How many times have you made the pilgrimage to Gillman Barracks for a meal at The Naked Finn only to be turned back to civilisation because it’s packed to the brim and then some? Well, now there'll hopefully be less of that as Ken Loon's seafood-geeky restaurant moves to a bigger, 60-seat spot just a crab walk away at the Barracks' Block 39.
At the new space, Loon's installed a depuration tank from Italy – a tank filled with seawater that cleans the seafood before they're cooked – and an indoor vertical garden to scale back on the raw concrete and wood edges of the restaurant's former premises. The menu, however, continues to reflect the same less-is-more approach to cooking up carefully sourced sea life and fat-speckled Iberian pork, with the addition of A4 grade Hida wagyu ($98/150-180g striploin, $48/150-180g top sirloin cap) joining the line-up of dishes served by The Naked Finn. Cleaved out of black-haired cows bred in Japan’s Gifu Prefecture, the marbled cut is seared simply and served with a drizzle of house made ponzu sauce.
Over at The Naked Finn's original shack-like space, works are underway to carve out Loon's brand new bar, Nekkid. Planned for an early-May opening, Nekkid angles itself as a casual neighbourhood joint, but with good cocktails ($20 and less) – classic mixed and sorbet-based drinks that previously accompanied the food at its predecessor. A lean menu of small plates ($8-$10) also bears the same clean execution, and changes daily depending on the ingredients the kitchen team manages to source for the day.