Chef-owner Eliot Thomas of Magpie creatively mashes together culinary inspiration from the world over for flavours that are strangely familiar yet wildly exotic at the same time.
What is borderless soul food? We were at Tiong Bahru to find out. For one of the most recent openings in the area is Magpie, a culinary concept by New Zealand native and chef-owner Eliot Thomas in collaboration with Kurt Wagner, whom local epicureans know as the mastermind behind African restaurants Kate Utu and Tamba.
In Chef Eliot’s own parlance, he wants to challenge “preconceived notions of taste and culture while still being grounded by high-quality regional produce”, while offering an experience that’s “aggressively delicious and unconventionally familiar.”
“Magpie is a reflection of my life journey — the ports I’ve worked by, and countries I’ve visited. For me, food is about bold flavours, simplicity in execution, and letting the best ingredients take centre stage,” Chef Eliot declares.
It’s all rather carte blanche, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Located on Eng Hoon Street right across from Tiong Bahru Market, Magpie is a comfortably cosy space that resembles the summer cottage of an urbane, well-heeled adventurer burgeoning with travel stories. Which it effectively is, ranging from the variety of vintage knick knacks and Chef Eliot’s childhood photographs to the massive Coromandel granite stone necklace from his native New Zealand that takes pride of place in the restaurant’s private dining corner.
His borderless cuisine reflects that, drawing any and every inspiration from multiple cultures and cuisines he’s ever encountered. Food like his Fresh Tandoor Bread, which tastes like a cross between the Indian flatbread and Australian damper, or Pugliese Buratta, which takes the creamy Italian cheese and smears it liberally – and some say sacrilegiously – with Indian-style, eggplant-based curried pickled relish.
Then there’s Market Haul, which tastes every bit like ceviche but also speckled with coconut and passionfruit like some Kiwi chef accidentally mistaking it for pavlova.
And in every case, they are aggressively flavoured like Chef Eliot promised.
The Lamb T-Bone, in particular. It’s a big hunk of well roasted meat sliced for decorum, but this Middle Eastern take on lamb is a massive flavour bomb with spice, yogurt and pomegranate molasses combining for sweet, tangy, savoury and spicy notes all exploding on your palate at the same time.
Likewise the Octopus Zanzibar, with seared octopus doused in a spiced creamy coconut sauce and dotted with fried chickpeas for added crunch and flavour.
If the idea for borderless soul food is one that transcends geographical boundaries and tears down archaic and tired concepts around culinary authenticity, we now have one iconoclastic Chef Eliot Thomas of Magpie to show us how it’s properly done.
Magpie
Address 57 Eng Hoon St, #01-88, Singapore 160057 (Google Maps link)
Opening Hours 6pm to 9.30pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays; 12pm to 2.30pm and 6pm to 9.30pm Fridays and Saturdays; 12pm to 2.30pm on Sundays; closed on Mondays
Web www.magpie.city
Facebook magpiesingapore
Instagram @magpiesingapore
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