Jack Marzoni's

One of the establishments that we got to learn about its existence via social media pretty recently is that of Jack Marzoni’s — Jack Marzoni’s is a really recent addition to the Kampong Glam neighbourhood. Located slightly away from all that which is happening at the crowded North Bridge Road, Haji Lane, Arab Street and Bali Lane areas, Jack Marzoni’s is hidden at 7 Jalan Pisang; one of the side roads that also leads straight out to Victoria Street on the other end. 7 Jalan Pisang used to be the unit which housed Lina’s Cafe — it does seem like the folks at Jack Marzoni’s did do some work to the space after moving into the shop unit. Adopting an open concept kitchen for the space, the kitchen and counter is pushed as far as back as it can be within the shophouse unit it occupies — this leaves the front of the space pretty much an area that is meant for dine-in seatings. The entire space features a wall that is painted in a dual tone of turquoise and white; the wall also featuring that of nostalgic old-school posters stuck on some areas as well. The dine-in seating comprises of both bar stools with high tables facing the wall and normal dining tables and chairs; the majority of seats does comprise of the latter. Jack Marzoni’s is a Muslim-owned establishment; the menu is split across sections that are dedicated to sides, sandwiches and drinks — the drinks section comprising of items such as bottled beverages, coffee and Korean tea.

One thing that is definitely certain when one skims through the menu of Jack Marzoni’s; the establishment definitely has a focus on their sandwich offerings — there really are no non-sandwich items being listed on the menu at Jack Marzoni’s in terms of main courses here. After going through the various items which they have to offer at Jack Marzoni’s, we thought that it would be good to give their “Ayam Bakar” Sandwich a try; the “Ayam Bakar” Sandwich being a rather interesting offering against the rest considering its Asian fusion nature — the sandwich being described on the menu to come with elements such as seared dark soy chicken breast, turkey bacon, cream cheese, spicy mango chimichurri, cheddar scrambled eggs and pickled salad. All sandwiches are made upon order at Jack Marzoni’s; hence, do expect some waiting time involved for the order to be served up to the table. On first impression, the “Ayam Bakar” Sandwich does look substantially sized; the presentation does also somewhat resembles that of the sandwiches that used to be served up at the now-defunct Park Bench Deli considering how neat the cross-section looked. Sinking our teeth into the “Ayam Bakar” Sandwich, the first thing that came to us was how incredibly soft and fluffy the sandwich bread was. Turns out that Jack Marzoni’s didn’t really do much with the bread here; the bread coming with a texture almost similar to that of Foccacia that is light and easy to bite without much of a tension and being rather airy — this actually makes the sandwich rather manageable to have despite its hefty looks.

As we went deeper with the sandwich, the next element that one would hit would be the cream cheese and the cheddar scrambled eggs; there wasn’t a very evident saltish note that came with the cheddar scrambled eggs from the addition of cheese into it. That being said, the scrambled eggs here are moist still somewhat runny; the cream cheese helping to add a bit of volume and do gel it with the other elements here like the bread and the seared dark soy sauce chicken breast — though it would also be the only element that made the sandwich feel a little more heavier overall for us. We really were rather impressed with the seared dark soy sauce chicken breast — considering how Ayam Bakar is a dish where one would typically find grilled chicken with Kecap Manis being drenched all other top, we were glad that they stuck with a pan-seared chicken breast rather than a slab of fried chicken slathered in Kecap Manis instead. The sweet and earthy notes from the molasses of the Kecap Manis could be easily detected here; replicates that of the traditional Ayam Bakar that we are familiar with, whilst also coming with an evident note of lemongrass that was rather refreshing and kept helped to cut through the heavier tasting elements here. Don’t really feel that the spicy mango chimichurri was an element that was evident to be described, though the pickled salad was similar to that usually served in a Banh Mi — strips of pickled radish and carrots that came with a tanginess that resets the tastebuds and gave a good crunch. One thing about the “Ayam Bakar” Sandwich is that it is best to be had when still hot — the item gets significantly more jelak after one leaves it sitting around for a while since elements like the chicken breast inherently turns tougher when it cools down.

We also tried the Dough Balls with Date Dip — good for dessert considering how these are chewy dough balls that are dusted with icing sugar; chewing into them reveals somewhat of a moist, custard-esque interior that comes with just a very mild hint of sweetness. Dipping them into the Date Dip helped give it another dimension of fruity sweetness; one that was almost akin to dunking them into fruit jam. Interestingly, the Hot Coffee at Jack Marzoni’s is actually drip coffee; one with a light and fruity body that came with a clean finish that was easy to drink. Overall, Jack Marzoni’s definitely surpassed our expectations; we hadn’t quite seen Ayam Bakar being an element infused with other dishes and the “Ayam Bakar” Sandwich was an eye-opening dish — something that was actually well-designed even that went surprisingly well together. From how the sandwiches are presented, it does seem that Jack Marzoni’s had placed quite a lot of effort and time into trying to perfect every single dish be it in the form of execution and plating — all that to bring their very best to the patrons. The savoury sandwiches at Jack Marzoni’s are well-priced; the lowest priced will be the Oyster Mushroom Sandwich listed at $11.90 while the priciest would be the Tongue & Cheek Sandwich / Salmon Sandwich at $16.90. With reasonable prices and a good quality of food to boast, Jack Marzoni’s is a spot that is worth making the trip at least once to see what they are all about!