Open Door Policy has gotten a lot of hype lately and I always wanted to try it out. I reserved a table for 2 online a few days prior and they only had vacancies at 6:30pm. This goes to show how popular they are. Located at Yong Siak Street, this restaurant is quite obscure in location, but if you know your way, it is a 10 – 15min walk away from Tiong Bahru Station. I walked over from Drips Bakery, which took about 10 minutes.

The interior looks Americanized to me, quite different from most other restaurants. This place is managed by the Spa Esprit Group, which is behind House, Barracks, Skinny Pizza, The Tippling Club, Forty Hands and Tiong Barhu Bakery. I’ve had a spa session at Spa Esprit before and they have the same rustic, unpolished theme.

They have a policy of 2 hours per seating, which means you are not allowed to hog the seats.

As we were not very hungry, my dining partner and I decided to share a Soup, Salad, Main and Dessert. It was a good idea, because we left feeling very, very full.

Jerusalem artichoke veloute with white truffle oil – $14.00++

This soup was recommended by the staff and indeed, it was very good! The soup was unlike most cream of mushrooms or the like, which is creamy but still runny. This one has a thick texture, kind of like micro foam, the sort which will not flow so easily, if you get my idea. It went perfect with the white truffle oil, which made it very fragrant. I highly recommend this as well.

However, this is my first time having Jerusalem artichoke veloute, so I can’t be for sure whether the great taste is unique to ODP, or is all Jerusalem artichoke veloute equally tasty.

Grilled carrot salad with snow peas, orange, walnuts and cardamom dressing – $16.00++

Though not mentioned in the description, they use rocket leaves for this salad. They also have a bed of carrot puree below, ready to be mixed in. I wouldn’t say this was any unforgettable but generally, I like rocket so I will like this.

Roasted salmon with panzanella salad – $25.00++

You would be glad to know that the portion of salmon here is not small at all. This should be 180g at least. However, the panzanella salad was very sour and not to my liking. The bread had an unpleasant oily taste as well.

By default, the salmon here is cooked to medium. The staff will inform when ordering as well. Honestly, this salmon didn’t get into my good books, even though I really love to eat salmon. I felt that there was nothing special to it, nothing that will set me craving for the salmon served here.

Strawberry and basil salsa with strawberry and black pepper sorbet – $15.00++

This sorbet is quite unique, as there is pepper. The pepper taste only sets in a while after eating, where it will just give a spicy aftertaste. So this is just like eating strawberry sorbet that has a spicy aftertaste. This is quite a refreshing dessert, if you wish to steer away from oily, creamy desserts.

When settling the bill, I noticed they made a mistake and added in an item that we didn’t even have. I have no idea why such error was made but luckily I have the habit of checking. The service was fair – not exactly very friendly but at least they weren’t rude. I noticed that they have a lunch promotion where a soup and salad would cost $25.00++. Sounds like a steal to me!

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