Everyone loves their comfort food, and Work In Progress (WIP) at the Dutch Hospital Shopping Precinct serves incredibly tasty and flavour-packed dishes, each one with a different comfort food tag to it. The restaurant has revamped their menu, adding lots of new dishes whilst keeping a few favourites from the previous menu, under the supervision of Chef Mouaz. The menu includes six sections – tapas/bites, greens, burgers and sandwiches, mains, side dishes and desserts.

The tapas section is rather interesting and features a variety of tasty and filling dishes such as nachos with guacamole, potato wedges, tempura prawns, spare ribs, and marinated cuttlefish. Delving into the tapas, I sampled the nachos first, and quite appreciated the flavours present in the guacamole and salsa, each of which was beautifully paired with the crispy fried tortilla wraps.

Next, the cuttlefish – marinated with salt, pepper and lime and served with a delicious chillie mayo dip. The spiciness of the dip added an interesting flavour to the cuttlefish which would’ve proven to be a bit bland otherwise. The WIP wedges consists of fat, crispy potato wedges made fresh at the restaurant kitchen everyday, and served with tomato ketchup. The tempura prawns were another favourite of mine from the tapas section, and they were accompanied by a sweet pineapple dip.

Moving on to the mains, WIP has kept a few favourites from the old menu and this includes the chicken schnitzel, fish and chips, nasi goreng and the pork knuckle. There are more dishes to choose from, and this includes rice, pasta, burgers and sandwiches. I picked the grilled Sri Lankan spiced lagoon prawns served with a mound of yellow garlic rice and a side salad consisting of sliced carrot, cucumber and bell peppers in a vinaigrette dressing. The lagoon prawns were bathed in a rich, creamy tomato sauce and packed a punch when paired with the garlic rice – fluffy, warm and delicious.

The nasi goreng – a customer favourite at WIP consists of rice cooked in a dark soy sauce with chicken and prawn, and served with chicken skewers with peanut sauce, pickled vegetables and prawn crackers. If you like schnitzel, the chicken schnitzel with a hearty serving of potato salad is an essential comfort food dish. The crumb fried schnitzel is crispy, while the potato salad includes onions, gherkins (yum!), parsley, capers, mayonnaise and a German mustard dressing.

Finally dessert! It’s safe to say that after having stuffed my face silly with the tapas and sampling a few of the mains, I really cannot breathe but who says no to dessert? The baked cheesecake I’ve picked is served with a gleaming red cherry topping is a wonderful choice, as the cheesecake is soft and melts in your mouth. It is also available with a blueberry topping.

Work In Progress at the Dutch Hospital Shopping Precinct is open everyday from 11AM-11PM, and includes a rather extensive beverage menu which includes everything from juices, mocktails, cocktails, iced tea, and a range of hot and cold beverages.

By Sarah Kellapatha
Photos by Kushan Pathiraja