The Elephant Room Launches New Menu Celebrating Little India
What defines Little India? Many would assume fish head curry and spicy cuisines, but The Elephant Room, located within the bustling Keong Saik enclave, wants to change all that. Owner-head bartender Yugnes Susela is determined to continue pushing boundaries on every front, and does so with their new V3.0 menu. Featuring 14 new cocktails, each priced at S$24++, the new menu continues to spotlight Indian flavours and spirits, combined with immaculate techniques to tease out the ingredients’ best flavours through processes like fermentation and rotary evaporation. This is something that The Elephant Room is great at, using only alcohol and spirits from India and crafting drinks using South Asian spices and infusions.
“When people think about Little India, they often associate the place with Mustafa Centre or Race Course Road’s famous fish head curry, but there is so much more to understand, learn and uncover about this treasured district which is steeped in history. With our latest menu, we’ve delved deeper into what Little India is really all about – what the area was like in the 18th century, how the place came to be, the origins of some of the roads, and more. Apart from sharing Little India’s colourful past with our guests, my team and I are also really excited for guests to try our new creations, which we believe are some of our best yet,” shares Mr Susela.
The drinks highlight the history of Little India and landmarks, and thus uses ingredients that highlight those aspects. Taste Race Course Plantation, inspired by the old landscapes of Race Course Road, or Ayurveda, inspired by its namesake, made with fruits and herbs commonly used in Ayurveda practice including pickled gooseberry and 10-day lacto-fermented grapes. For something light, refreshing and clean tasting, try Buffalo Road, which pays homage to the road located at the mouth of Little India, comprising housemade pink guava distillate made from pink guavas sourced from Buffalo Road. Other notable highlights include Ghee/Achar, prepared using ghee that has been distilled with Smoke Lab Vodka to give the spirit a clean yet creamy and velvety feel, served with delicious achar jelly cubes; and Goldsmith, created with jackfruit to emulate the rich, gold tones of the trade, along with saffron, a prized commodity which complements the fruity distillate.
