Gracious 5 Adds on to the List of Must-Tries in the East

When it comes to the island’s best eats, every Singaporean knows pretty much that more than half of the local delights are found in the east. (Some may argue, but that’s another story for another day.) Now there’s another bistro bar to add to the list in the east.

Located along Changi Village Road, Gracious 5 boosts a menu with a wide selection of main dishes in generous portions, at half the price of what you’d find in many renowned cafés. And if you’re still unsure, hear this – my companion, who’s normally a huge eater, hardly had space for sides and desserts after a single main dish.

For starters, we ordered truffle fries under the “Bar Bites” menu. Truth be told, I was initially skeptical about the taste, given that this was the cheapest basket of truffle fries I have ever had at S$5.50.

The verdict? I wouldn’t exaggerate and say that the truffle fries were the best I’ve ever came across. But each fry was a fat cut of potatoes with a hint of truffle oil and that was sufficient, at least for me.

Our starters was followed by two signature dishes: Smokey’s Grilled Chicken Chop (S$14) and Pan-fried Black Cod (S$29.50).

If you typically lean towards the conservative side, I would recommend the Smokey’s Grilled Chicken Chop, a tender boneless chicken thigh marinated and grilled with a smokey finale. It takes quite a bit of skill to retain the smokey BBQ-kind-of taste throughout every part of the chicken chop but the chef managed to pull that off. Pro-tip: for this dish, you can get to select two side dishes. Try their mashed potatoes. It’s grounded from scratch and not made from ready-packed powder.

The Pan-fried Black Cod was done up nicely and the fillet tasted fresh as the sea. It was a pity I could hardly taste the Red Wine Teriyaki sauce, which I initially thought would be the highlight of the dish. Nevertheless, this dish might be worth a try if you’re looking for a healthy choice option with an extremely low calorie and fat content.

To finish off our meal, we had Chocolate Lava Cake and Ice Cream (S$5.50). Ok, you may be thinking, lava cake seems so passé. But the appeal of this chocolatey dessert remains. So did Gracious 5’s rendition of this well-loved classic dessert pass the “lava-flow test”?

It passed with flying colours (and oozing lava). It was a heavenly combination of warm melted chocolate and fragrant vanilla ice cream — my heart almost sang. Unfortunately, there’s room for improvement in terms of presentation; the plating of this dessert doesn’t do justice to its taste. Get past its façade and enjoy the treat.

Opening hours: Thu to Sun – 11.30am to 3pm, 6pm to 10.30pm; Fri, Sat and Eve of Public Holidays – 11.30am to 3pm, 6pm to 11pm; Closed on Mon