Food Review: Pilot Kitchen At Havelock II | Hidden Gem Restaurant By A Passionate Young Team Near Clarke Quay [Closed]

Posted on July 11, 2023 by theRantingPanda in Food

The Place I am going to overuse the phrase “hidden gem” again, where I checked out the six months old Pilot Kitchen restaurant located at the basement of Havelock II. Pilot Kitchen is opened by Jingkai, the founder of Scaled by Ah Hua Kelong, where the kitchen is run by four twenty-five year olds with a penchant for imagination and creativity when it comes to food. As the name suggests, experimentation with different flavours is the backbone of Pilot Kitchen.

It is an unassuming yet cosy space tucked at the corner of basement one, where there are four counter seats for the best view of the open kitchen action, or you can settle for the regular tables. The dining ambience is casual, and the space was quite packed on a weekend night despite the rest of the basement being relatively quiet.

The Food With a young and energetic team, there is no particular cuisine direction at Pilot Kitchen which makes the menu a fun one to explore. The menu is straightforward, with a concise yet varied selection of small plates, large plates, daily specials and desserts.

I started with the Homemade Milk Bun (S$8) served with house special butter. The milk bun is excellent, very soft in texture, fresh and fragrant.

The most interesting bit though is the butter, which changes periodically and the butter I had is an unique and delicious combination of ‘Cai Po’ and ‘Ga Na Cai’ (olive vegetable) inspired by the chefs supper meals at Teochew porridge stalls.

Next up was the Duck Menchikatsu (S$17), inspired by Japanese street snack. The local twist here is that the flavours of the duck is an inspiration from the local Singaporean braised duck flavours, and I really like it.

You get a beautiful golden crispy crust of the katsu, and the minced duck meat within is flavourful and moist in texture. It goes really well with the spring onion aioli sauce as well!

The other small plate I had was the Beef Tartare (S$20) which is quite a heavily flavoured dish as the beef is marinated in fermented chilli butter which is quite punchy and a little spicy. It is then topped with crispy savoy chips fried with sweet prune powder.

There are also dishes available as daily specials, such as the Cauliflower Steak (S$14) I had. The fried cauliflower is well-rested on a thick layer of brown sauce made from mushroom, along with some sour cream and red Leicester cheese at the top and bits of Furikake made from a mix of kale, seaweed, puffed rice and sesame seeds.

For the large plates, I was recommended by the team to try the Peri Chicken (S$32) which comes with a chicken thigh marinated with milk and orange, served along with sunchoke purée, watermelon and radish, watercress salad, and peri sauce. The peri sauce is not that spicy for me, though it still packs a punchy flavour. The chicken meat itself is moist and tender, and it really helps to have the salad and radish to balance the rich flavours of the peri sauce and chicken.

The other protein I had was the Beef Short Ribs (S$68), featuring an Australian Black Angus 200-days grain fed beef. Served with a gunpowder spice mix and a Middle Eastern Tzatziki sauce, I find the beef itself to be very flavourful and rich in taste on its own even without the condiments. Personally, I think it is good simply with some salt, as the spice mix and Tzatziki come across as unnecessary for me. Portion wise, it is about 250g, good for 2-3 persons to share.

For dessert, I only had space for one as much as I would like to try more. No regrets settling for the homemade Butter Cake (S$12), easily one of the best I have had. The buttery aspect is just right, and the best bit is the crispy crust layer.

It is also a savoury and sweet combination of flavours as the cake is topped with in-house fried shallots and paired with a Camembert ice cream. It sounds all too heavy a combination, but surprisingly, it all works out well. Highly recommended to end your meal with this dessert.

Rants If anything, the offbeat location makes this a destination dining spot and reservations are highly recommended rather than a spontaneous walk-in.

Will I Return Again? I wonder why it took me this long to learn of the existence of Pilot Kitchen. I like the robust flavours across the dishes, and the passion of the kitchen crew in their ideas towards presenting what they want on their menu. Pilot Kitchen is a destination dining which you should not miss out on.

This was an invited tasting, though all opinions expressed are our own.

Make your reservations instantly at Pilot Kitchen here.

TheRantingPanda says:
Taste bud: 4/5
Hole in the pocket: 3.5/5
Ambience: 3.5/5
Overall Experience: 4/5