Straits Kitchen review: stylish Singaporean in a five-star setting

If you’ve seen any social media, entertainment site or piece of cultural criticism over the last couple of weeks, you will likely have encountered the term “quiet luxury”. It’s a term that’s popped up in discussion of the recently-concluded HBO series “Succession”, and refers to the understated taste of the extortionately wealthy – those for whom designer logos are nothing short of gauche.

It was with this in mind that I walked into Straits Kitchen, a Singaporean restaurant housed inside the five-star Pan Pacific London hotel on Liverpool Street. Having taken a look at the menu ahead of time, I was fully aware of the price list long before I sat down. I knew, for example, that a plate of chicken satay skewers costs £15 for three, £25 for six, and that an asparagus sweetcorn soup will cost you £16. Admittedly that’s with the addition of black truffle...

Setting and drinks

We start the evening in the bar, and we’re sat in a comfortable spot next to a floor-to-ceiling window, with a moody view of The Gherkin in the rain — it’s a great place to sit for a main-character moment. The interior of the restaurant, though, while chic, is decidedly more mundane. There’s an effort at conjuring a southeast Asian theme, with green leaves painted on walls and some expertly maintained shrubbery. Still, the overall impression is decidedly corporate, and there’s little to distract you from the fact that you are simply sitting on the first floor of a fancy hotel.

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The cocktails that arrive are delicious; a well-made martini, and something lychee-focused which is naughtily sweet without being as cloying as many lychee-focused drinks can be. We’re also asked if we’d like to try the Chinese wine. The white was passable, if not good, but the red is most diplomatically described as challenging. We politely decline the bottle, and instead, we’re recommended a delicious, buttery French rosé. This excellent, expert service, it’s worth noting, is a theme throughout.

Menu and food

From the menu, we order two starters – prawns with a black pepper sauce and duck spring rolls. And from the mains we order beef rendang, seafood noodles, and sides of Hainanese rice, scallop and XO sauce fried rice, and a lotus root salad.

The starters arrive promptly, and it’s a mixed bag. The prawns are big, juicy and encased in a shatteringly crunchy batter, served with a black pepper sauce that has a consistency approaching jamminess. It’s the sort of hors d’oeuvre I’d love to be offered by a white-gloved waiter, who would then have to stand within reaching distance for the rest of the evening. The duck spring rolls, however, are not as impressive. A crunchy exterior with a fibrous BBQ duck filling that is just okay. At £16 for a portion that has to be classed as a disappointment.

The two big-hitter main courses, the seafood noodles and the beef rendang, are delicious. The noodles are laced with extremely generous servings of prawns, squid, and slices of fishcake, and every bite is absolutely dominated by seafood flavour. The beef has evidently been tenderly slow-cooked and has a deep flavour with a thrum of spice.

Where the mains are let down, however, are the sides. The scallop and XO sauce fried rice was probably the dish I was most looking forward to trying; after all, XO sauce is a beautiful thing, full of umami from dried seafood and pork. That, paired with the sweet succulence of fresh scallops, should be amazing. However, what arrives is lacklustre, and it’s a similar story with the Hainanese rice. However, a cold, spicy lotus root salad adds a welcome variation in texture and flavour.

Where the meal really peaks is the dessert. What arrives is jaw-droppingly, conversation-interruptingly beautiful: a tempered chocolate apple, styled to look alluring and dangerous, like something that should be offered to Snow White. It’s heartbreaking to break into, but once you do, you’re immediately pacified; it’s full of caramel and apple compote (one of food’s great flavour combinations). It’s a naughty, elegant, triumphant way to end the meal.

The verdict

I leave Straits Kitchen thinking that it is the sort of place I’d visit regularly if I had a big expenses account and clients to schmooze. It’s certainly impressive, with its stylish interior, attentive staff and high-end fare, but I’m not convinced it’s a place to visit out of a love of food.

Kieran Ahuja was a guest of Straits Kitchen. Pan Pacific London, 80 Houndsditch, London, EC3A 7AB; panpacific.com