SUR - Nuevo Latino Kitchen Restaurant Review

SUR - Nuevo Latino Kitchen

13 North Canal Rd

Singapore 048826

+656222 2897 

Recently opened SUR - Nuevo Latino Kitchen is a family-owned Latin-American fusion restaurant in the heart of Singapore's CBD. If you're having trouble finding the place, it's right opposite the OCBC building on North Canal Road, close to the MOM.

The restaurant extends over two floors, with the ground floor having more of a bar atmosphere, whereas the upper floor looks more like a classical bodega. The menu at SUR - Nuevo Latino Kitchen is not very extensive, and I like a restaurant that focuses on a few dishes -provided that it is able to prepare these very well.

In the evenings, SUR - Nuevo Latino Kitchen has a one-for-one offer on their small, international beer selection, which we took advantage of. For our mains we ordered:

Ceviche de Camarón, which is a cold dish comprising shrimp, tomato, red onion, jalapeño pepper, passion fruit leche de tigra and mint. As you can see from the pictures, the portions at SUR - Nuevo Latino Kitchen are not exactly huge, and the Ceviche was served in a somewhat smallish bowl. Flavor-wise this dish was decent, although I would have prefer a more intense seafood flavor.

Our second main, Pabellón, or braised short rib, came accompanied by black bean tacu-tacu, and roasted sweet plantain. I must say, this short rib was cooked very well, and the beef was very, very tender. However, again I would have preferred a more intense flavor and perhaps a bit more seasoning.

Lastly, we had a dish of Chorizo Carupanero, which was (not very) spicy pork sausage, sauteed bell peppers, and fresh cheese on a bed of rice. Usually, proper chorizo has a very intense, almost sweet flavor, and if you chose the spicy variety, you do taste it. I'd be interested in knowing where the chef at SUR sources his chorizo from, as this one was a rather bland affair. Likewise, the fresh cheese and rice were rather lacking, making this dish a rather disappointing affair that now amount of seasoning with pepper and salt was able to rescue.

SUR - Nuevo Latino Kitchen is by no means a cheap eatery and for our dinner with drinks we paid ~ SGD 150. While this is standard for decent international cuisine in Singapore, I'd expect more value for my money. I have yet to find a really good Spanish/Latin-American restaurant in Singapore, so If anyone has any suggestions, please post them in the comments section.

3/5 Stars

Read More

Restaurant Review: Tamarind Hill Singapore

Restaurant Review: Tamarind Hill Singapore

30 Labrador Villa Road
Singapore 119189
+65 6278 6364

Tamarind Hill restaurant is located in a colonial building situated on top of a hill in the green oasis of Labrador Park. Formerly known as Labrador Villa, this building was once the home of businessman George John Mansfield. As you can see in the below picture, the entrance to Tamarind Hill restaurant is nothing short of spectacular, with a staircase more befitting a royal palace than a home.

Copyright: Samadhi

In line with the elegant setting, the dress code at Tamarin Hill is smart casual and so as not to disturb dinner guests, children below the age of 14 are not permitted entrance. Arriving at Labrador Villa, one might get the impression that the place is deserted, as no signs of occupation are visible from the outside. However, once you enter the restaurant, you will quickly notice that the many tables are taken for the most part, at least on a weekend night.

For starters, we ordered the Tamarind Hill Platter, which is one of the restaurant's signature dishes and combines 4 different starters, with two items of each caramelized minced chicken and peanut embedded in tangerine, breaded calamari, prawn cake and salmon tataki. While this platter was not huge, and in line with what you'd expect from most elegant restaurants, it made up for it in flavor, with especially the salmon tataki and prawn cake standing out.

When our two main courses arrived (grilled fish and deep-fried duck, as per the waiter's recommendation also signature dishes at Tamarind Hill), I was very positively surprised by their sheer size. Usually, and as was the case with the starters and desert platters at Tamarind Hill, the portions in fancy restaurants tend to be rather inadequate for a hungry person. However, in this Labrador Park restaurant, the serving size for the main dishes is very, very generous. I'm not entirely sure how many ducks had to give their lives to fill this big platter with duck breast, and the grilled fish was quite decently sized as well. Of the two, the Thai-style grilled fish was the clear winner, hands down. The meat was succulent and doused with the accompanying sauce, this was by far the best dish we tried at Tamarind Hill, and I highly recommend giving it a try. Unfortunately, the deep-fried duck was not up to par, as the deepfrying apparently sapped most of the flavor from the duck meat, and even with the good tamarind sauce, the flavor was disappointing. Given the generous serving sizes, we were barely able to finish both dishes.

