Heard all about the new Tilly’s that had recently sprouted up at East Coast Road — the establishment had recently taken over the former premises of the now-defunct Rabbit Carrot Gun that occupies the corner shophouse unit where other F&B establishments such as Cheeky Bee Hoon 麒记米粉, Lazy Sloth & Drunken Sloth and Baker's Well are also located. One could also say that Tilly’s is a spiritual successor to what Rabbit Carrot Gun was to the Katong neighbourhood, considering how Tilly’s is also positioned as an Irish bar — Tilly’s is a concept by Chef Andrew Walsh, whom is also the chef owner of Cure that is situated at Keong Saik Road. The shop space at Tilly’s had seen a bit of a refresh from its days being Lime House — the entire shophouse does seem to have been repainted in brighter colours, while the interior of the shop house is painted in a shade of cool mint; definitely a brighter look than what it was previously. There are a mix of high tables and high chairs with bar counter for the dine-in seating; proper dine-in seats featuring dining chairs and tables can also be found lined up around the five foot way outside of the establishment — great for those whom prefer to dine outdoors. Being an Irish Bar at heart, the menu is split into sections comprising of Small Plates, Large Plates, Sides, Sweets and Sunday Roasts — one can expect classic British bar fare such as that of the Tilly's Scotch Egg with Brown Sauce, Beer Battered Fish & Chips, Mushy Peas and Beef & Guinness Pot Pie With Mash being served at Tilly’s. For beverages, Tilly’s does offer quite a wide selection of alcoholic beverages — think the likes of cocktails, whiskies, liqueurs & aperitifs, beers and wines to choose from. Non-alcoholic beverages listed in the beverage menu of Tilly’s include soft drinks, tonic water, soda water, Red Bull and ginger ale; just to name a few.

Skimming through the menu on the variety of dishes which they have to offer, we found ourselves settling for just one Small Plate, one Large Plate and one Dessert item to share. For our choice of the Large Plate, we went with the Pork Sausage Toad in the Hole Pudding — the item most certainly stood out from the other items listed in the Large Plates section of the menu considering it was a little bit more common to find items such as the Beer Battered Fish & Chips, Mushy Peas and Beef & Guinness Pot Pie With Mash around the island. Tilly’s does not describe about the elements that is being featured in the Pork Sausage Toad in the Hole Pudding; that being said, we did observe that the Pork Sausage Toad in the Hole Pudding that was being served to us sees a pudding that is similar to that of a Yorkshire pudding that is being served in a griddle that is typically used to prepare Dutch baby pancakes. Sitting atop the Yorkshire pudding will be two pork sausages, while the item does come with peas and a brown sauce on the side. The way to enjoy this dish is to slice up some of the pudding along with the sausage before pouring the brown sauce over the top to have them all at one go. Considering how the Yorkshire pudding is served on top of the griddle, the item is best to be had when it is first served on the table — the Yorkshire pudding is airy and spongy; almost akin to that of a puff pastry with a bit more bounce. We also noticed the addition of cheese in the middle that gave it a texture and flavour similar to Pão de queijo (i.e. Brazilian Cheese Bread). It does get considerably drier from the heat of the griddle when one leaves the item alone for a while, though the savoury brown sauce that comes with a balanced flavour from what seemed to be chicken stock helps to provide some moisture to the pudding. The pork sausages do feel pretty artisanal here — the meat itself was tightly packed whilst crumbly — does not come with the bounciness from commercially-made sausages, and were not too salty as well. The peas came with a good bite; itself carrying its inherent “green” taste though does come mixed in a refreshing sauce that added some tang — a good accompaniment to the Pork Sausage Toad in the Hole Pudding.

Having tried a few items during our visit to Tilly’s, we must say that we were left rather impressed with the dishes that we had went for during our visit there on a weekend dinner service. Apart from the Pork Sausage Toad in the Hole Pudding, we also went for the Tilly's Scotch Egg with Brown Sauce — an item that is listed on the Small Plates section of the menu. This item is pretty much like a typical scotch eggs dish that comes with barbecue sauce on the side to compliment it. The scotch eggs came with a crisp breaded batter and not particularly greasy. One can find a layer of minced meat that is layered in between the golden brown fried batter and the egg within — we really enjoyed the egg yolk since it was done with an almost fully done, yet creamy consistency; they have also seemed to manage the overall flavours of the dish pretty well without having the dish feel overly salty as well given the composition of the dish itself. We had also went for the only dessert that is listed on the menu at Tilly’s — the dessert being the Signature Sticky Toffee Pudding, Vanilla Ice Cream which came beautifully plated with the ice-cream being stacked atop whipped cream that has been piped atop the sticky toffee pudding. The balanced sweetness and stickiness of the toffee; light fluffiness of the pudding and that aromatic note of vanilla in the ice-cream all made for a very good ending to our meal at Tilly’s. Good aside, we did wish that the service at Tilly’s good be a little bit more warm and proactive; whilst it is a new establishment in the ‘hood, it does seem that the spot is already well-patronised by expats and there were times that we felt that there was a slight difference in terms of the service quality that we had experienced at our table. That aside, Tilly’s seem to be able to deliver in terms of the quality of the food and the execution based on what we had tried — certainly a spot that has potential even when considering the saturated food scene in Katong itself; the small plates are priced at $12++, while large plates are priced between $22++ and $26++. A name to keep an eye out for in the local dining scene for sure!