Cataluyna Sunday Brunch

Brunching out (hah pun intended) from our usual hotel buffets to Cataluyna for my birthday celebration this year. 

I love the atmosphere! Lively music, happy people high on food and fizz and cheery staff dishing out great spanish food.

First up, the buffet line which had the usual cold cuts, cheese and other spanish tapas. 

Save your stomach for the other dishes. 

Such as the scrambled eggs + chorizo.

Creamy salty goodness

Bikini sandwich - crispy bread with iberico, cheese and black truffle

Ah soo good

Fresh grilled fish

One of my favourites that day - paella with langoustine. My first time eating these delicate shellfish and wow, I can't get over how fresh and sweet the flesh was. More please!

Of course, suckling pig!  Crispy skin with tender flesh and paired with the art of plate smashing as the waiters demonstrate just exactly how tender the pig was. I love Spanish festivities!

Last but not least, a trayful of deserts but we were too stuff to take more than a bit. The lemon tart was good! 

If you like Spanish food and think that the usual Sunday brunch experience can be a bit stuffy, you will love the brunch at Calaluyna. 

If not just come for the sight of the chefs + waiters dancing with a pig in their hands will surely cheer you up. 

The Fullerton Pavilion
82 Collyer Quay, Singapore 049327

6543 0886

Sabio

mmm tapas! Honestly there is no where in Singapore that can be compared to the tapas served in Spain, its not just about the food its about the whole atmosphere, the mood, the people. Try as we may, we will not be able to replicate that "siesta" feel.

Food-wise, Sabio comes up pretty well. This place is trendy, one of those places full of expats and people standing around drinking. 

Starting dinner off the only way with Sangria  (1 litre jug $46)

The Sangria was ok, could do with more fruits though

Jamon Iberico! ($25) The ham here is awesome! Must order

Oysters with red wine vinaigrette ($11 for 2). Fresh and went very well with the vinaigrette. No complains here.

And numerous other dishes. The better ones were the bone marrow which was nicely seasoned and the scallops. That sauce, so good we ordered extra bread just to mop it up.

Overall, I thought Sabio is a great place for Tapas with most of the dishes decently done and a few stand outs. Only the sangria was disappointing (well you can always pop over to the wine bar next door for drinks, which was what we did).

Next up, I would love to try Sabio by the sea. I am sure tapas taste 10x better with a touch of the Sentosa cove breeze right?

5 duxton hill

Singapore 089591

T: 6690 7562

Salt Tapas & Bar

Walked past this place a couple of times and finally decided to have dinner there one day.

Having had a good experience at Salt Grill & Sky bar, my expectations were high.

The highlight of our dinner was probably the brutally honest-in-a-weird-way waiter who stopped us from ordering further "too much food, you all cant finish" (he was right of course)  and his all too serious recommendations "if I was force to recommend something, it would be.." 

Can never not order truffle fries. Salt's rendition was pretty decent

From the 'Gardens' portion of the menu - Roasted pumpkin. I love pumpkin but this was pretty average

Calamari - good!

Paella - I've had better (why is it so hard to find good paella in Singapore!)

Baby chicken with baby spinach and celaric puree made up for the disappointing paella. So tender and sweet, perfect pairing with the spinach.

 Lastly, churros! Fat sugar/cinnamon- crusted ones with thick hot chocolate. Mmmmm

Overall more hits than miss. Quite a lovely place for tapas and good location too!

(Do come on tuesdays as happy hour is from 3pm till closing)

252, North Bridge Road
#01-22A Raffles City Shopping Centre
Singapore 179103
T: 6837 0995

Boracay Travel Diary Pt 3

A quick round up of my remaining Boracay photos

Amazing view of the entire island from the top of the viewing tower (we atv-ed to the tower)

I can never get enough of clear blue skies, the sun and that gorgeous sparkling sea

Headed to Talipapa where you can purchase fresh seafood from the wet market and ask the neighbouring restaurants to cook them for you. A bit of a touristy place I must admit but the seafood was very fresh and delicious. The oysters were darn cheap, 1kg for $2.50! In total, we spent about $120 for 7, including a couple of crabs, fishes and squid.  Remember to bargain.

Our last dinner at Dos Mestizos, a pretty decent Spanish restaurant along White Beach. The main draw was the tapas buffet! All you can eat meatballs, Spanish omelette, shrimp and about 10 other dishes.

