Checkin’ out: Foodbar Dada

We were gluttons over the weekend. After the massive amount of food offered at the hospitality booth over at the Singapore Open, friends went home to sleep off after the afternoon of drinking and feasting.  But not us!  We weren’t quite stuffed but yet we knew that if we were to head home, we probably would end up hungry.  So after dropping off a friend back at his home, we detoured and headed to Mohammed Sultan wanting to check out some of the places I’ve heard but never quite got a chance to try out yet.

We were rather early, about 7pm, so decided to hop into Foodbar Dada to try our luck in getting a seat.  Been hearing about this place – more misses than hits.  Yet, I was willing to still give it a try to determine for myself.

We made no reservations but luckily, we managed to snag a counter seat for 2 with the condition that we give up the seat at 8pm.  Fine by us.  The Man and I are rather fast eaters provided if the food service is quick.

Don’t expect a huge set-up.  The place was cosy and the ambiance was lively ‘cept for the food smells that may stay on the clothes and hair after you finish the meal.

Thankfully, we weren’t too hungry else we may end up ordering everything on the menu.  Although friends warned that the offerings were limted, I thought the choices available on the menu were rather decent.  We ordered about 6 small dishes to share along with 2 cocktails and it was just about right.

Of the lot, we really enjoyed the mini burgers with the strawberry sauce.  Size-wise, it was perfect for stuffing one bite into the mouth.  The tangy strawberry sauce gave the burger a nice bite to it as well.   The pan-fried squid with eggs came highly recommended by the one of their staff.  We decided to give it a  try but were not bowled over by its flavours.  The dish smelled a lot better than it looked.  The visual feast of cooking this dish was delightful but we were sorely disappointed with the taste, it was a little too salty for our taste-buds.

I actually kinda like this place but not sure whether we will make it back as there are just too many new places to go check out.

Foodbar Dada

Address: 60 Robertson Quay, The Quayside, #01-12, Singapore 238252

Telephone: +65 6735 7738

 

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Checkin’ out: Sabio

Fueled up with a dose of vino and some hearty bites over at Sabio with pals helped dissipate some of the work woes that I’ve been having.   This tapas concept seems to be taking off quite a fair bit amongst Singaporeans.  Price-wise, it’s a little friendlier on the pocket compared to Esquina. 

And even if you don’t have space for dessert, you must.must.must make space for this AMAZING Caramel Lava Cake for dessert!  The only type of caramel that I would like is the salted caramel type, but this was simply mind-blowing!  One bite was all it took and the rest of the group were sticking our spoons/forks/what-so-ever into the lava cake!  We ended up ordering 2 of these cakes.  Seriously, it was that good!

Sabio

Address: 5 Duxton Hill, Singapore

Opening hours: Mondays – Fridays, 12 noon to late; Saturdays & Public Holidays: 6pm to late

No reservations – so go early to avoid disappointment

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Little bites at Esquina

Yes, we finally made it to Esquina!  This place has been on my radar ever since we got back home but friends dreaded the long wait if you go late as there is a no reservations policy.  So last Saturday, the Man and I decided that we will try our luck at dining at Esquina.  We figured the wait can’t be that bad if we go early to beat the crowds.

We arrived a little after 6pm and the seats inside Esquina have already been filled.  Thankfully, it was a rather cool evening so we were pretty contented to be seated outside.  Wasn’t really in the mood to be inside with the crowds for it does seem a little ‘intimidating’ for a relaxed weekend date night even though the Man thought that it was pretty cool to be seated at the counter to look at the chefs prepping our food.

Inspired by the colourful tapas bars found in Spain, Esquina provides visitors to the culturally-rich Chinatown with an added choice of European cuisine to the ethnic enclave. Open from Mondays to Saturdays, Esquina serves mainly modern Spanish tapas in a unique location that is surrounded by post-war colonial buildings, hip coffee joints and ‘old school’ home style restaurants. Leading the culinary direction for Esquina is Michelin star Chef Jason Atherton, the protégé of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.

We were familiar with the concept of Tapas but as this was dinner for us and we were famished from having a relatively light lunch, we went on a ordering spree.  [Silly me forgot to pack my camera so most of the photos are taken with my iPhone using the Instagram app.]

First of our tapas order, the fried quail’s egg, prosciutto ham served along with green and white asparagus.  The Man was a little surprised at the size of the dish given that it was about S$21. But we learnt to manage our expectations and remind ourselves that it’s tapas (ie: bite-sized portions).  If we’re not full, we simply have to order more.  ;p

Oysters with vietnamese dressing priced at S$7 a piece.  Wasn’t wildly impressed with the dressing nor the oyster.

