The Universal

P: It’s Sandy’s birthday! We celebrated with a “lormantic” dinner at The Universal, a modern European restaurant in beautiful tree-lined Duxton Hill. I rarely head up to the top of Duxton Hill, so when I do find myself there, particularly in the evenings when it looks even cosier, I’m always shocked at how pretty the cul-de-sac is. It’s like being in Paris or London, with mosquitoes. (Another favourite restaurant of ours, just over the road from The Universal, is BROTH.) The Universal is still less than six months old and is helmed by Gary Kwang, who has done stints at Singapore’s Les Amis as well as a two-star Michelin restaurant, Le Clos de la Voilette.


(All photos culled from the restaurant's website.)

I’d been perusing the menu online for several days before the dinner and had already decided on “oven roasted pigeon with orange-scented carrots and wilted spinach accompanied by a bitter chocolate sauce” as a main course. Somebody was late arriving, so I had even more time to peruse the menu again in The Universal’s very smart bar. Disaster! The pigeon was nowhere to be found. I quickly harassed the nearest barstaff and he admitted that so few people had ordered the pigeon, and that long-term dead pigeon storage is not advisable, that they had dropped it from the menu. He did add that the chef would be happy to prepare whatever dish I wanted if he had the right ingredients. That’s always a good sign.

Still waiting for the birthday girl to arrive — she likes to make a grand entrance — I took a look at the voluminous wine list. With over 500 wines in the cellar, it should have been a tricky process selecting a wine. But since I couldn’t afford any of them the decision was very fast. Er, a glass of the house Riesling, please. In their cellars they stock three prime vintages —including many 1982s — of all the first-growth and many second-growth Bordeaux wines. The 1982 vintages were all priced between S$3,000 and S$8,000 a bottle so naturally I pretended to look at that page for a long time as if deciding which to choose.

When Sandy finally decided to grace The Universal with her presence, we were led upstairs to the front dining room, a tiny room with only four tables, overlooking the pretty street. We immediately fell in love with the décor. Modern, sleek, comfortable and relaxed. Orange swivel chairs (I was tempted to do a quick pirouette but apparently this is not acceptable in refined restaurants) on polished wooden floors, stunning tableware and a quirky chandelier overhead. After a quick look at the wine list to order the second cheapest glass of white, a Leeuwin Estate Chardonnay (no, not Art Series, the other one but still more expensive than the whole bottle would have been in Australia!), we were given bottled sparkling and still water. I thought this a bit pushy, sky juice would have done me fine, but to our extreme surprise the water did not appear on the bill. Full marks to The Universal. Mind you I could have bought a small vineyard in Margaret River for the amount I spent on three glasses of wine. Having settled in, we were then presented with plates of amuse bouche (which later appeared on the bill — complimentary, of course — as amuse bush!). I have no idea what they were as I didn’t catch the waiter’s explanation but one was a kind of spicy chicken ball and the other a mini homemade brioche stuffed with something or other. Very good. In addition to the amuse bush we had Parmesan foccacia and heavily scented rosemary rolls.



Sandy ordered a set dinner of “garlic-sautéed escargot on wild mushroom served in red wine sauce” followed by “handmade potato gnocchi with shredded duck confit” and a dessert, which we shared, of “flourless warm chocolate cake with a flowing chocolate center served with French vanilla pod ice-cream”. With no pigeons on the menu, I ordered a starter of “port and Cognac-marinated duck foie gras with balsamic jelly, puree of dried fruit and homemade brioche” and a main dish of “duck confit with roasted ratte potato and beetroot mousse drizzled with a homemade sage-infused orange sauce”.

Sandy’s escargot was delicious although, as she later discovered, the base flavours were not that dissimilar to those of her main course. Strange that they should be offered together on the same set menu. Or not, if it saves on preparation. My foie gras was exceptional if rather alcoholic, and was mouth-wateringly good when paired with the jelly and fruit puree. My duck confit was delicious and I had to fend off Sandy’s advances, as she’s a real duck confit fanatic. The portions were really quite big and Sandy was struggling to finish her gnocchi. I was washing my duck and her gnocchi down with a big, heady Australian Shiraz (by this stage I had decided to fall back on the credit card) and only just finished my food. I can’t comment much on the chocolate cake as I only got to try one spoonful. Sandy cunningly asked me a question about one of my books, knowing full well I would drone on for ten minutes, by which time she had finished the whole thing!

When I recovered from the great disappearing-chocolate-cake-trick, I called for the bill and we were pleasantly surprised to see that the water was free and no service charge was added. The service was of course top notch; a wait staff was ever present, standing discreetly in the corner to serve the four tables, so we tipped accordingly (probably insultingly low compared to their regular diners).

Definitely a place to check out. Next time we’d probably try to ask for a degustation menu to share ... more dishes but much smaller portions. I’m sure they would oblige with whatever combination you requested.

Update: Gary Kwang, Chef de Cuisine at The Universal, read the above post and emailed: "Thanks for the write up on us. Do let us know one day in advance for the pigeon dish on your next visit." Great!