Magma German Wine Bistro

One of us was craving for German food and off to Magma we went for dinner! We had first known about Magma through the 2010 Restaurant Week and had also walked past Magma once during one of our food hunts. It’s a relatively easy place to find, a few shop houses from Oso Ristorante and just across the road from Pinnacle @ Duxton. The place adopted an open kitchen concept, so we could hear and see the chef preparing the food.

The first dish to arrive – Pan fried female wild boar. This turned out to be one of the more outstanding dishes of the night. The piece of wild boar was hidden below a heap of mushrooms. The meat was tender and flavourful, but was a rather small piece. The potato croquettes weren’t exactly like what we normally have at other restaurants; the center of the croquette was jelly-like. But the main highlight was the sauce! The sauce, in my opinion, tasted a little too salty on its own. But when eaten together with the croquettes, mushroom and meat, the sauce tasted superb! Too bad we didn’t have bread to dip in the sauce, it would have been nice.

And how can we miss out on Germany’s signature food – Pork Knuckles. There were 5 choices for us to choose from: roasted Bavarian, boiled Berlin, roasted honey, garlic or chili. We chose the conventional Bavarian roasted. A rather small knuckle, as compared to the one we had at Brotzeit. Nothing too fantastic or bad about the knuckle. But the skin was sure tough to cut through, let alone chew and swallow. The meat was tender, but only at certain areas. Flavour wise, they could have done a better job in masking the pork taste.

Main dishes aside, we had the following starters to share. We had the “Salad Frederick II” with potato, fine beans, bacon & capers. It was a huge portion, but reasonable for the price you pay. We don’t normally order salads when we’re out. The only other time we did was when we ate at PS Cafe @ Dempsey. Well, I guess the salad at Magma is nicer. As a potato lover, I give the potatoes in the salad 2 thumbs up! And guess out of the party of 6, I was the one who silently stole all the potatoes *oops*. The potatoes were not too hard, nor soft, it was slightly salty, with a very nice smell. I couldn’t really put my finger down to why the potatoes tasted great, but the bottomline is they were great! I could eat an entire plate of such potatoes without getting sick *yummy*!

The biggest disappointment of the night was the Flammkuchen. The description on the menu read “crispy”. But there was nothing crispy about it. The crust was not crispy, but kind of soggy, which didn’t go too well with me. The cheese didn’t taste strong and salty enough, there was barely any taste, not flavourful enough for our liking. They could also do a better job in beautifying the pizza. This is our first try at German pizza, and let’s just say that I still prefer the good old Italian versions.

Sausages were another German specialty. We tried the Berliner Currywurst. Firstly, I didn’t quite like the bread. It wasn’t the fluffy kind of bread that I like. Rather, it felt like it was soaked in water. The currywurst was nothing fantastic, typical curry sausages which one could get from Swiss Butchery. There wasn’t any hint of curry flavour in the gravy, rather it tasted more like a tomato-based sauce. So far, we have had sausages at Brotzeit, Al Borgo and now, Magma. And honestly, there isn’t any that impressed us. The search for authentic German sausages continues…

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Had dinner with LSD and a few other makan khakis at Magma German Wine Bistro. As the name suggests, it serves German food. Heard about this place quite some time back through some TV Chinese variety show so after much postponement, we finally got down to it on a wet Friday evening.

Magma occupies 2 units right at the start of Bukit Pasoh Road. Locating it proved to be a problem as it was discreetly hidden from view with no outstanding features or signs. But find it and you will be welcomed into a cosy and homely dining area with an open kitchen concept and racks of wine bottles. Though sparsely finished, the restaurant exudes warmth (literally as well. It was a little warm that day) and makes you feel right at home. They could do with bigger tables though. It was honestly a little cramp, which hampered eating and relaxed conversation quite a bit.

Wurstplatte mit 5 oder Wursten - Sausage Platter with 5 Sausages - We started off with the sausage platter consisting of 5 different types of sausages. Frankly, I probably have only eaten 2 or 3 of the varieties that were served, so I pretty much can't identify any of them except for one which was Cheese Sausage. Overall a rather pleasing dish with the sausages being crunchy and not too pressing.

Kasseler, Knoblauch und Sauerkraut - Smoked Pork Loin, Garlic and Sauerkraut Pizza - Interestingly, the German's do their pizza differently. Sour cream is added in place of cheese or tomato sauce. Our Kasseler, Knoblauch und Sauerkraut came with generous toppings of Sauerkraut and had this garlicky taste although I couldn't detect any visible signs of garlic. The crust was amazingly thin (I certainly didn't expect such a thin crust from a German restaurant) and the pork loin was relatively well smoked, trapping in the smoky flavours. A unique dish, but I personally found the Sauerkraut topping a little too overwhelming.

Gemischte Schlachtplatte fur 3 Personen - Mixed Butcher's Platter of all our Pork Specialities for 3 Persons - Words escape me when I try to describe the platter that was set before us. Humongous would probably come close. Just staring at the all pork dish sent shivers down my spine. I really couldn't imagine eating that. Well, we did anyway. I would very much like to go into details about the various cuts and items in the platter, but that would take too much time (there are about 8 different items?) and I honestly can't remember whats what. Only thing I can remember is the Pork Knuckle, which did seem a little too soft with the skin not being as crispy as I would have liked it (read my entry on ABOF for good pork with crackling skin). Overall, the whole dish tended towards the salty side. Actually, all the dishes were a little too heavy on the salt, not just this one.

Gebackene Apfelscheiben mit Zimthonig - Baked Apple Slices in Puff Pastry with Honey and Cinnamon. - Ever wondered how Goreng Pisang with apple instead of banana would taste like? Well, this is your answer. A very interesting rendition of the conventional Apple Pie. The honey added a sweet twist to the dish but I couldn't quite make out the taste from the cinnamon powder. Also, the apple slices had their citrus flavour removed which was probably for the better.

Baked Cheese stuffed with Gooseberries - I'm just guessing the name of this dish because its a daily special and not anywhere in the menu, so please forgive me if I get it wrong. Another very interesting dish. The whole thing actually tastes like pudding with a slight cheesy aftertaste, very much like the cheesecake kind of cheesy and not the right in your face kind. But I didn't think too much of it as it got quite sick after too much, probably due to the soft and wet cake like pastry.

Chocolate Mousse - Interestingly, the Chocolate Mousse had but a faint resemblance to the normal ones you can get outside. There were 2 scoops(or is it moulds?) of Chocolate Mousse, one White Chocolate and one Dark Chocolate, sitting on a bed of Marzipan sauce. In all honesty, the White Chocolate Mousse didn't quite taste like White Chocolate. Instead it tasted creamy and had this mild spicy aftertaste. But as with the Chocolate Mousse, the texture was smooth and thick. From our conversation with the waiter later, the spiciness behind the White Chocolate Mousse was attributed to the type of Chocolate used

We chalked up a bill of $173.66 for a filling dinner for 6 pax. The general consensus is that its genuinely value for money. The food is of above average quality and service is great and the waiters actually know what they are talking about with regard to the food. The place could do with bigger tables(mentioned earlier) and a slightly better ventilation system because the open concept kitchen isn't seperated by a glass panel. Also, it would be nice if the food adopted a lower salt policy. That aside, a revisit is on the cards.

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