Relish Hot

Relish has been at Cluny Court for as long as I can remember. Nestled on the 2nd floor of the building right above Da Paolo Gastronomia, Relish dishes out creative and delicious burger combinations, along with other dishes and desserts with a cool mod-Sin twist.

One of their must-haves is the Blue Cheese and William Pear Burger ($18.80). It may sound a bit strange, but trust me, this is one combination you have to try. The blue cheese gives the burger a savory, tangy creaminess, with the grilled pear adding a very refreshing sweetness to its overall profile. Their burgers come with a choice of fries or salad, and you can top up an extra $3 for an upgrade to sweet potato fries, which come with curry aioli. This is REALLY good. I never fail to polish off the fries and aioli every time, along with my burger. Their Char Siew Burger ($17.90) and Pandan Panna Cotta are very good too, and I love how Relish infuses a local flair into these dishes.

My only gripe is that prices are rather steep for the portions served. However, Relish is great for an occasional treat, and I look forward to every dinner I have there.

To me, the biggest factor as to why I visited Relish was for the ambience.

I was at myVillage at Serangoon Gardens, looking for an eatery with a quiet and comfortable ambience for a dinner date when I chanced upon Relish. The interior of the outlet at myVillage was very cosy. The tables were spaced apart from each other very nicely, unlike some other restaurants that tried to squeeze as many customers as possible by packing the tables closely. It’s definitely a place to visit if you want to have a heart-to-heart talk with your close friends over dinner, especially during the night. We felt so comfortable and were so uninterrupted that we lost track of time talking to each other.

However, I must say that the food served in Relish is nothing special. We tried the Hamburgers there. The beef was average and was a bit too dry for me. The portion was satisfactory.

Hence, if you are looking for a place with great ambience to chill and talk over dinner, Relish is a great choice. Beyond that, it would not be worth the money to visit Relish.

We loved the various burgers at their smaller sister joint, Burger Bench and Bar, which was torn down a few years back, that we decided to make a trip to Cluny Court to try out the big sister. But we were absolutely disappointed, having paid for exorbitant food that was inexcusably substandard. We had a side of fried wings accompanied by some lime-chilli dip, which was not too bad. Then we had their signature Wild Rocket Burger which, when it came, was not as huge as we expected. We even thought that it was a mistake to order one burger for sharing since it was, honestly, somewhat small, but thankfully we didn't because the burger, while not awful-tasting, was far below our expectations. The patty was thick, I'll give you that, but it was cardboard-dry in the middle, despite our asking for it to be done medium.

The accompanying fries were bland and needed salt and not worthy of any further mention. We did ask for an extra topping of cheese but that didn't seem to add much to the overall flavour profile of the burger. When we done with the main, we called for our dessert, a deconstructed strawberry cheesecake. But even that was not anything exciting, to the extent that I honestly, as I am writing this review, cannot recall anything worth praising about that cheesecake. It was deconstructed, yes, but it was also a mess and the flavours didn't gel well. We had a similar dessert of deconstructed cheesecake at Handburger, but that was awesome, whereas Relish's offering was not.

So we left quite unsatisfied and we are never coming back. The chef should just have torn down the big sister and kept the little one.

The ambience in Relish is really laid-back and comfy, and makes you feel right at home. A little on the pricey side, they are a sister branch off WIld Rocket and are renowned for their burgers. I tried their signature Wild Rocket burger and was disappointed. It was good, with it's fresh ingredients and juicy beef patty, however, it felt really home-made and nothing special. Served with a salad and fries, I didn't feel that it was all it is made out to be. I also tried their hae bee hiam pasta which was cooked with XO sauce and was really tasty and exuded local flavour.

However, I highly recommend everyone to try their strawberry cheesecake. In actual fact, it is not really a cake per say. It comes in a glass, which will surprise you - it is a 'deconstructed' cheesecake. But it is absolutely to-die-for, I assure you.

Gourmet burgers come at a price. I remember telling my parents that if you want to pay cheap, most probably you will get cheap ingredients and quality too. What you pay for is what you get most of the time.

And at Relish, this was the case. The burgers were a tad pricey, but they gave decadent ingredients and up a notch the typical ingredients like the humble char siew and ramly burgers. During my recent trip there with my Dad, i enjoyed their Wild Rocket burger while Dad enjoyed his char siew burger filled with juicy, succulent meat. The pork was melt in your mouth tender that he Relished every bit.

He agreed with me there and then.
You pay for what you get. Most of the time.