Firangi Superstar’s latest menu, which launched in July this year, threads together dishes across India’s regional cuisines, with one standout rare find in Singapore’s culinary landscape.
Among the new starters is head chef Raj Kumar’s nod to a classic pate: lamb and foie gras worked through with galouti kebab spice – a fragrant blend that invokes Lucknow’s famous kebabs – served alongside golden, toasted brioche.
This dish, named A Path to the Looted Gold, is plush, with the galouti spicing lifting the velvety pate.
It may feel heavy on the palate, but if you enjoy a decadent dish, this is for you.
Another starter is the Zucchini Pakora. Crispy Zucchini fritters get the classic pakora treatment and are then clad with a drizzle of mint sauce.
The reinterpreted street food classic is paired with a roasted eggplant dip reminiscent of baingan bharta.
Then came one of the more inventive plates on the menu: Keem-a Chameleon. No, not made of chameleon. Yes, like Culture Club’s 80s superhit – Karma Chameleon.
It is a Scotch egg built around chicken or mushroom keema and set in a Chettinad gravy, a true Tamil Nadu special. The gravy is the backbone of the dish, and the oozy egg centre makes for a strong mouthfeel.
The Beirut Bhatura Part Quatre spotlights Sindhi cuisine.
A dish inspired by Firangi Superstar’s recent pop-up collaboration with Chef Vicky Ratnani called ‘The Sindhi Supper Club’, the dish features mini bhaturas (fluffy North Indian flatbread) coupled with sweet potato hummus and a choice of Sindhi mutton or Chole Masala – a cross-pollination of Middle Eastern and Indian flavours.
The main act was Naga Please – a chargrilled Iberico pork decorated with Nagaland’s famous chillies and crisp lotus chips. Few restaurants in Singapore attempt Nagaland dishes, let alone build a signature dish around the region’s most famous ingredients.
The pork itself is smoky and has a charred finish. The meat on the ribs is noticeably more tender, while the remaining cuts may prove harder on your jaw.
As for the chillies, while visible in the plating of the dish, they are surprisingly restrained in heat.
Known as Raja Mirchi or King Chilli, Nagaland chillies are usually ranked among the world’s hottest chilli peppers in the world, so I was expecting the pork to pack a serious punch. However, it wasn’t quite fiery enough to have me reaching for my Spice Route Fizz (a new cocktail addition).
According to Chef Raj, the choice was a commercially defensible call to suit the everyday Singaporean’s palate that does not always seek that level of heat.
On that front, diners chasing levels of spice often associated with Nagaland’s chillies may be disappointed. Still, Naga Please is a delight for the taste buds.
If you are curious about the Spice Route Fizz, it is a refreshing cocktail combining Buffalo Trace, apricot, honey and black cardamom soda. There is more where this comes from: six new cocktails have been introduced, spanning three categories – ‘Texture & Bold’, ‘Bright & Refreshing’ and ‘Masala & Tangy’.
