The Place If you recall the old Zouk, then this is a dining space which brings back memories. I checked out the newly opened Jiak Kim House located within 1920s conservation warehouse on Jiak Kim Street along Singapore river where Zouk used to be. Jiak Kim House is a new dining concept by The Brewerkz Group, and it is nestled within Frasers Property Singapore’s integrated precinct with Fraser Residence River Promenade and residential development Rivière. 

The interior of the 120-seater restaurant Jiak Kim House is gorgeous to say the least. It is a beautiful east meets west interior design with a very high ceiling, so you get that spacious and vast dining setting in the main dining room with rattan furnishing and pictures of Singapore on the walls. If you are on a date and forgot about getting flowers, there is also a dedicated in-house floral atelier! For events and bigger dining groups, there is also a private dining room.  

The Food The cuisine here is Modern Asian by Chef-Partner Seow Tzi Qin (Chef TQ) organised by starters, mains and desserts. There is also a weekday lunch set menu priced at S$52++ and S$65++ for two and three courses respectively. Drinks options are aplenty from cocktails to an extensive wine collection of over 200 labels, as well as non-alcoholic options like a curated selection of premium Yunnan Pu’er presented in Japanese cast iron vessels.  

For a start, I had the Tingkat of Memories (S$36) which is designed for two diners. It is a great snack to start as you get to try four items – 7-herb crab cake with piquant Assam Mayo; lamb goulash croquettes in an herbaceous mint coulis; a chili crab pie tee; and otak otak layered with fresh ‘batang’ fish paste and prawn chunks.

I love each item, even for the lamb croquette as I am not a big fan of lamb. The standout ones for me are the crab cake as it goes so well with the delicious Assam Mayo, and the otak otak which spots a nice, layered taste.  

Each table also gets a complimentary serving of a rotating selection of bread (non-refillable), which turned out to be one of the highlights of the meal for me at least. Our table was jokingly telling the staff that the bread should be made for sale! 

A must try dish in my opinion is definitely the Mushroom Herbal Tea ‘Macchiato’ (S$22), which is not your typical soup dish. This dish is inspired by local Singaporean Bak Kut Teh dish as you get a tinge of peppery notes from the peppery mushroom consommé steeped in a fragrant herb and spice medley.

The foamy texture on top is green peppercorn foam, and the fun part of the soup is that it also comes with mini dough fritters. Overall, it is a nice herbal mushroom soup for me and that crispy dough fritters seal the deal for me.  

Taking inspiration from Vietnamese Bò Lá Lốt, I also had the Hay-Smoked Wagyu Hamburg (S$28) where the chargrilled patty is quite juicy and delicious, made from a blend of chuck, short rib, and pork belly. The patty is wrapped with shiso leaves and served with green pepper sauce for added flavour. 

For mains, I tried the Herbal Scallop ‘Pao Fan’ (S$42), which is a a refined interpretation of the Teochew ‘pao fan’. You get pan-roasted Hokkaido scallops nestled in angelica root dashi along with crispy rice puffs, earthy cordyceps, and briny ikura. The herbal taste is quite subtle and I think the ‘pao fan’ element could be stepped up further.  

The Kam Heong Sambal Grouper (S$40) is my favourite main dish I had during my visit. The taste reminds me of sambal stingray, and you get that fragrant sambal taste in this Tiger Grouper fillet which was marinated overnight in black peppercorns and homemade sambal. It also comes with mangosteen salsa and cilantro rice to go along with the sambal fish. 

Alternatively, the Garum Quail Panggang (S$46) is not too bad either. The quail meat is quite tender and goes well along with the creamy celeriac mash, truffle sauce, crisp lotus root chips and deep-fried cauliflower bhaji. 

For duck lovers, there is the Challans Duck Two Ways (S$48), where the French Challans duck is marinated in an angelica root brine before roasting and serving it with a tangy sour plum sauce alongside a salted vegetable risotto. It is a decent main course for me, though not a memorable one.  

I also enjoyed the Beef Tongue to Tail (S$42) which features tender spice-imbued Rendang short ribs, torched ox tongue, and braised oxtail with crispy pavé potatoes with grated coconut. It is served alongside smoky grilled shishito peppers and ‘rojak’ salad to balance the flavourful beef profile.  

Moving to desserts, I had the Snow Peak (S$22) which presents a Moutai and pineapple-infused sorbet on a bed of diced scoby, cloaked in a delicate coconut jelly along with guava, strawberries, and lime meringue shards. 

That said, I recommend the namesake Jiak Kim (S$22) if you only have space for one dessert. Jiak Kim literally means ‘eat gold’ in Hokkien dialect, and you get a gold-plated flower-shaped dessert embellished with gold foil, combining layers of roselle hawthorn jelly, earl grey mousse, Berriolette compote, and namelaka chocolate cream. 

Rants The mains took awhile to be served during my visit which was also the initial week of the restaurant’s opening. Hopefully, this is just an initial teething issue.  

Will I Return Again? Overall, the starters at Jiak Kim House fared better than the mains for me. I like the robust Asian flavours and there are some memorable good dishes like the Mushroom Herbal Tea ‘Macchiato’ and Tingkat of Memories. Needless to say, the dining space is gorgeous and there are not many places in Singapore with such as vast dining setting.   

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

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

Jiak Kim House 
5 Jiak Kim Street 
#01-16 &17 
Singapore 169426 
Tel: +65 9831 5430  

Opening Hours  
Monday to Saturday: 12pm to 3pm; 6pm to 11pm  
Closed on Sunday 

Ranted by The Ranter