Stew Küche – Achtung! German Food In The Heartlands

b2ap3_thumbnail_IMG_1120.JPG

About Stew Küche

Stew Küche (Kitchen in German, pronounced Kuu-cher) can be found just a few minutes walk away in the heartland blocks opposite Queensway Shopping Centre and Ikea. This German eatery is located at Bukit Merah Lane, in a hawker centre with other hip tenants in a row of shop houses just behind Alexandra Village Food Centre. It still retains a distinctive hawker centre feel, with the aim of this new dining enclave to serve upmarket food and beers at reasonable prices.

This is refreshing considered the multitude of new restaurants that have opened in Singapore, especially with the focus of this establishment being on German food. With a recent shake up to the menu and a whole list of beers to choose from, it sounds like a good place for the working crowd nearby to unwind and have a hearty meal after a day’s work.

With a wide selection of imported beers available, it picks up on a relatively new concept here in Singapore and they go well with the food being served. Ciders and the popular fruit beer from Taiwan Beer round up the list nicely.

The Food

Having dined at Brotzeit on numerous occasions, I had a good gauge of what was going to be served. The quintessential pork knuckle was on offer, but with a twist. Instead of sauerkraut, achar was served instead. For locals, this is a godsend, with sauerkraut being an acquired taste. The sweet, sour and spicy achar was a great accompaniment to the heavy hitting pork knuckle and mashed potatoes. However, the pork knuckle would determine the success of this dish.

The skin was done right, it had that distinct crunch when you bit into it and had an airy feel even, much like pork rinds. The meat was tender and flavourful as well. However, it was a pity for the half pork knuckle the sauce was not served on the side but instead with the pork knuckle sitting on it. We later found out that this was the case only for the half pork knuckle and not the full one.

The oxtail stew ($18.90) was something to look forward to. It was served together with a freshly baked loaf of bread to soak up the ingredients with plenty of detail put into preparing the dish. The flavours were robust and the oxtail fell off the bone tenderly. A nice plus point was the bread being freshly baked.

The plain rosti ($4.50) did not really stand out. If the eatery’s intention is for the diners to order this as a side dish, then I can see why they kept it the way it was.

A sausage platter was next, with Bavarian, chicken and cheese and Spanish Chorizo being served. My expectations were met, with the sausages being grilled nicely and going well with the beer. This would be great as a bar snack or over a chat with your friends.

Lastly, we had the squid ink pasta ($15). The squid ink lent itself well to the body of the pasta and any doubts that I had of it being bitter/sour were assuaged. It reminded me of aglio olio even.

All in all, Stew Küche is a good place for casual German food and its a nice alfresco place to dine and unwind with a few beers in the evening. With new tenants moving in, diners and the lucky residents at Queensway can look forward to more at this new enclave in the near future.