Singapore is famous for its food: Singapore specialities as well as food from surrounding regions and countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia are available cheaply at food courts called hawker centres. Collect your food from kiosks and sit at plastic topped tables. However, most restaurants specialise. Yet for a chance to try Indonesian food, with European food for other guests or an alternative to fall back on, Table at 7 is a proper sit down restaurant with table service with a choice of menus, European and Indonesian.
Prices Options
In Singapore as in London, restaurants offer all inclusive lunch time deals at cheaper than the regular a la carte prices. Often these special deals are not available over the Easter weekend. However, if you are not working or are working from home and can take the family or meet friends afterwards, you might get a better deal on the prices.
I was looking at a family favourite restaurant and received an email saying their lunch time special was not available over Easter.
Let's look at their regular menu.
The restaurant is called table at 7. The name is not a reflection of the time of dining but the street number of their previous location.
According to the pictures on Tripadvisor you have a choice of regular tables or bar stools against a wall. I like a table. When I arrived I did not see any bar stools. (Later, I was surprised to find my own review from 2016 on Tripadvisor.)
The Chefs
Chef at Table at 7. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
Chef at Table at 7. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
The menu is created by a team. You can see their photos on their website. They are business partners. Not married. (He is already married to somebody else, with two offspring.)
The main courses are in two halves. The western half is the inspiration of the European. The oriental (Indonesian) menu is from the Indonesian.
I looked at the menu online in advance. Since I am allergic to shellfish I could see I would have to pass on the starter of scallops, and main dishes containing prawns and shrimps.
Starters & Snacks
The word sop/sup, Indonesian and Malay, is soup
Emping
I had to look up emping - Indonesian fried crackers. The Americans say chips but to the British chips means potato chips and in Britain we would call them crisps. What is in them? Nuts (actually seeds). You can buy them in supermarkets, plain, savoury (with salt) or sweet (sugared).
Drinks.
Prosecco bottle at Table at 7. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
Sparkling wine by the tiny bottle. Prosecco. Brand name Piccini. 200 ml bottle.
The corkage for taking your own wine bottle is about 30 Singapore dollars but that is waived if you buy a bottle of their wine.
Cutlery
The cutlery is unusual. The knives and forks have handles which go in different directions, one up, the other down. They don't stack together. Odd but attractive, elegant.
Starters
Kebab
I chose kebab.
Kebab starter at Table at 7 restaurant, Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
Large, thick, good.
Starter with truffles at Table at 7 restaurant, in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
Main Courses
Nasi Kuning Platter
That means Rice Yellow Platter. The yellow is from turmeric. Filling and tasty.
Desserts
The banana and kaya crumble was gritty but delicious with slices of banana.
The portion sizes were perfect, leaving you feeling full but not over-full.
See mostly rave reviews on Tripadvisor.
41 Namly Avenue. a long walk from an MRT station or bus stop. Down a side road. Huge circular building up a driveway. Huge isolated multi-storey building. Take a taxi.
As we drove towards it passing several streets named Namly we looked up the origin of the name. As we suspected, the name was from a VIP from long ago. He was a surveyor from Sri Lanka. Like many tamils, his name was long, so some streets were given his family name, others his first name. Tamils are an important minority in Singapore and their language is one of the four official languages, the others being English, Chinese and Malay.
The building is on a steep slope. It is a surprise to find that when you enter the restaurant is not up but down a couple of flights of stairs, yet has windows onto the outdoors.
Useful Websites
table at 7
Tel: 6235 6275.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emping
About The Author Angela
Angela Lansbury is a British author who has lived in the USA.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.
Angela Lansbury teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.
To practise your English, come to Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters on learncool.sg, first Wednesday evening of the month, Singapore time, 7-10pm. Next meeting Wednesday March 7th 2021.
To add a clock to the time and date page and see when the meetings are your time go to this website.
https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/personal.html
