Wild Rocket

A backpack hotel seems an unlikely place to find a swanky restaurant serving international fusion, but that is exactly where Wild Rocket is located. Lawyer turned sous chef, Wilin serves contemporary western cuisine with a Singaporean twist. Having heard good things about Wild Rocket @ Mount Emily (the name also rouses my curiosity), my mind begin to sub-consiously tell me “go to Wild Rocket…”

Wild rocket @ Mount Emily is definitely quite a romantic place to bring your date to impress. Prior to this visit, i have totally no idea that Singapore have two ‘Mounts’ in town, lest to mention Orchard Road. But thats where the two Mount are at, Mount Sohpia and Mount Emily behind Plaza Singapura. Having said this, i hope you understand we are talking about Mount, eh you know Mount Faber?

Ahh.. finally get the idea right? Mayb you’ll say Singapore where got Mountains? The highest is Bukit Timah Hill what? Nevertheless, Wild Rocket is on the very top of Mount Emily. And to get there, public transport i.e buses and trains are a Big No No. Only cars and cabs, unless you’ll prefer to walk up Mount Emily with your date and arriving in fashionable stinky sweat-smell. Go only car and cab, but when you finish your meal, it might be quite nice to stroll down Mount Emily with your date : )

One of the corner of Wild Rocket. My companion mention that it will be quite a good place to hold a birthday party or a mini gathering of the spacious corner. The lighting is a bit dark on this side though, which makes photo-taking not nice. But the comfy of the seats definitely make up for it.

The other side of the restaurant. The place is quite small though, at a rough estimate i’ll say mayb 30 seaters or less? And it can be quite cram when it gets crowded, so please make sure you make your reservations before you go. Recommended for lunch, and necessary for dinner. The car park was also very limited, only around 5-6 parking lots? And there is barely any space outside the hostel for parking, as the area is all private estates.

We browse through the menu, the first page was their 3 course Set lunch. A starter, a main course and a dessert, all at the price of $25 which i though was rather cheap when i saw that their A la carte mains are mostly in the 30s and 40s range of pricing. But then we didn’t have lunch there as we just had dim sum for brunch at Red Star. Despite being quite full, we braced our stomaches for the desserts. It will be a pity not to have anything after coming all the way here.

Oh yes, before coming to Wild Rocket @ Mount Emily, we went to Old School @ Mount Sophia (that will be the next review coming up). Mount Sophia is beside Mount Emily, at first we didn’t plan to come to Wild Rocket because we didn’t know where Mount Emily is at. But after coming down from Mount Sophia, i saw the road Wilkie road, and the name sounds a bell in my head, i gesture excitedly to my companion that i conjuncted this is the place where Wild Rocket is located. Poof, less than 30 seconds, we drove up Wilkie road and found ourselves facing Mount Emily Park, and further up is hang out @ Mount Emily. Cheers!

Oreo cheesecake with fudge & hazelnut ice cream ($9.5)

Astonishment is the word to describe us when the waitress serves us our desserts. The Oreo Cheesecake is de-constructed and instead of the slide of cakes you will normally see in all restaurants, Wild Rocket went one step up and reassembled the cheesecake in a tall martini glass. Kudos to the chef for being so creative and creating a winner dessert. Normally i will feel the pinch in my pocket if i have to pay close to ten bucks for a slice of cake. But not at Wild Rocket, i was immerse in the indulgence of the cake that no pain is felt. Presentation-wise score full marks, and the taste of the cake also won me over. A strong hint of cheese covering the top, with the cake and hazelnut ice cream in the middle, oreo cookie smashed filling the bottom.

Kueh buloh Tiramisu with espresso ice cream ($9.0)

The first question is what the heck is Kueh buloh? But then after the first bite of the cake, it doesn’t really matters. My companion a self-proclaimed Pro in baking Tiramisu, when he took the first taste of the cake, he gave me a strange look, without saying anything he took a second bite. After which he annouced, “not too bad, got my standard!” Indeed, the Tiramisu is good, and similarly it does not comes in the usual form of a cake. Deconstruction and reassembled is the way desserts go @ Wild Rocket, at least that applies for this two desserts.

I’ll definitely come back to Wild Rocket @ Mount Emily for their Main course, and of course more desserts. Some may say the place is over-rated, over-priced, or inaccessible, i gave it a thumbs up. While not in the fine-dining league, its unquestionably a good restaurant with the ambience you want to bring a date to.

