Chef-owner Peter Smit talks dirty with his incisive and flavour-centric nose-to-tail culinary approach at Dirty Supper and Dirty Sips.
It’s not that Chef Peter Smit isn’t into sustainability. The whole animal cooking advocate is simply looking to extract every inch of flavour from the animal he is rendering down.
“We use up one whole sheep each week here at Dirty Supper,” Chef Peter, the chef-owner of Dirty Supper, tells us. “And we employ every bit of the animal, making everything from chops to sauces.” That goes for any produce coming through his kitchen doors: all manner of seafood, meat, and even vegetables.
Minimal waste is simply a very welcome byproduct of that flavour-forward ethos. Even if he has to dirty his hands in the process.
Once a pop-up supper club, Chef Peter found a permanent home for Dirty Supper partnering hospitality outfit Unlisted Collection and taking over the space that used to be modern Japanese izakaya Bincho in Tiong Bahru. And like its predecessor, the dual-concept venue continues to operate as humble old-school coffee shop Hua Bee Restaurant dishing out fishball noodles by day. But come evening, the space turns grungy and dystopian, with just a warm neon glow lighting your dining and drinking experience.
Chef Pete puts his considerable experience – the native Australian was at Adrift by David Myers in Marina Bay Sands, No Sleep Club and, most recently, Underdog Inn here in Singapore, but also has served stints at in restaurants across Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom – turning those random bits and bobs into scrumptious creations.
We loved Pig Head Nugget, which sees every edible bit of the pig’s head meticulously hand-picked, formed into batons and then battered and fried into fritters that comes drizzled with a delectable anchovy cream. Likewise with Smoked Mackerel, Fried Chicken Skin, where a crunchy and savoury mille-feuille made from fried chicken skin laboriously stacked together that comes topped with a chunk of smoked mackerel for a texture and flavour bomb.
The Lamb Tartare – one of the key dishes responsible for Dirty Supper going through an entire carcass a week – is a must-order if you’re not too squeamish about raw eats. It comes well seasoned to overcome any gaminess, with some pickled chilli for a touch of heat and acidity that helps to cut through the lamb’s inherent richness. The crisps for your tartare, your server will kindly inform you, is rendered from animal tendon, fried till they are airily and shatteringly crisp.
And we don’t often say this, but make sure you order the Sourdough, because the accompanying sourdough ‘vegemite’ butter – yes, there’s some spent bread yeast in there – is so flavour-laden you’ll endeavour to swipe every last smear of it onto your toast.
The back room of Dirty Supper is home to Dirty Sips, its dive-y cocktail bar component helmed by seasoned bartender Russell Cardoza. Here you’ll find a small but inventive list of cocktails created with the same philosophy that drive the kitchen; food scraps that could have been thrown away – citrus rinds, vegetable off-cuts, and even animal fat – have been squeezed for every ounce of flavour and turned into delicious drinks.
The refreshing Apple Highball, for example, is a whisky highball made with fresh-pressed juice from apple scraps, while the bracingly-strong Pickled Lemon Martini employs brine from the kitchen’s pickling of lemons for wonderful acidity.
And the fat, you wonder? It’s used in the Dirty Boulevardier, employed in the fat-washing of the bourbon to give the cocktail a lovely rounded, creamy texture.
At one point, Chef Peter appears with a small saucer. “I’m experimenting making kimchi with (ugly) strawberries that I may serve as a condiment for a new dish. It can possibly be used in a cocktail as well.”
“Would you like to try some?”
[Photo credits: Dirty Supper | Unlisted Collection]
Dirty Supper
Address 78 Moh Guan Terrace, #01-19, Singapore 162078 (Google Maps link)
Opening Hours 5pm to 12am on Mondays; 3pm to 12am Tuesdays to Saturdays; closed on Sundays
Tel (65) 6438 4567
Web dirtysupper.com.sg
Facebook dirtysupper
Instagram @thedirtysupper
Reservations book here
Follow us on Telegram to get updated on events and other spirited announcements!
