Food Picks: Scaled by Ah Hua Kelong focuses on grilled seafood at new restaurant Smolder in Outram
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
(Clockwise from left) Whole grilled fish – seabass, snapper and pearl grouper, Portuguese Seafood Stew and Blackened Seabass.
PHOTOS: SMOLDER
Follow topic:
SINGAPORE – Since 2014, digital marketeer-turned-seafood farmer and F&B entrepreneur Wong Jing Kai, 36, has been championing home-grown seafood from local fish farm Ah Hua Kelong.
In 2017, he founded seafood restaurant Scaled by Ah Hua Kelong in Haji Lane, now located in Hamilton Road. He continues his mission at the new Smolder, launched in Outram Road on Aug 15.
The 90-seat restaurant – awash in terracotta hues – focuses on fresh, grilled seafood, as its name suggests.
Whole grilled fish from the kelong – seabass ($58), snapper ($68) and pearl grouper ($85) – are the stars here. Each order comes with a choice of two small plates of veggie accompaniments and housemade chilli.
If you are looking to shell out, whole Boston lobster and Alaskan king crab legs – at seasonal pricing – are available too.
Other seafood-forward mains include Blackened Seabass ($25), where the fish is crusted with Cajun spices and served with corn salad; Grilled Snapper Escovitch ($30), Smolder’s take on the Jamaican dish, with pickled vegetables, chilli and “dirty” rice; and Portuguese Seafood Stew ($25), with wild-caught green-lipped mussels, clams and prawns simmered with pork belly in a tangy tomato-based stew.
Side dishes include Stuffed Squid ($15), with a prawn, bacon and “dirty” rice stuffing; Elote ($9), Mexican-style grilled corn; and Zucchini & Parmesan Fritters ($10).
Signature cocktails ($26 each) are available, some with non-alcoholic versions at $14.
Where: Smolder, 271 Outram Road @smolder.sg
MRT: Tiong Bahru/Havelock
Open: 5 to 11pm (Tuesdays to Thursdays), noon to 2.30pm, 5pm to 1am (Fridays to Sundays); closed on Mondays
Info: Go to
