Flying Monkey - seeking to delight!
The Oakham Curry Club (OCC) is a well-respected Institution with multiple international franchises. This review of ‘Flying Monkey’ being the latest by our Singapore branch.
The OCC takes pride in searching out the finest Indian restaurants and providing impartial reviews of Curry Houses all over the world.
Members vote anonymously without being influenced by other members (we call this “no swaying”) on 5 categories, and an average score out of a maximum 10 is given to each restaurant we review.
On Friday 24th May 2019 – The OCC visited Flying Monkey; Bussorah Street.
For full transparency, see below scores (out of 10). The voting is based on the votes from OCC members. Restaurants must score an average of 7/10 or above to receive the OCC sticker of recommendation. All OCC members have been through a rigorous selection process to gain entry into the Club. In short, we all know our curries.
Quality: 7.57
Customer care: 7.77
Value: 6.48
Service: 7.75
Atmosphere: 7.28
Overall: 7.37
Flying Monkey IS awarded the much-coveted OCC sticker of recommendation as it met the required 7/10 average
Flying Monkey focuses on delivering pan-Indian food in a more casual setting, yet not compromising in quality. As with their kitchen crew assembled from some of the top fine dining Indian restaurants in Singapore. Completing the casual vibe, Flying Monkey has a full-fledged bar, manned by famous bartender, Kannan aka The Beard – previously with Buyan, Cufflink Club and Long Chim.
Flying Monkey offers Pan-Indian cuisine to be enjoyed in both small and big plates, and coupled with a cocktail from the bar, that’s what Flying Monkey seeks to delight its diners with.
Situated in the heart of the Arab quarter, Flying Monkey has replicated the format of so many other restaurants in the area by offering a mixture of indoor and outdoor dining. Whilst there was a fairly large table inside (along with other smaller tables) the OCC reservation had been assigned to a large outdoor table, something the OCC were not overly keen on. We asked if we could be seated inside but unfortunately, whilst there is an upstairs area, this is more of a bar/lounge and as such not suitable for a sit down meal. Therefore we begrudgingly shuffled back to our designated table outside in the heat. Those of you familiar with dining outside in Singapore will appreciate how spicy food and 90% humidity are not always the best combination and a number of members have since remarked how the heat and humidity outside did tarnish the experience somewhat. On the flip side, Friday night around Arab street has a real party atmosphere and after a few delicious IPAs the noisy OCC table was probably more at home outside in the noise than inside in the Aircon.
Customer care and service scored very well. This is largely down to the efforts of the owner, who upon being made aware that the OCC were there to review his establishment, went out of his way to explain the history, culture and ethos of his restaurant. He even went so far as to help us with our ordering, recommending signature dishes and good supporting cocktails. We were quite happy with the IPA though (which was really very good). The staff seemed to feed off the attention we were being given by the owner and for the remainder of our visit they were always on hand to take drinks orders and facilitate whatever requests we had.
Flying Monkey is not a traditional Indian restaurant, and the menu reflects that. Dishes have a modern twist and as a result the menu is a little more complicated than you might expect. This took a little navigating by Jesse who was probably happy with the support role the owner played. Unfortunately there are no poppadoms on the menu, much to the disappointment of the OCC. It is worth noting that dishes at Flying Monkey are a little on the small side. For starters we ordered Shikh Kebab, Prawn Tempura, mustard Ghobi, and Vada Pav (sliders). Although fairly small portions, general consensus of the group was that the starters were incredible!
For mains we ordered (again with the help of the owner) Butter Chicken, Lamb Shank, Daab Chingri (prawn), Lasooni Saag (spinach), Tawa Fish, a Dal Makhni (potato) and a Chicken Biryani. All were beautifully presented and very tasty. Probably our only criticism would be that the portions are a little on the small side. There wasn’t a lot of meat in the chicken or lamb dishes which makes sharing a little challenging but everything was very tasty. The lamb shank fell off the bone and was juicy and nicely spiced.
Value scored the lowest at 6.48. The OCC do not begrudge paying for great food, service and atmosphere, in fact we throw money at them like a 16yr old that’s just signed his first Premier league contract. The issue here is that the portions were deemed a little too small for the 15/20 SGD a dish price tag.
In summary, Flying Monkey is a really good venue for a Friday night curry. The crowded streets are full of energy and the drinks selection is good. You may want to book indoor seating if you don’t do well in the humidity but either way you will be well looked after by the attentive staff. Probably a good ‘date night’ venue. You can ooh and aah over the beautiful and creative dishes (even the mango lassi comes with flower petals in it) but if you want to leave with a full belly you are probably going to spend a little more than other establishments. All in all a very respectable score but if they could squeeze the pricing a little this place could be a real gem.
If you enjoyed this review please follow us on TripAdvisor, check out our other reviews and check back each month for the latest on the Singapore curry scene!