Wok & Barrel @ Duxton Hill

Wok and Barrel like Aston’s have humble beginnings in a hawker center and this has not stopped either of them from dreaming bigger than necessary. This place was filled with a fair share of locals and foreigners – the latter I choose to believe have become accustomed to our spice and heavy flavouring of food. The waitress was truly apologetic for the crowd and offered us complimentary barley to quench our thirsts while waiting for our table!



Thumbs up for their good service!



A peek at their perpetually packed eatery.

Bak Chor Mee Pasta ($19.90)

I had my eyes set on this a long time ago and being a bak chor mee fan, I cannot pass this up without a try. Hardly close to the real McCoy yet the spicy rending is applaudable with thicker than mee pok handmade noodles. While the noodles retained much of its bite for being al dente, there were parts that were under cooked.

Dinner Set ($18)

Mushroom Lettuce Wrap

Healthy salad with a tasty combination of mushrooms and cucumbers. A local take on a spicy thai papaya salad methinks, just lacking some spice here.

Nasi Lemak with Mutton Curry

The overanticipation could have killed this dish. Individually they were awesome – grainy fragrant pearls of rice, rich thick rendang in gravy and crunchy ikan billis. Yet put together, it was hardly as enjoyable as expected, somewhat too heavy.

Kueh Balu Tiramisu

There was a choice of tiramisu and banana parfait but with the latter sold out, I was left with the tiramisu. Clever usage of kueh balu instead of sponge fingers but the mascarpone cheese and cream were too thick for comfort.

I was pretty impressed with the experience here, definitely would love to return to check out their other offerings – I spied a sticky date pudding somewhere!

Wok and Barrel
Duxton Hill