Restaurant Review: Broth @ Duxton Hill

Restaurant Review: Broth @ Duxton Hill

21 Duxton Hill
Singapore 089604

+65 6323 3353 

Situated in a corner of Duxton Hill, Broth is an elegant little restaurant with an atmosphere best suited for a nice dinner for two or a quiet evening out with friends. Given the elevated prices, usually it is not hard to find a table even at times when more trending places such as Lucha Loco (also on Duxton Hill), are packed. Curiously enough, the restaurant does not have a theme of soups/broths but is rather the acronym for Bar Restaurant On The Hill...could have fooled me ;-)

We went on a weekday night and besides ours, only two other tables were taken. The staff is friendly and the service pretty decent. The menu is not very extensive, and if you have any dietary restrictions (e.g. as a vegetarian) you will only have a handful of items to choose from, most of which are starters. Since my companion and I found the Lamb Loin In A Green Coat On Fine Beans, Rosemary Potatoes & Mint Jus the most appealing, we both ordered the same main dish (usually we choose two different ones, so we can switch, but as I said the selection at Broth is rather limited and nothing else tickled our fancy). As mentioned above, Broth is not focused around soup, so the only soup they have is a "Broth of the Day', which in our case was potato soup. To be honest, I don't see the point of paying 12 bucks in a fancy-shmanzy restaurant for a potato soup even the most novice chef can't go wrong with cooking it at home. Instead, we ordered Sugar Beet Cured Salmon, Cucumber Tagliatelle, Caperberries & Mandarine Dressing and some house-made olive/onion bread with oil, butter and pepper to start our dinner.

Home/house made bread sounds good, and the two slices we were served at Broth did look appetizing (as an appetizer should ;-) ), however, the dough was much too soft, so instead of a rich wholemeal bread, it rather had the consistency of soggy toast. Not sure if baking it longer would help, but they should do something about it. The olive oil seemed of decent quality, and what can go wrong with butter and salt. Would have been so simple to make this into a decent appetizer, but Broth failed.

Disappointingly, as it happens in many elegant restaurants, the salad was rather tiny and the few slices of salmon were well hidden by a camouflage of greens. If the starter had made up in taste what it was lacking for in size, I wouldn't complain. However, the mandarin dressing did not have a fruity flavor, the two olives that came with the salad were pickled and the cucumber was absolutely devoid of taste. The salmon itself was ok, but nothing that you wouldn't get at cold storage, i.e. no beet-cured taste at all.

The lamb loin that we had did look appealing, and was quite decent taste-wise. The crust could have been a little more thick and crisp, but otherwise it was savory. Wedged in between the slices of lamp were two or three slices of roast potato. If you're hungry, better order several dishes (like starters) or go elsewhere, otherwise a grown man or woman with a healthy appetite will go home hungry.

With 2 glasses of wine, 2 starters and 2 mains the total bill was close to SGD 170. For this kind of money for a dinner for 2, I would have expected the food to be of higher quality and not just average overall. Still, the restaurant does have a nice athmosphere at night, and may still be worth a visit, at least once.

3/5 Stars