Hyde & Co., an extremely Instagrammable halal cafe along North Bridge Road has recently rebranded itself to Take Hyde Out, a cafe with a takeaway concept.
You can continue to expect the top notch local-Italian fusion food Hyde & Co. has been serving, but now with fuss free delivery (within 20 minutes in the CBD area), and pre-orders for dine-in and take away which can be made in advance on the Take Hyde Out website.
This is especially useful during Ramadan. Just imagine placing an order online and collecting it right before you need to break fast, instead of waiting in long queues and staying hungry.
Take Hyde Out’s dishes are Western-based — think pastas, pizzas, and teas. However, the ingredients that make up the dishes are wholly local and boast intense and hearty flavours.
Previously, we reviewed Hyde’s signature Chilli Crab Pasta ($22.90) which made it to our list of Singapore’s Best Fusion Dishes. This time round, we found ourselves immensely enjoying the Firecracker ($22.90); a spicy laksa linguine served with a succulent maple-glazed tiger prawn and dried shrimp floss.
The maple-glazed prawn was delectably charred, crispy and succulent, with perfectly balanced notes of sweetness. I think I could have eaten ten more of the prawns without feeling jelak.
The linguine was well-cooked, with the shrimp floss adding so much texture and heartiness to the dish, and the cherry tomatoes adding bursts of juiciness that balanced out this indulgent experience.
Another dish we absolutely loved was the Bomb Pizza ($26.90); it really was the bomb! You know how many pizzerias try to create local-flavoured pizzas like rendang or tandoori chicken pizza? Most of the time such fusion pizzas taste average at best, but The Bomb pizza was a clear winner.
It was inspired by the local dish Chye Poh (pickled radish) prawn omelette, and is made with sambal chinchalok spread, prawns, an egg, and chunks of crunchy chye poh. The sambal sauce was deliciously spicy yet not overwhelmingly so, and the crust of the pizza was fluffy on the inside, while being simultaneously crispy and chewy.
We also had the Geisha ($27.90) pizza that comes with Norwegian smoked salmon, mentaiko mayonnaise, charred broccoli bits, and bonito flakes. Salmon, mentaiko and bonito is a no-brainer combination that works every time, and I was impressed by the addition of the excellently cooked broccoli that was smoky, charred and juicy.
If you love satay bee hoon, you are bound to relish the Satay Capellini ($19.90). Served with homemade Ngoh Hiang, lemongrass satay, and peanut sauce, this dish was sweet, savoury, and enhanced by the al dente capellini and crispy kang kong.
If none of the dishes above are to your fancy (I’m assuming you don’t like seafood or Chinese and Japanese cuisine), you may want to try the Gnocchi “Mee Rebus”. The poached egg, when combined with the crispy shallots and gnocchi, helped created a very indulgent dish.
It was a bit of a pity that the gnocchi was dense and gummy-like, but we understand it is an incredibly difficult dish to cook that is often served imperfectly (in Singapore at least), so it wasn’t a huge downside for us. The texture of the gnocchi aside, everything else tasted scrumptious.
Finally, we completed the meal with Hyde’s Kaya Toast ($15.90), a platter of thick french toast that has been drizzled with a decadent kaya ganache, and sprinkled with gula melaka and coconut shavings.
The toast was also served with a refreshing scoop of coconut ice cream that perfectly complemented the rest of the dish. This is a very indulgent and heavy dish, so be sure to share it with a friend!
There’s plenty of good food at Take Hyde Out, but don’t forget to grab one of the homemade cold-brewed teas. There are several nice flavours to try, and some of them also come with a pretty ombre colour.
The drink that best complemented the other dishes was the Addams Family ($6.50), a sweet Turkish tea that cools you down after a spicy dish. If you’re looking for a nice drink to end the meal or accompany a dessert, get My Fair Lady ($6.50), a delightful Earl Grey milk tea that has been infused with sunflowers and rose petals.
We really enjoyed the food at Take Hyde Out and our only gripe is the slightly more expensive price point. We normally wouldn’t pay more than $20 for simple dishes like pasta, but given how every ingredient in each dish has been meticulously chosen and tweaked to create such scrumptious dishes, I would not mind visiting them again (especially for The Bomb pizza and the Firecracker.)
Expected damage: $20 – $40 per person
