Coriander Leaf has always been one of the restaurants on my list to try, so we finally found the chance as one of the participating restaurants in Restaurant Week. The place is located on the second level of CHIJMES, from the stairs near El Mero Mero, and occupies a spacious space decorated in a dark interior. I thought the interior design was thoughtful, with modern furnishing amidst Asian touches

Coriander Leaf rolled out a 4-course menu for this restaurant week and initially when Z looked at the menu, she said ‘I think we need to go for round 2 later’ lol. Even though the food doesn’t look very filling, but it was surprisingly substantial

First Course

1.Watermelon, mint, pomegranate, & Turkish white cheese

2.Marinated prawn salad & grated coconut

I really like both salad. The watermelon salad was a sweet surprise with the crunchy pomegranate and savoury white cheese, ending with a minty aftertaste. The prawn salad was a combination of bursting flavours, appetising and delicious

Second Course

1.Steamed venus clams, coconut water & tamarind

2.Braised beef brisket, kimchi, daikon slaw, steamed buns

We both agree the clams were the better of the two. Just cos you can taste the sweetness of the coconut with a little touch of acidity from the spices and of course, the sweet meaty clams

The beef brisket was a little too spicy in my opinion, and perhaps the meat could have just been a little more tender

Main Course

Samia’s signature frontier chicken, coriander seeds, chilli, yoghurt cream, arugula & butter naan

There is a history with this dish, with the owner of Coriander Leaf living at Afghanistan a long time ago during a turbulent period. Apparently when she was living there, the owner could only afford this chicken dish so they had it every single day. Yet she fell in love with it and told them she would put this on her menu if she opened her own restaurant one day, and so here it is. This dish has been on the menu for 15 years now

The piping hot butter naan was so fragrant you could just eat them off your fingers without any sauce to go along

Honestly, this was really good. The chicken was marinated and cooked well and balanced with the slightly bland yoghurt cream and the salty arugula leaf. I like how the flavours play out here and to eat it together with the naan was perfect

Dessert

Coconut sorbet, roasted pineapple salsa, don papa rum

The coconut sorbet was more creamy and icy, which works for me. But what was better was the roasted pineapple salsa which was so delicious. The don papa rum was little weird in my opinion just cos I didn’t really enjoy the flavour of it

I do enjoy the meal at Coriander Leaf. The flavours were playful and bursting with a punch. If you are looking for Asian food with a modern twist, this place serves some pretty good rendition. And while there, we actually saw many tourists visiting the restaurant which was surprising how they found the restaurant in the first place. Well, and I definitely don’t mind going back there

Coriander Leaf

#02-01 CHIJMES, 30 Victoria St, S(187996)