This Singapore Restaurant Is Perfect For Date Night Or a Friends Gathering

Kilo has been on the Southeast Asian food and nightlife scene since 2011, with locations in Singapore, Bali, and now Jakarta, which opened recently. Their outlets are uniformly cosy and inviting—think minimalist concrete dressed up in warm tones, with lots of plants. Perfect for dousing yourself with cocktails as Notorious B.I.G plays in the background.

Previously housed in an offbeat not-so-far out building by Kallang Riverside Park, Kilo Kitchen Singapore has moved to a centrally located space on Duxton Road to give you all the convenient trappings of a great night out. (Weekend pro-tip: Diners get free entry to Kilo Lounge, a 3-minute walk away.)

Executive chef Manel Valero, who is incidentally also a certified yoga instructor, has filled the menu with generously portioned sharing plates, finessed with finer touches indicative of a globalized, open-hearted approach to cuisine. Drawing from Latin and Asian influences, the food is a home-cooked meal that your mother probably couldn’t make.

I had the pleasure of sampling some dishes off the revamped menu, so here’s a few tips on what to order to round out the meal if you ever find yourself seated at one of Kilo’s long communal tables with people you love, celebrating a birthday, work promotion, or life in general.

Crab Croquettes (2 for S$8 | 4 for S$15) served with a tangy basil vinaigrette to balance the hearty, creamy consistency of the filling. An underlying hint of jalapeño spice brings this Latin-Japanese dish to actualization. It would require a lot of discipline to stop at one.

Atas Lentils (S$26), the brainchild of Kilo co-founder Joshua Adjodha, elevates the staple legume in a wholly unexpected way. Atas (literally ‘upstairs’ in Malay) is frequently used in Singlish parlance to mean ‘high class’. These lentils are brewed in a truffle chicken stock and garnished with manchego cheese, crispy ibérico and a pasteurized egg yolk to create modern comfort food at its finest. Maybe they’ll come up with a vegetarian version in the future, as it’s a little unfair that not everyone gets to try it.

Grilled Avocado (S$10) with a citrusy ponzu sauce and buckwheat puffs. Vegan option alert! This comes with fake burrata in the form of yuba, a Japanese soy milk skin, making it a solid choice for your friends on that spiritual or healthy lifestyle tip.

Coconut Tembleque (S$14) is as delicious as it is wobbly. This crowd-pleasing take on a classic Puerto Rican dessert combines sweet tastes across the texture spectrum to give you a real happy ending, with pineapple sorbet, caramelized pineapple, oat crumble and chocolate sauce.

Kilo Kitchen Singapore is at 97 Duxton Road, Singapore 089541. Open for dinner Tuesday - Friday 5:30pm - 12am and Saturday 6pm - 12am. Closed on Sunday and Monday.