Artichoke Revisited @ Middle Road

It has been ages since my last visit to Artichoke and since then Bird Bird and Neh Neh Pop has emerged and Sour Dough pulling down their shutters. Talk about change, sometimes.





Step in further from the entrance and be greeted with these colourful plates of appetizers.







Dining interior but there's an option to dine in the garden too.



Hummus ($8)
Chickpea dip, Tahini, Sumac, Pickled Cucumber, Black Sesame

I love my hummus to death, and Artichoke does great hummus. Be a fan of chickpeas and love this or well, just hate it. This goes perfect with their freshly baked Pita Bread ($4.50) which makes buttering it all over just so tasty.



Brassica Tabbouleh ($18)
Fried Brussel Sprouts, Raw Cauliflower 'grains', Red Cabbage, Pickled Onions, Almonds, Labneh Ranch

Brussel sprouts are tricky vegetables because overcooking them lends this a very bitter aftertaste and the pungent smells classifies this as rancid sometimes. That said, I love my brussel sprouts and in the game of acquired taste, this is my favourite. 

Chef did justice to these little bulbs with great torching and things were spiced up with a piquant red cabbage and pickled onions. It was mostly sweet and thankfully very tasty. Brussel sprout fan or not, this would be the defining dish.




Hot Skillet Prawns ($38)
Green Harissa, Split Cream, Fried Onions, Coriander

This was a straight forward dish with very fresh prawns and that was suffice to pull it off brilliantly though of course Chef went way and above expectations with the mildly spicy harissa and delicious cream and fried onions. A must order, if you ask me.



Grilled Duroc Pork Collar ($32)
Shish Kebab Spiced Pork, Cucumber, Basil Cacik, Spring Onion Relish

Too much fat and excess in this pork collar, it could do with a more tender cut and the condiments were lacking somehow despite a very strong start and performance in the other dishes. 




Slow Roasted Lamb Shoulder ($38)
Toum Garlic Sauce, Tomato Ezme, Dirty Onions

The two racks of bone made this a stunning piece to behold unfortunately slow roasting does result in too tender meat and a somewhat lacking in oomph flavour profile. I found this least exciting of the mains eaten that night..



Yogurt Muhallebi ($14)
Poached Apricots, Orange Blossom Honey, Brown Butter Kataifi, Candied Pecans

I am no fan of middle eastern desserts but sweets are a must at Artichoke. Similar to panna cotta in consistency, this jell-o number comes with a whole host of flavours - the crunchy savoury brown butter kataifi shreds, soft and sweet poached apricots before finishing with a toothsome candied pecan.

I enjoyed brunch tremendously years back, dinner hardly disappointed as well. Definitely worth a return.

Artichoke
131 Middle Road