Maggie’s Singapore: The new “almost Chinese” spot that charms with its inauthenticity

Trying Maggie’s Singapore’s menu

It’s not everyday that I look at a menu and go: “I want to order everything.” But at Maggie’s, I would have, if space weren’t an issue.

When we visited in mid-March, the menu had just 14 plates, but chef Ryan Nile Choo, who also heads the kitchen at sister restaurant Marcy’s, intends to up this to 18 plates, eventually. 

We started things off with the seabream crudo (S$26), a light and refreshing starter, with fresh Kyushu seabream on a bed of oak-aged pickle sauce with some Dongbei sauerkraut. 

The medley of slightly sweet and sour flavours were a great appetite opener, and we dived right into the heavier-tasting “Golden Gun” Cigars (S$18 for two pieces) next. 

It features bigeye tuna tucked into a crisp shell, coupled with creme fraiche. Compared to the first cold fish-based appetiser, this was a more fun dish with its varying textures, though it being a one-bite dish meant it was gone all too soon. 

If you’re looking for a hot appetiser to pad out the cold ones, the golden prawn Croque Madame (S$25) is a worthy contender. It reminded me of the Korean-Chinese dish menbosha or mian bao xia (shrimp toast with a minced shrimp filling), except a lot less oilier and clean-tasting. 

The sunny side up also added more “oomph” to the dish, with its perfectly runny yolk, but my only gripe was that I would have preferred it sandwiched in between — rather than perched awkwardly on top — two slices of toast. 

The passion fruit hollandaise was a nice touch, though the prawn paste was so well-seasoned we barely touched the sauce. 

Next for us, was the roasted pomfret (from S$36 for a half portion), which came with a green peppercorn salsa verde, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. With the fish served firm and fresh, and a sauce with the right amount of tang, there was little to complain about. 

But the real stunner — and I truly mean it stopped us in our tracks — was the Maggie’s Southern Dirty Rice (S$35), an unassuming bowl of rice with duck liver sausage, monkfish liver parfait, topped with a dose of aged yellow wine (which we understand is Ang Leong Huat’s eight-year-aged calabash hua tiao chiew). 

Everything came together beautifully, and the dish was one creamy umami-filled bite after another. You’d think that with so many flavour-heavy elements, it’ll be too cloying after a while, yet it was anything but. 

We were full by now, but we did not stop till we had mopped every single grain of rice clean from the bowl. 

In fact, if I ever go back to Maggie’s just for one dish, this would be it. 

We also got to try its cocktails, all of which are easy drinks that go well with its dishes. 

But we must caution against the red date dew (S$22), a concoction of rum, red dates and winter melon. It tastes exactly like what your mother might brew at home and the rum blends in so well that you barely even taste the booze — a very dangerous, yet delicious drink. 

We also got a peek at its upcoming coffee cocktail, which was decidedly stronger, but made for a good finish to the meal — a relief since we weren’t too fond of the only dessert at that time on the menu, the Maggie’s 8 Treasures (glutinous rice, date gelato, red bean cloud, logans, and jujube, S$16).

It has since introduced another dessert option — the pineapple upside down cake (S$16) — along with other dishes, so I guess that’s a good excuse to return.

On top of the Dirty Rice, which clearly already has a stronghold on me.

This was an invited tasting.

For more new spots around town, check out our new openings round-up for March, as well as our take on Anthology cocktail bar’s latest dessert-inspired menu. 

Enjoy up to 50% off when you dine with GrabFood Dine Out.

You can also book a ride to Maggie’s Singapore at Keong Saik.