   10, 10e, 70, 75, 97, 100, 107, 128, 130, 162, 196, 196e
  • alight at the bust stop at UIC Building along Shenton Way   10, 10e, 57, 70, 75, 97, 97e, 100, 106, 107, 128, 130, 131, 162, 186, 196, 196e

 

Rating: 8.5/10