Their squid ink paella was pretty good too.

Ended the night with some fire-dancing show and listening to the most amazing, heart-melting, sigh inducing voice at the Bom Bom Bar. This is a reggae bar with awesome atmosphere; audience singing and dancing along, a hilarious (and extremely talented band). We regretted only discovering this place on our last night.

Night life in Boracay is awesome. You will be spoilt for choices given the sheer number of bars and pubs lining white beach. Speckled along the beach are also various sources of entertainment including fire-dancing, people selling various lighted (and dancing) merchandise, entrepreneur-ing  youngsters building the most magnificent sand sculptures  (they charge if you want to get a picture!)

Boracay was a most beautiful and magical experience. Will definitely be back.

The Disgruntled Chef

Starting dinner with a lovely strawberry mojito. The version here was sweet, tangy and refreshing.

lamb shortribs, very tender and flavorful. 

Bone marrow, how would you describe the taste to someone who has never tried it?

A friend " like the gooey stuff behind the fish's eye". I dont think this will edge the unadventurous eater forward eh but the marrow here was not bad though I thought the garnishing over-powered the dish

Beef! Very juicy and I love the truffle mash. Tiny portions though

Cod fish was my favorite of the day. Nestled on a bed of warm spinach, the fish was fatty and cooked perfectly. You can hardly go wrong with cod and this was done beautifully.

I like the disgruntled chef but I thought the portions were too small and we left feeling not too satisfied. 

Starting to feel that restaurants who brand themselves as  'communal-style dining' places are really just serving up tapas size main courses, forcing diners to rake up their bill with multiple small dishes. 

Not cool.

The Disgruntled Chef
26B Dempsey Road
(Facing Tawandang MicroBrewery) 

Lolla

The best meal I had in 2012 happened only just as the year was ending. 

I love spanish food, theres something so delightful about having small plates of many many things to try. Maybe thats why I love dim sum and tapas, so much variety!

Its hard to find good tapas in Singapore despite the number of Spanish restaurants that have been sprouting; Lolla is the best that I have tried. 

Small, dark, intimate. We had a good view of the chefs putting together delicate plates of food. 

The famous squid ink pudding. We were drooling when the chef pulled out a tray of urchin and starting spooning some onto the pudding. The pudding was sublime, the single best thing I have eaten in 2012. 

The strong sea taste of the pudding paired wonderfully well with the sweet sea urchin, achieving that balance of sweet/salty/umami-ness.  If I were eating this at home, I would have probably licked the bowl clean. $19 for a tiny portion but sooo good. Must try.

Grass-fed ribeye steak, $52. Wonderfully seasoned and perfectly cooked. The meat was on the fatty side though I am sure many would love this.

Chorizo and potatoes ($16), I love any dish with a runny egg on top. 

Tuna tartare, the 2nd best dish of the night.

I love the zesty clean dressing and the tuna was pretty darn fresh. 

Donuts with lemon curd ($12)

Pretty but it was alright, I would rather stick to the savory dishes

Overall a darn good meal. Pricey (About $100/pax for the 3 of us) but worth it for the experience. 

Now if only the chairs werent so uncomfortable...

Lolla
22 Ann Siang Road
Tel: 64231228 (no reservations)

Los Primos

Tapas bars has probably been the new fab on the Singapore food scene for the past 6 months with new bars sprouting up all around our tiny island. I cant say I dont welcome this because I absolutely love Spanish cuisine.

Perhaps my expectations were too high but unfortunately, I was not impressed with Los Primos. 

What I liked:

Tender and tasty jamon, soo good but served with rock-hard bread

Roasted suckling pig was sinfully good. The crackling of the skin paired with the melt-in-your-mouth flesh makes for a damm good bite.

The rest of the tapas were pretty pedestrian. The prawns were not fresh at all, making for one decidedly chewy dish. 

Unlike the tapas, the paellas were huge. We could only finish half of each (though of course we did over-order). Both werent great either, the paellas here lacked the oomph and that umami taste of seafood running through the rice. The best squid ink paella I had in Singapore was at Don Quijote and this really paled in comparison. 

Disappointing really because I so very much wanted to like this place. 

Los Primos Tabernay Tapas Bar
81 Club St, #01-01
Singapore 069449
64231773