Shashlik

Shashlik Restaurant - enduring and timeless

Food

Service

Atmosphere

Shashlik is a restaurant serving Russian and continental cuisine in Singapore since the 80s with Hainanese waiters.  It’s been many years since I was last there, and when I went back at the end of December 2008 with my family, it was as if time had stood still.  The décor is still the same from the 80s with lots of ambience (read very dim lighting), and the old Hainanese waiters are still there (though now fortified with a few younger staff).  I recall the waiters as being surly, but the passage of time has mellowed them somewhat.

The Borshch soup is one of its signature dishes, and it’s a must try and really delicious!  It has chunks of beef, carrots, potato and cabbage and, topped off with sour cream, is extremely flavourful.  It is served old-style; the waitress trundles a trolley with the soup tureen to your table, ladles the soup into bowls, and plonks in a generous serving of sour cream.

The beef or chicken shashlik (meat and vegetables on skewers) is another signature dish, grilled and served sizzling on a hotplate with more vegetables.  The vegetables were forgettable.  The kids had the beef shashlik, and it was as tender, juicy and succulent as I remembered. I had the Tournedos Rossini, which was steak topped off with foie gras.  The steak was juicy and tender, but there wasn't much foie gras… and the greens, also forgettable.

Shashlik is also famous for the Baked Alaska; sponge cake layered with ice cream and meringue (or cream), and flambed.  Unfortunately it was not available that night, so we settled for Bliny with brandy butter sauce, and a Banana flambé.  Both desserts are prepared next to your table as well, with the flambé always a treat for the kids to watch.  

We went on a weekday night, and it was at least 2/3 full; it has a faithful following of regulars.  No wonder, I would return too, service notwithstanding, for the Borshch and shashlik, and I must have that Baked Alaska…