Today, I joined the Russians in indulging in their comfort food and vodka in the only Russian restaurant in Singapore.
Dumplings.RU is just some 50 paces from Exit B of Tanjong Pagar MRT station. Come out of Exit B, turn to your left and you will see Maxwell Chambers building. Cross Wallich Street and walk along Maxwell Road.
Dumplings.RU is in Maxwell Cambers building on Maxwell Road, directly opposite Telok Ayer Park. (I am giving detailed directions here because Google Map made me walked in circles 😂 )
It's a small space decorated with Russian paraphernalia and knick-knacks. Catchy Russian tunes played in the background. It's busy during lunch but we found a couple of seats at the bar (which by the way is well stocked with vodka, beers and other spirits).
Owner Vadim Zoubovski and wife Alena lived in Singapore for 16 years. Vadim works in shipping. As Russian restaurants are more or less non existent in Singapore, Vadim and Alena like other Russians in Singapore do a lot of cooking at home. What started as food gifts for friends became a takeaway kiosk and today a full fledge Russian restaurant. Hence, Dumplings RU's dishes still have that georgic home cooked feel.
They have a 12 course Russian Experience Set lunch (which takes the stress out of ordering for most of us who have not been to Russia before).
Two of us, we shared a set and l left it to Ben to order dishes a la carte as I know next to nothing about Russian cuisine (except for a few drinking parties with Russian pals years ago and this Russian restaurant at Clarke Quay).
Our set lunch start with a soup and three appetisers.
This first dish sets the tone - homely, down-to-earth Ukrainian Borscht Soup served with a dollop of sour cream. The soup is a blend of sourish savoury sweet flavours with short sticks of beetroot, cabbage, potato, tomato and pork mixed with chopped coriander and dill inside. The purplish pink colour came from beetroot. I liked it and drank it all up to the last drop.
Egg with Wildlachs Russian Caviar. Halved hard boiled egg topped with salmon roe caviar that pops to the bite, releasing fluid with a nice rich savoury-salty flavour.
Spicy Carrot. I love this. The pickled julienned carrot were crunchy-chewy and tasted spicy sourish savoury sweet. Delicious and really whets the appetite.
Spicy Eggplant. Not very pretty. A soft reddish brown mash but it was full of flavours - spicy savoury sweet. Another good appetiser.
Chebureki. It's Russia's answer to the Portuguese empanada or Malay epok epok. The single layer dough shell was deep fried till golden brown outside. The thin shell was crisp outside and soft inside.
The minced pork inside the shell was naturally sweet with a bit of savoury-saltiness for balance. It tasted great and I like it that it had nice crunchy bits inside the soft minced meat. I love this chebureki and would come into Dumplings.RU just to get a fix of this Russian "epok epok".
I loved Dumpling.RU's Chicken Jelly Terrine or Kholodets.
It is shredded chicken suspended in a jelly of chicken stock slathered with mustard on top.
The jelly is melt-in-the-mouth soft with tender shreds of chicken inside. It tasted savoury sweet and I was able to taste the chicken's natural sweetness. The mild mustard added a slight zest and heat which made the dish tastes even better.
This is really nice.
Finally, dumplings!
The 12 course Russian Experience Set lunch comes with 4 dumplings but we also got this dumplings mains with 12 dumplings a la carte 😄
Vadim and wife Alena focussed on dumplings or pelmeni in their restaurant because dumplings are so much of their lives. Indeed, dumplings are staples throughout Russia, the Ukraine where Vadim was born and right across eastern Europe. Pierogi, the Polish version of dumplings is the national dish of Poland.
The 12 dumplings in the set were colour coded according to the fillings inside. Russians are so methodical and systematic. The colours are made with natural ingredients e.g. spinach for green, beetroot for purple etc.
For fillings, there's pork, beef, chicken, salmon, shrimp, potato, sauerkraut, cheese and combinations of these. The dumplings come with a small bowl of sour cream dip.
Russian dumplings have relatively thick skin which is nicely tender, chewy with a gummy squeaky feel to the bite. In Russian dumplings, the skin itself is something to enjoy. I like it.
Vadim uses only minced meat seasoned with a bit of salt and herbs to make his dumplings, so we can appreciate the fillings' natural flavours, be it chicken, beef, pork or cheese. Russian fillings may taste mild when compared with Chinese dumplings with their marinated fillings taking flavours from sauces, spices and seasonings.
Brushing the dumpling in the sour cream dip, coats it with a gently sourish zest which enhances the flavour.
Dulce De Leche Crepes. This is a soft spongy crepe with caramelised condensed milk inside the folds. Yeah... just sweet on sweet, soft on pillowy soft. I love it. It will cure diabetes 😛 (Because I won't eat anything sweet for the next 30 days 😂 ) But, this is a seriously tasty traditional dessert and actually not overly sweet lah... .
A slice of Medovik which is a Slavic multi layered honey cake. It is the Ang Moh (Westerner) answer to kueh lapis and just as tedious and time consuming to make. Medovik cake is built layer by layer over two days.
After walloping the Dulce De Leche Crepes, I demolished this slice of Medovik as well. Nice fragrant, refreshing sweetness in the spongy cake with crumbly bits that fell all over the place (true story).
I had a few Russian drinks (kompot and Black Russian) which were all nice but this is the crazy one that left the deepest impression. Chili Vodka is quite simple really - just vodka with a large chili pepper stewing inside.
It has the bite of vodka and on top of that the spicy sting infused from the chili pepper. A bit of honey to hold the layers of bite together, smoothen the drink, and lull the unsuspecting to get too high 😄 This vodka is 35% (mild by Russian standards lah... .)
This is the most popular spirit in Dumplings RU at the moment.
I haven't been to Russia, so I am not qualified to say whether this is authentic or not. But, I enjoyed the feel and taste of Dumplings RU's Russian experience. From chatting with Vadim and tasting the food, I felt his sincerity in providing a truly Russian experience in his little restaurant.
Vadim, wife Alena and their son all work in the family-run restaurant - they are passionate and seemed to be on a personal mission to showcase Russian cuisine to Singaporeans. I also saw many Russian customers coming in during lunch, so yeah... I am confident about recommending Dumplings RU's Russian experience.
Pro-tip: Watch out for their promo deals.
Disclosure: Please note that this was an invited tasting.
Restaurant name: Dumplings.RU
Address: 32 Maxwell Road, #01-05 Maxwell Chambers, Singapore 069115
Hours: 12:00 noon - 10:00pm
Date: 22 Oct 2020
I've only tried homemade Russian food and it's comforting during winter!
ReplyDeleteCan you name some memorable dishes? Thanks!
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