It's six months after The Coconut Club opened, and we ventured to try it out. The hype has not abated as evidenced by the long lines waiting to get in last Saturday afternoon. Like them, we were sucked in by the force of their PR spin, even though I am sure some eyeballs must have rolled after reading about single origin coconuts and aged rice. We live in FOMO so we decided to try in case it is really as good as it claims.
Inside, the decor is yawningly hipster: exposed brick walls, suspended industrial lights, tiny tables, under-utilised but space-hogging central table, enamel kitchenware accessories. It was very noisy from all the hard surfaces and background music turned on to full-blast. The menu is brief,- essentially nasi lemak and cendol. We ordered the nasi lemak with fixings ($12.80), shared a piece of otak ($8.50) and a bowl of cendol ($3.80). Service staff were a bit frazzled but very responsive.
The cendol came first. The coconut milk and gula melaka mixture was rich and fragrant, and not too sweet. The cendol strips were delicious, it's not the luminous green plastic-icky jelly type but the genuine article made from rice flour jelly. Unfortunately, because the chendol was probably hand-made and therefore "precious", they put only a tiny bit in the bowl. I am sure I received less than 20 strands, which was pretty anti-climactic.
Let's break down the nasi lemak:
Nasi: Grains separate and loose, check. Fragrant, yes, not the typical aroma that assails your senses (not that that is a bad thing, it's just different) but a subtler scent with a long finish. Pretty good. Unfortunately there wasn't much of it, not enough for husband, so he asked for more. They didn't charge him for the extra rice, am not sure if they overlooked it. Alas, the second batch had distinct clumps of raw rice. Raw rice, in my books, it's unforgiveable.
Peanuts: well-fried and salted judiciously.
Ikan Bilis: Fail. The portion is generous, too bad the quality is poor. The fish were very hard and salty, really no better than snacks that bars serve with alcoholic drinks.
Fried egg: Greasy from its turn in oil that is probably a bit too cold. Nasi lemak fried eggs really need to have curly brown edges, these were quite forlorn. They placed my egg off- centre, so when I moved it to cover my rice, the yolk burst. Don't you hate that when it happens?
Sambal: I liked it, perfectly balanced between heat and sweetness.
Cucumber: Sweet and crunchy.
Chicken: The ginger bits were delicious and gave off a pleasant warmth. The chicken comes in two big pieces, very juicy. Did they brine it too? I think it's too much meat, I couldn't finish the chicken, but ate up the skin and crusty ginger bits.
Otak- Otak: The texture was appealingly soft and they used a good firm fish. Tasty.
Overall, we were quite underwhelmed, there were definitely no "wow" moments. They may have taken care to source some special ingredients but it didn't quite make up for the other deficiencies. The problems are not insurmountable, just plenty of room for improvement.
As for the price, I don't find it objectionable. Singaporeans happily pay $20 for ramen and $35 for pizzas so $12.80 is not outrageous for the nasi lemak here. With a higher than usual price tag though, expectations are built in for a proportionately better experience, which they have clearly failed to deliver.
The Coconut Club
6 Ann Siang Hill
Singapore 069787
Tel : +65 6635 2999
Email : info@thecoconutclub.sg
closed on Mondays