The price isn’t that expensive when you account in the feel-good factors, and the creativity of the chef. The dining industry in Singapore definitely can do with more chef like Wilin who produce top-notch food. The brunch menu is also quite comprehensive. My evil-twin took a snap-shot of the brunch menu, anyone interested can tell me to send it to you. Anybody wants to go with me to Wild Rocket for my next visit?? *Raise hand* *Waving* *ME!* *ME!*

You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written above are my geniune feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or bias. Please do not feel emotional or distress should you have any violent objections. Kindly click the little X at the upper, extreme right of your screen if negative adjectives would be derived. Otherwise, feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )

” Deconstruction and reassemble with creativity “

I've always had a penchant for brunch - whiling the lazy mornings away in a serene setting coupled with hearty fare and great company. What better way to unwind and enjoy the intricate subtleties of life? And I've found just the place to do so - Wild Rocket. The man at its helm is none other than lawyer turned chef, Willin Low, who has built up a reputation for cooking dishes which are Singaporean at heart but with a twist.

Nestled at the top of a hill (Mount Emily), Wild Rocket is a quaint little eatery/restaurant docked on the first level of Hangout Hotel. The decor is simple, focusing on the simplicities and the giant glass windows complete with semi transparent curtains allow sunlight to peer through, creating a cheery and lively atmosphere sans the heat. An air of serenity and elusiveness lingers in this dreamy and charming little outfit.

Though not billed as a fine dining restaurant, Wild Rocket still serves up complementary bread, which didn't quite impress me honestly. For one, the bread was too porous and came across as a tad too dry and bland. Thankfully, it was served warm.

Ricotta Jackfruit Pancakes with Maple Syrup - No this isn't a picture of left over pancakes. Its what we got for $8.50 - 2 small pancakes and 1 piece of deep fried jackfruit. It was excellent though, soft and fluffy with a tinge of jackfruit taste. Bits of jackfruit were also embedded within for added texture/flavour and the sweetness of the maple syrup was just about right. Now someone please explain to me why do good things always come in small packages?

Laksa Pesto with Spaghetti with Tiger Prawns & Quail Egg - A most interesting dish. As the name suggests, its spaghetti covered with coriander and bits of chilli flakes which is supposed to have a mild laksa taste. And by golly, it certainly does! The pasta was al dente but a tad too dry for my liking. I counted 3 average sized prawns and 3 quail egg halves, which certainly doesn't place this dish in the generous ingredients category. Honestly, this is not something I'll order again cause I don't find it outstanding.

Scrambled Eggs, Fresh Beef Sausages with Toast - A greedy mistake on my part. I had spied the adjourning table ordering this dish and the serving certainly looked generous. Oh boy, how wrong I was. 2 sausages, a small serving of scrambled eggs and a side of toast. The dish was clean in less than 5 mins, but not that it tasted great in case you are assuming. The sausages were rather salty and the meat didn't seem firm. As for the scrambled eggs, it was too salty as well and tasted like too much milk had gone into it.

The Wild Rocket Burger with Sun Dried Tomato Salsa - Notice the usage of the word "The" in the name of this dish. Its obviously Wild Rocket's signature offering and is THE must try burger. Pleasing aesthetics aside, the burger weighed in slightly bigger than Iggy's offering but smaller than those of Carl's Junior. The patty was huge by the way and rather well mashed, chewy and moist yet not overwhelming. Interestingly, the sun dried tomato salsa atop the patty was a tad sweet but complemented the beef almost flawlessly. The accompanying potato cubes were a little too soft and salty (I could make out the salt granules on the potatoes).

Kueh Buloh Tiramisu - Here's another classic example of how much of a mountain tortoise I am. I have no inkling whatsoever as to what in the world is Kueh Buloh. Shame on me. But the Kueh Buloh Tiramisu was quite good if you ask me. Soft with a nice layer of ice cream beneath it. But it kinda loses the Tiramisu flavour and composition though, which is rather ironical.

Dark Lava Chocolate Gateau with Ice Cream - Few molten chocolate cakes can match the truly splendid rendition by Mortons or the value for money offering at Abof. Wild Rocket's version comes close. Well almost. Its decidedly as good as Abof's but significantly more expensive as well (not as expensive as Morton's though). The shell was slightly hard while the spongy interior was soft and moist. Thick oozing, not too sweet chocolate completed the picture. But it was small, even smaller than Abof's.

I had a good and leisurely brunch, no doubt about that. But $95 for 3 pax does seem a little steep especially with the smallish portions. Its a nice place to hang out though and service is good. They will definitely be seeing more of me. On a side note, please let me reiterate that the place is tiny and you are looking at about probably 30 people max so please please please make your reservations.

See all my pictures here