Take your taste buds travelling!

Feeling stranded and whiplashed? Wishing you could travel for the holidays? No worries! Going to the restaurants at Dempsey Hill is the next best thing: a food tour around the world with lots of new restaurants and menus to tickle your taste buds.

TUGA

Craving the flavours of Europe? Then do check out brand new Portuguese restaurant at Dempsey Hill, TUGA. A meal here is more than just food – it’s a transporting experience. Sip a beautiful Portuguese wine while sitting at a table nestled next to walls of yet more wine. Then sample favourites such as arroz de marisco (seafood rice), cooked with the freshest mussels, prawns and clams with a flavourful seafood stock. Another fab dish is the codfish cakes, an elevated version of a Portuguese standard. The food is so fresh, you can just about hear the Atlantic Ocean lapping at the windows.

8 Dempsey Road, #01-15 | 8129 9122

SIRI HOUSE

This long-time favourite took advantage of the Circuit Breaker to spruce up, including adding a beautiful alfresco terrace to complement the plush interior of Italian velvet. There’s a new menu, too – modern Asian food inspired by the team’s childhood faves. Take a culinary tour of Asia with dishes such as the Seafood Medley – clams and fish lathered in crab fat sambal, in a sake broth – and the ever-popular Scallop Carpaccio, featuring thick cut, wild-caught Hokkaido scallops dressed with dashi jelly, smoked ikura, sea grapes and house-cured Hamachi “bacon”. Just wow.

8D Dempsey Road, #01-02 | 9487 1552

SPRMRKT

The cool thing about SPRMRKT is that you can have a scrumptious meal, shop for great ingredients and enjoy some fabulous art all at the same time. This is a restaurant at Dempsey Hill with heart, sourcing and retailing gourmet products from Singapore and the local region – which means the produce-driven menu is as fresh as it can be. Enjoy everything from classic Eggs Benedict at breakfast to scrumptious grain bowls and dressed-up pastas for lunch or dinner. Add a beautiful space and easy parking, and you have a winner.

8 Dempsey Road, #01-15A | 8129 8166

HATHAWAY

Love local food, but crave a fancier space than your favourite hawker stall? Then this wood-bedecked spot is for you! Hathaway embraces local culinary heritage such as Indian, Malay and Peranakan food and interlaces it with French and Middle Eastern influences. The result is familiar favourites with a twist that are downright delicious. Take the Pengat Pisang French Toast, for example, which sees a brioche served with caramelised bananas stewed in fragrant coconut milk, giving it that unmistakable Asian influence. Yum!

13 Dempsey Road, #01-07 | 9665 0681

THE DEMPSEY PROJECT

Open all week for all meals, The Dempsey Project sits where Jones the Grocer used to be, offering an innovative menu featuring all your favourite brunch classics, wholesome mains, hot toasted sandwiches, superfood salads, seasonal soups, yummy pastas and indulgent cheese boards. There’s a vegan board, too! The whole idea is to offer delicious, seasonal, healthy foods that are ethically sourced. Looking for a Christmas present? You can’t go wrong with a Christmas hamper or one of the other special gifts on offer.

9 Dempsey Road, #01-12 | 6476 1518

Like this? Read more in our Wine and Dine section

This article first appeared in the December 2020 edition of Expat Living. You can purchase the latest issue or subscribe, so you never miss a copy!

Melinda Murphy

Melinda does Special Projects for Expat Living which includes pulling together big stories, videos — all sorts of cool stuff. It all builds on her background as a television correspondent, producer and author back in the US. Her life is kind of a special project, too, with two young kids, an old dog, a ridiculous number of volunteer activities — and a very understanding hubby.