This was a dish that the Man almost didn’t want to touch for he was never a big fan of anchovies.  But surprisingly, this became one of our favourites for the evening.  The grilled baby romaine lettuce seasoned with a touch of truffle honey and served together with the manchego cheese and anchovies worked really well.

Remember there are no mains, just small dishes to be shared.  We thought that it was a good thing that there were just us two, can’t quite imagine if we had gone in a bigger group.  The logistics of sharing the two-portion dish might prove a little challenging if you are hungry.  Next up the Iberico pork and foie gras burger.  I tasted more beef than any semblance of foie gras in this tiny burger, though the Man said that he tasted the foie gras.  But try as I might, I simply couldn’t taste it.  I guess it was overpowered by the flavourful Iberico pork then.

Are you keeping count of the number of tapas dishes that we have ordered?  A total of four plus a plate of rosemary fries which I saw no point in taking the pic.  Even after five dishes, we felt that we needed a little something more.  Yes, told you we felt mighty greedy that evening.  So we went ahead to order the ‘Special of the day’, which happened to be the most expensive item on the menu but also the largest serving in terms of size.  It actually looked like a mash-up of grilled items from pork, chorizo sausages to pineapple and finally topped with deep-fried crackling pork skin.  This dish screamed cholesterol overload!  And it was.. we were too full after this.

But there is always room for dessert – a simple grilled pineapple salad with lime sorbet and coconut lime jelly that’s light and not overtly filling.

And a wonderful evening spent with the Man chatting, he had been really busy at work and so it’s nice to see him a little more relaxed on a weekend instead of spending majority of it looking at the markets.

Would we come back?  Maybe not in the near future, prices for the small portion of tapas didn’t quite do it for us though both of us agreed that this would probably a fun place for drinks and just some nibbles after you’ve had dinner elsewhere.

Esquina

Address: 16 Jiak Chuan Road, Singapore

Telephone: +65 6222 1616

Opening Hours: Mondays to Fridays (12pm to 2.30pm, 6pm to 10.30pm), Saturdays (6pm to 10.30pm), Closed on Sundays

Where it all began.

It was my first time visiting Spain so when I made advanced reservations for one of our dinners, I was ‘shocked’ to be given a 9.30pm seating, for I probably curl over and faint from hunger before dinner.  The Man thought I was being too dramatic and explained that in Spain, dinner is usually served between 9p.m. and 11p.m. (sometimes as late as 12 midnight).

Sheesh, I thought!  How does one go to sleep after such a full dinner then?  So, I did a little research on the Spanish culture of eating.  It appears that the Spanairds often go bar-hopping and eat tapas in between the time before having dinner.

We reached into the heart of Madrid on a Friday evening at about 8pm and after we dumped our bags in the hotel.  We commenced our quest for our Tapas trail.  Most of the Tapas bars were located all over and Plaza de Angel was supposedly ‘the place’ to go.  But it was really tough navigating the meandering streets and tiny lanes that all looked the same.  So we gave up and with no prior research done, we held on to the tourist map and wandered into any local bars/ Tapas joints that caught our fancy.

Tapas-hopping result on day 1 : A total of 4 bars that we managed to cover before calling it a night.

In Madrid, when you go to a bar and order a drink, you will often get a tapas on the house.  It is also very common for a bar or a small local restaurant to have 8 to 12 different kinds of tapas in warming trays with glass partitions covering the food. They are often very strongly flavored with garlic, chilies or paprika, cumin, salt, pepper, saffron and sometimes in plentiful amounts of olive oil.

Here’s a run-down of the Tapas that we ate:  Chips (yes, they count as Tapas apparently), Iberian Ham with toast, Assorted Mediterranean Roasted Vegetables with Cocktain Sausages, Fried Anchovies with Salt, Ham Croquette, Pig’s Trotters with cuttlefish noodles, “Callos” (Pork tripe) Madrid Style and Gourmet Foie Gras Burger.

Drinks countdown: A total of 2 beers, 4 glasses of red wine and a cocktail each.  Well, doesn’t feel like we drank alot but we woke up the next day both nursing a mild hangover.

Before our departure, we decided to give the Tapas-hopping excursion another try.  This time the challenge was to see how many Tapas bars that we could cover before waving the white flag and calling it a night.  We also wanted to see how much different types of Tapas that we could eat at each bar that we went to.

We didn’t get very far.  Bar-hopping stopped at Bar #3 as it poured heavily and we went out unprepared for the change in weather.  Darn the rain did put a dampener on our plans!  Nevertheless, we did enjoy the Tapas experience at Bar #1 for we learnt that Limone Beer is actually Lemon Soda with beer.  Light and refreshing!

Well, I guess we could always hold on the challenge till we hit another Spanish city.  :p