Style Palate: Euro food, hawker-ish prices at Woodleigh by ITE duo
Opened in Sep 2024, Woodleigh Village Hawker Centre is home to diverse eateries, especially fusion takes. After Mexican fusion food and Japanese fusion rice bowls, another fusion eatery to add to that list: Style Palate. They serve affordable European bistro-style delights.
It is run by ITE culinary graduates Darryl (27) and Shi Long (25), who met in 2018 at Institut Paul Bocuse. Although they often joked around about owning a business throughout their course, Shi Long wasn’t ready to start one.
After a year and a half working in a restaurant polishing his skillset, Shi Long felt like he was finally ready to start that business he and Darryl had longed joked about.
The pair wanted to offer restaurant-like dishes you would find in the CBD in a hawker setting, but knew that the main issue would be price. Whilst Style Palate does not offer your standard hawker prices, they do have affordable European dishes. The pair’s hope is that with time, people will come to realise the value of their offerings.
What I tried at Style Palate
With their humble menu consisting of pastas, mains and sides, I had no idea where to begin considering I’ve grown up in the UK surrounded by Western food. I left it up to Darryl and he recommended his most popular dishes starting with the Cold Umami Angel Hair Pasta (S$6).
Don’t be alarmed if the picture doesn’t match the one from the main signboard. Darryl explained that Style Palate is trying to be more efficient by steering away from “restaurant plating”, and rolling individual portions as depicted there takes too long.
Rest assured, the quality was still there. Topped with tobiko fish roe, the angel hair pasta was also coated with truffle salsa which got me excited (yes, I am a huge truffle fan). The pasta was cooked with a perfect al-dente bite while the truffle and tobiko added a burst of umami. It was a cold, refreshing and flavourful bite to start my meal.
I then proceeded to tuck into my next pasta dish, which was the Vongole Pasta (S$8).
It was generously filled with clams and I observed that the pasta juices had soaked into the pocket of the clams. Unpacking through the goodness, I also found a pool of juice at the bottom of my dish.
Topped with parsley and chilli flakes, the linguine pasta also had a nice al-dente bite. The clams possessed an oceanic taste that paired nicely with the dish. However, I would have preferred a hint of more chilli flakes on my dish (quite bold for someone who’s not been handling spicy food well).
Rounding off the meal, I savoured Style Palate’s best-selling dish, Duck Confit (S$12). After trying this, I could see why it is so popular.
The confit was sitting atop a pile of mashed potatoes, which I noticed looked different from the photos on their menu. As it turns out, many people have given Style Palate feedback they didn’t like the bean stew it was previously served in.
I peeled away the duck and discovered its flaky texture. The bite was very tender and each morsel had soaked up the pool of rich sauce at the bottom. Shi Long explained that the sauce is their version of a black pepper sauce, almost entering the realm of beef jus, savoury and full of flavour.
The mash was incredibly fluffy and light, truly mimicking a restaurant setting. My only criticism is that the duck could have been more seasoned. But the duck was very well cooked, and paired nicely with the sauce and mashed potatoes.
Final thoughts
I respect Darryl and Shi Long’s take on European fusion food, which doesn’t easily cater to the Singapore palate.
While prices are kept close to affordable hawker prices, Darryl explained that their margins aren’t that high, especially with dishes like the Duck Confit. They even have have budget meals priced at S$3.20!
Whenever I’m in the area, rest assured I will support Style Palate as their food is worth the commute if you are looking for bistro quality European dishes priced for a hawker centre.
Expected Damage: S$6 – S$15 per pax
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