You can now get American soul food and grits at the new Nitty Gritty at Outram Park

For many Singaporeans, “American food” probably entails some kind of decadent burger, New York pizza slices, or waffles and pancakes.

While we do have some popular American diner-style restaurants, none of them showcase American food quite like the recently opened Nitty Gritty.

Located right outside Outram Park MRT station, Nitty Gritty is a homely space that focuses on American soul food and grits — it’s even in the name.

The restaurant is opened by Matthew Bradley, a 35-year-old Detroit native turned Singapore permanent resident, and his 38-year-old Singaporean wife, Wanyu.

A taste of home

What was the impetus for starting Nitty Gritty? According to the couple, Singapore’s F&B scene sometimes feels a bit too fast-paced and lacking in intimacy.

Bucking the trend of high-polish, IG-worthy cafes, their vision for Nitty Gritty is that of a cosy space where customers would feel welcome and at home.

Hence the decor — an immersive mix of warm browns, soothing yellows and a splash of zesty orange, complete with couch seats littered with soft, huggable throw pillows.

“We want our customers to sit down and take their time to enjoy the food that we make with love,” Matthew says.

That homeliness extends to the dishes they dole out. Case in point: Grits. 

Not very commonly seen in Singapore, grits are a starchy American staple usually made using ground corn cooked with salt water or milk. 

It can often be found in breakfast spreads. Shrimp is also usually paired with grits in the American South and is somewhat of a creature comfort in Southern households.

Perhaps the best way to describe it, if you’re not familiar, is a grittier, more textured cousin of congee. For those more familiar with Western fare, it’s quite reminiscent of polenta. 

Nitty Gritty places a huge emphasis on the dish and it’s also something Wanyu loves to ask her mother-in-law for when visiting the family in the States. It ties into the element of “homeliness”, which the couple envisions for the restaurant.

Funnily enough, the love for grits seems to run in the family. Wanyu explains: “My mother loves it and keeps asking Matthew to cook it for her!”

Turns out, even our local elderly love the dish!

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Down to the Nitty Gritty

Needless to say, the highlight here is definitely the grits, since the dish is nigh impossible to find in Singapore.

The restaurant doesn’t just serve plain ol’ grits though — Nitty Gritty puts quite charming spins on the dish with a permutation of ingredients, including a local-inspired Hainanese chicken grits (S$19).

That’s why the couple brands their restaurant as “American-Singaporean fusion soul food”.

“We are hoping to come up with more interesting grits using unique flavours and we have even been playing with something that’s like a beef bak kut teh,” adds the couple, on some of their behind-the-scenes tinkering.

Playing it safe, we opted for the more classic shrimp and grits (S$23), which features an assortment of honey garlic shrimp, fried egg, chilli crisps, cherry tomatoes and torched baby nai bai (baby bok choy).

Shrimp and grits at Nitty Gritty is usually served with creamy cheesy grits but, unfortunately, it was sold out by the time we were there and it was substituted for garlic grits.

The grits itself was silky smooth with a nice bit of texture and perfumed with garlic fragrance — very comforting.

As for its companions, the shrimp were crunchy and paired well with the grits and, most surprisingly, the torched nai bai were charmingly smoky and succulent.

Besides grits, you can also find hearty American-style breakfast and brunch items such as All-American breakfast (S$27) and duck waffles (S$32 for lunch, S$34 for dinner) on Nitty Gritty’s menu.

One heavily recommended dish from the brunch menu was the fried chicken and sweet potato pancake meal (S$27), a sizable platter with a chunk of fried chicken and fluffy sweet potato pancakes.

The fried chicken was pretty solid, loaded up with seasoning that reminded us of a blend between KFC’s original flavour and Popeye’s, while the sweet pancakes provided an intriguing contrast with its toppings of pineapple, toasted marshmallow and toasted pecans.

Those who really love eggs can also try the egg dishes on Nitty Gritty’s menu, such as brown butter scramble eggs with pepper trio and chives (S$17) and Joy in the Morning omelette (S$24).

The latter in particular is quite interesting, with a sheet of soft omelette wrapped around a glut of caramelised onions, chopped asparagus, mushrooms and feta that give it an abundance of flavours and textures.

It’s also not just the food that’s interesting. Here, they also serve up homemade sodas and non-alcoholic ciders, such as spiced vanilla cream soda (S$8), pineapple soda (S$8) and sparkling apple cream cider (S$9).

Nitty Gritty’s beverage options taste quite different from what you get elsewhere — for example, the vanilla cream soda is fragrant and sweet, but also comes with a nice touch of earthy spice that adds a lot more depth to it.

Really, the offerings are just quite fascinatingly unique, but still feels homely. Hearty soul food and a homely setting? Nitty Gritty might just be what you never knew you needed for your weekend brunch dates in Outram Park.

This was a hosted tasting.

For more ideas on what to eat, read our stories on the restaurants with the most addictive chilli crab and the popular Taiwanese noodle brand that opened its first outlet here!

Book a table at Nitty Gritty via Chope. You can also book a ride to try out its American-Singaporean soul food!