I love the new sign / logo. Maybe you need to know Tippling Club to know why I love it so? The flower of the ‘o’ of Noka has Tippling Club’s logo in there making it look like the stamen of the flower. This is Chef Ryan’s quirkiness coming out again with the horizontal line being the menu and the vertical lines being food and wine pairings… GENIUS!!!
Could this be the best Japanese food on Red Dot? I think it could be. Chef Ryan Clift has always been influenced by Japanese fair and ingredients and I love this new concept of his and we simply had to visit and complete a feed and a Noka by Tippling Club Review in 2022.
You kind of think… Funan Mall??? Why Funan Mall??? Funan is more ‘mall food styles’ where Chef Ryan Clift is exquisite and quirky fine dining, up there in the $ (but you absolutely get what you pay for). But, when you get to the 7th floor you realise it is the rooftop, and it is neighbours with an incredible rooftop urban farm with fresh herbs and vegetables galore. What a superb partnership.
Ryan Clift, chef and owner of Noka by Tippling Club, has created a style of contemporary Japanese cuisine that is lighthearted, fresh, and playful. The dining experience is elevated to the level of theatrical performance through their plating, and some of the table-side serving, like the video of the pork belly, as a result. The food is just so fresh and plated to perfection. We went al la carte this day because the Omakase menu is too loaded with our piscatorial friends for Jude Jude and me, but what an al la carte menu they have on offer as you will see below.
Noka by Tippling Club is a must-try for you if you like Japanese food Singapore, but it is not the same old run-of-the-mill Japanese food that you’ll sometimes eat. This is up there with a new lens on style and pairing of ingredients and booze!!! Hail the new Emporer of Japanese cuisine, Chef Ryan Clift!!!
The interior of Noka by Tippling Club has such clean lines and is so airy and light (although bring a top as it was on the chilly side). We had this fantastic sofa seat, but you could also sit at the counter-top to watch the chef action. That’s so very Tippling Club.
And then you walk outside to greenery. Smack back in the middle of an urban area is their neighbour, an urban farm. I wonder if this is where my local produce is sourced from when I buy my Singaporean-grown mushrooms.
Noka by Tippling Club 2022 Menu
The 2022 menu at Noka by Tippling Club is a belter and just an incredible demonstration of how Japanese food could be. It’s simple by the number of options, but complex at the same time with those ingredients. For those not piscatorially inclined it has a great balance of other options. On occasion, you might need to get Google to help you with a few of the items on the Noka by Tippling Club menu, but trust me all work in such balance and harmony. It really is up there as one of my favourite Japanese restaurant menus on Singapore.
Let's hear from Chef Ryan Clift & the crew at Noka by Tippling Club
"Modern with a side of quirky; Stamping the menu with Tippling Club’s brand of playful gastronomy, NOKA by Tippling Club turns Japanese cuisine on its head into an innovative ingredient-focused dining experience. One that still undertakes a profound love and appreciation for Japanese produce and provenance. Fuelled by a fascination with Japan’s produce, dishes at NOKA are refreshingly romantic and fun. It’s us singing praises of ingredients through elevated creations. With a focus on seasonality and pure Japanese produce, the mantra remains: bring to life existing flavours instead of masking them. The art of minimalism as a guide. The attention to detail as a compass."
Some of the outstanding dishes today
When someone says this has been sous vide for 36 hours you just know something is going to be rather special. Not that I like sous vide, but rather the low and slow approach of cooking. And yes, this pork belly was just up there with the gods of pork belly. You even have a table-side serve of some dressing (which I have completely forgotten what it was). This is touch and fall apart, fatty, ever so unctuous and just delectable pork belly. Kagoshima pork belly, dashi noodles & fermented cucumber.
Saving the biggest of the servings to last is this umami big boy. Woof!!! OK, Moo!!! What a steak. Touched by the flame, but such a perfect char and smoke for this butter-steak. I call it that because you put it in your mouth and it melts. Then you see this beauty of a Burrata cheese topped with blanched Japanese Fruit Tomato and hiding a secret Kampot black pepper paste to jazz it all up. Add to that the crisp fresh salad with a beauty of a mustard salad dressing. I did ask for a little salt for the steak, it’s a me thing with steak especially with Wagyu. This was lusciousness!!! A5 Kagoshima wagyu sirloin, burrata, fruit tomato, mizuna salad.
I am just going to give this a WOW and massive thumbs up. You’ll probably cringe when I tell you the price of this for one tomato, but believe me this is a tomato on steroids for flavour. And then try it with a little salt and you’ll likely fall off your chair with just how insanely good a tomato can taste. Japanese fruit tomato, sea salt.
Another one I simply cannot comment on I am afraid, apart from how absolutely divine that looks plated up. Uni on toast, nukazuke morokyu, oba chimichurri, fermented green kombu hot sauce. It disappeared and I was very lucky to get a photo before it did. Wifey calls out the freshness of everything, in between chomping.
Our conclusions of Noka by Tippling Club
It has to be called out that it is up there on the $$ at $500+ for the three of us for lunch today, but I’ll caveat that was our choice through what we ordered. And we ordered top-end of town. How could we not when you start to thumb through that menu.
A special shout to the staff at Noka by Tippling Club as exceptional. They were so friendly, engaging and really knew their product on offer to the nth degree. They made it such a pleasure to dine here – worth noting @ChefRyan and #BeProud.
We sat on the most comfortable seating for lunch today, so comfortable you kind of regretted it when the server came over to say they were closing, because we had literally put roots down.
Noka by Tippling Club is now our family favourite and best Japanese restaurant in Singapore. It is truly wonderful. You cannot beat the freshness of the ingredients, the plating is to die for, it’s literally art, and the flavours take you on a food journey to heaven and back. It’s first class all the way on that journey.
Chef Ryan Clift and his ever growing crew always rock my foodie world, and long may that continue. Next it’s a trip to Bali in October to visit The Cave by Tippling Club, something I just can’t wait for. Bring it on!!!
Arigatō gozaimashita Emporer Ryan Clift.
To read the full Noka by Tippling Club 2022 review including all the food pics, please visit here
