The Station Kitchen – 3-in-1 Restaurant

st James power station is the newest clubbing hotspot in town. Opened only in mid December last year, it had been refurbished from an old power station. But that’s not it. This power station is also Singapore’s first coal-powered power plant and was built in 1927! That’s quite a bit of history isn’t it?

Located at the Sentosa gateway and across from VivoCity, the largest shopping mall in Singapore, this formerly functioning power station is now home to nine different clubs and bars.

I wonder if party-goers know that there is also a restaurant over here, called “the station kitchen”. It is managed by the breadtalk folks and houses three kinds of cuisines and concepts. There is the din tai fung noodle bar (chinese food), “what you do” prata stall (indian food) and charcoal (taiwanese grill).

At what you do prata, the Indian chef whips up a range of curries and gravies that look really tantalising. I love Indian food, so naturally I was very tempted!

Chicken Masala
SGD4.50+++

Instead of having some good ol’ roti prata, I went for the chicken masala. I had really high expectations because the Indian chef looked as though he was really good at what he did! But the chicken turned out looking much better than it tasted. “masala” means a mixture of many spices, but the masala sauce certainly didn’t excite.

Briyani Rice
SGD2+++

Of course, if you had all that gravy, you would want something else to go along. Ideally I would have naan but they didn’t have any so I had briyani rice instead. Once again, it was blah and tasted monotonous. A good briyani rice ought to be some nicely spiced basmati rice, well-cooked and firm to the bite. Disappointingly, the one here just didn’t make the cut.

Teh Halia (Ginger Tea)
SGD2.90+++

Still, I loved the teh halia. teh halia is teh tarik (“pulled” tea) with ginger juice added. The first time I ever had teh halia, I found the taste a little odd. But after subsequent times I was hooked! This, and masala tea (spicy tea) too.

At the din tai fung noodle bar, Chinese chefs made noodles on the spot. This is done by repeatedly pulling and stretching the dough by hand. Each time someone places an order, the guy would start doing his thing, hence guaranteeing that every bowl of noodles is made fresh!

Noodle with Minced Pork in Bean Sauce
SGD8+++

I don’t eat pork but I did get a taste of the hand-made noodle — firm and smooth, springy and cooked to perfection. Very nice! The bean sauce was delightful.

So that’s two out of three. The last part of the station kitchen — charcoal — didn’t really appeal to me much. A major part of the charcoal concept means that you get/have to cook your own food, which doesn’t exactly appeal to me.

Even though the station kitchen may not be that fantastic, party-goers are sure to throng this place after dark as it’s probably the only eating place in the same area that opens until 5am. Under its management, which has a successful and proven track record in breadtalk, din tai fung and food republic, the station kitchen would certainly be around for a long time.

The Station Kitchen
St James Power Station
3 Sentosa Gateway #01-11/15
Singapore 098544
(65) 6376 8085
Service: