Last Friday I tried out The Mad Sailors in Haji Lane, heart of the Arab quarter in Singapore. My friend recommended the restaurant, after reading that they do great British food which happens to be halal. But obviously the restaurant is open to EVERYONE, you'll just have to get your drink on somewhere else!
The restaurant is co-owned by 2: a local Muslim Singaporean, a silent owner, and a lady called Hayley, who hails from the UK, and whose role also doubles up as Restaurant Manager. Hayley made sure to chat to all the customers, something which I don’t often see in Singapore, adding a personal touch and making certain customers felt welcome. I was told that the restaurant had opened quickly, just in time for Ramadan, which meant that they didn’t have time for a soft launch. But judging by how busy they were, it doesn’t seem like it’s affected them too much! Clearly, not only does the restaurant have a great location for a newbie on the restaurant scene, but I imagine it is in a very lucrative spot as well.
Because of Ramadan, we were asked to preorder our dinner. Whilst the menu has an extensive menu (including bangers and mash, toad in the hole and even fried mars bars), the most popular dish is the Fish and Chips. We ordered curried mussels (SG$12) to start, being the adventurous bunch that we are, we all ordered cod fish and chips (SG$18-22 per dish), and also all had Berry Bena slushy pints (SG$7.5). From a price perspective, I felt the dishes were reasonably priced, except for the drinks which were a tad expensive.
The curry sauce which the mussels were served in was more akin to an onion gravy and was rich and flavoursome. You could also tell that the mussels were of excellent quality as they were fresh and plump. The dish came with fresh bread that was soft on the inside and crusty on the outside.
Our cod fish and chips were next up and you could tell straight away that the fish was fried to order as it was piping hot and still glistening from the fryer. The batter was golden, well-seasoned and non-greasy and you could hear the sound of the crunch of the batter when you took your first bite. The fish was soft and flaky and again, quite clearly fresh. No complaints here!
The chips initially looked freshly hand cut however were actually of the frozen variety. A tiny disappointment, but I suspect only the chip connoisseurs (me) amongst us would be bugged by this. Accompanying the fish was tartar sauce and coleslaw. The tartar sauce was the star condiment, the tanginess of the capers was well balanced with the soft cod flakes and crunchy batter. A special shout out also goes to the vinegar on the table (and I don't mean the balsamic variety). I'm talking, proper malt vinegar here.
The Fish and Chips, for Singapore, were a strong contender, and I would definitely recommend if you fancy a more reasonably priced version of the British favourite.
For dessert, we had the chocolate fondant pudding which was incredible. And I’m not exaggerating. It was perfectly formed on the outside with a soft and airy sponge cake casing that managed to be moist at the same time. The molten chocolate centre was deliciously gooey and oozing when you cut in to the cake. It was served with a scoop of chocolate ice cream, however you could change this if that's too much chocolate for you (it wans’t for me)!
The general atmosphere of the restaurant was lively and full of chatter. We were seated at a table outside, which I would definitely recommend, which meant we were out of the way from the kitchen, but in the midst of the buzz of Haji Lane. We were at the restaurant for nearly 3 hours (as girls do when they lost in their chatter), and the restaurant was busy the whole time.
The service did have areas of improvement. Service was quite slow, taking quite a bit of time for our food to come out even though we had preordered. This was more than likely to do with Ramadan, and the sheer number of people in the restaurant needing to eat at the same time, which is an unusual scenario for any typical restaurant. I also learnt from Hayley that they had a party of 40 in the upstairs seating area which will have further left the staff shorthanded. I do believe these are just early day teething problems and Hayley had acknowledged them form the feedback she’s received. She said that she intends to address them once the first month of the restaurant opening and Ramadan is over.
Overall, I would definitely recommend the restaurant. Not only for food, but also ambience. It looks like the type of place where you could come and chill out with a coffee as well as with a group of friends for dinner. The fish in the main dish was definitely the star of the show, and I would really recommend everyone go to try it out.
The Mad Sailors will give 15% discount off the total bill to all Jetset Foodie readers, so quote my name and go check it out!