I decided to check out Magpie on a chef’s recommendation. Serving borderless soul-food, which to be honest I don’t really know what it’s supposed to mean but I guessed that means serving food with no limits

The restaurant wasn’t big but it was full house so I was looking forward to what food will be served. And since the friends reached first, they decided to get some starters while waiting for everyone else to arrive

Fresh Tandoor Bread, Magpie Butter $12

And so we had a tandoor bread which in my opinion can be a little more flavourful. It tasted like a very normal piece of bread but it actually went well with the garlic cream sauce served with the cassava bravas

Cassava Bravas, Garlic Cream $19

Inspired from Spanish tapas, this was actually decent. Crispy cassavas with a spicy tomato sauce mixed with garlic cream though I find it a little too saucy for my liking

Beef Cheek & Tongue Mochi, Mole, Lime Crema $13

We added on one piece of mochi to try. This honestly just looked like those fried sesame ball you can get at your neighbourhood stall but they replaced it with beef cheek & tongue. Atas, yes. Tasty, not necessarily be. It felt a little too innovative to me

Pugliese Burrata, Curried Brinjal Pickle $34

I thought the burrata with the curried flavour was interesting but the brinjal pairing was a little strange since both burrata and brinjal were of softer texture, it didn’t bring any surprise

Galbi Intercostal Beef, House Kimchi, Soy Egg Yolk, Shiso Ssam $58

This sounds like a very Korean-inspired dish and rightfully so since everything on the plate seemed like Korean ingredients. Yet, the taste was anything but Korean. The galbi seems abit lacking in terms of execution and flavour. It felt like a pile of ingredients topped over just to present a dish together. I must say this was by far the least Korean-inspired dish I’ve had

Line Caught Cobra, Sambal, Coconut, Kaffir Lime, Pomelo $56

The fish was done better in terms of execution but they might have sprinkled a little too much salt on some parts of the fish so well, when I ate it, it was way too salty. And the coconut sauce was a little too milky in my opinion. I felt they could have done something more on the sauce to make it a little more balanced

The friends had ordered a peated whisky orange ice-cream for me as a birthday dessert. Let’s just say I wasn’t very impressed. lol. It felt like whisky drizzled over orange ice cream which you could make at home. And I guessed the flavours were so strong on their own it really didn’t complement each other

Yes, I wasn’t impressed by the meal. The food didn’t suit me. It was too borderless for my liking. It felt they were just bringing in cuisines from around the world and making it their own which honestly can be impressive if done well. But honestly, it’s my personal opinion given the large crowd support here. So I guess, I’m just one of the minority

Magpie

57 Eng Hoon Street, #01-88, Singapore 160057