To finish our meal at Labrador Park, we decided on Tamarind Hill's desert platter. There were a few more or less traditional Thai deserts, and the only two I found tasty, my companion refused to eat, saying they were way too sweet. Now, I do have a sweet tooth, but I have to say they were indeed rather intensively sweet. The other desert items I found to be average at best, and my companion was also not impressed by this course.

Two items saved our dining experience at Tamarind Hill. First, the very nice location and atmosphere, and second the best grilled fish I have eaten in Singapore to date. On the downside, the other dishes we had varied below and above average, and service was merely ok (had to ask for cold water twice), although the staff was friendly. In line with its reputation, dinner at Tamarind Hill was not a cheap affair at a total of SGD ~250, including a bottle of  wine.

4/5 Stars

Read More

Restaurant Review: Broth @ Duxton Hill

Restaurant Review: Broth @ Duxton Hill

21 Duxton Hill
Singapore 089604

+65 6323 3353 

Situated in a corner of Duxton Hill, Broth is an elegant little restaurant with an atmosphere best suited for a nice dinner for two or a quiet evening out with friends. Given the elevated prices, usually it is not hard to find a table even at times when more trending places such as Lucha Loco (also on Duxton Hill), are packed. Curiously enough, the restaurant does not have a theme of soups/broths but is rather the acronym for Bar Restaurant On The Hill...could have fooled me ;-)

We went on a weekday night and besides ours, only two other tables were taken. The staff is friendly and the service pretty decent. The menu is not very extensive, and if you have any dietary restrictions (e.g. as a vegetarian) you will only have a handful of items to choose from, most of which are starters. Since my companion and I found the Lamb Loin In A Green Coat On Fine Beans, Rosemary Potatoes & Mint Jus the most appealing, we both ordered the same main dish (usually we choose two different ones, so we can switch, but as I said the selection at Broth is rather limited and nothing else tickled our fancy). As mentioned above, Broth is not focused around soup, so the only soup they have is a "Broth of the Day', which in our case was potato soup. To be honest, I don't see the point of paying 12 bucks in a fancy-shmanzy restaurant for a potato soup even the most novice chef can't go wrong with cooking it at home. Instead, we ordered Sugar Beet Cured Salmon, Cucumber Tagliatelle, Caperberries & Mandarine Dressing and some house-made olive/onion bread with oil, butter and pepper to start our dinner.

Home/house made bread sounds good, and the two slices we were served at Broth did look appetizing (as an appetizer should ;-) ), however, the dough was much too soft, so instead of a rich wholemeal bread, it rather had the consistency of soggy toast. Not sure if baking it longer would help, but they should do something about it. The olive oil seemed of decent quality, and what can go wrong with butter and salt. Would have been so simple to make this into a decent appetizer, but Broth failed.

Disappointingly, as it happens in many elegant restaurants, the salad was rather tiny and the few slices of salmon were well hidden by a camouflage of greens. If the starter had made up in taste what it was lacking for in size, I wouldn't complain. However, the mandarin dressing did not have a fruity flavor, the two olives that came with the salad were pickled and the cucumber was absolutely devoid of taste. The salmon itself was ok, but nothing that you wouldn't get at cold storage, i.e. no beet-cured taste at all.

The lamb loin that we had did look appealing, and was quite decent taste-wise. The crust could have been a little more thick and crisp, but otherwise it was savory. Wedged in between the slices of lamp were two or three slices of roast potato. If you're hungry, better order several dishes (like starters) or go elsewhere, otherwise a grown man or woman with a healthy appetite will go home hungry.

With 2 glasses of wine, 2 starters and 2 mains the total bill was close to SGD 170. For this kind of money for a dinner for 2, I would have expected the food to be of higher quality and not just average overall. Still, the restaurant does have a nice athmosphere at night, and may still be worth a visit, at least once.

3/5 Stars

Read More

Restaurant Review: Tong Le Private Dining @ OUE Tower

Restaurant Review: Tong Le Private Dining @ OUE Tower

OUE Tower, Level 4 & 5
60 Collyer Quay
Singapore 049322

+65 6634 3233

As one of only two remaining revolving restaurants, Tong Le Private Dining has secured its place in the Singapore fine dining scene. Under the umbrella of well-known TungLok Group (Chinois, Humble House, Taipan), Tong Le offers select a la carte items and different set menus that change frequently. OUE Tower is special amongst revolving restaurants, as on the "inner circle" you will find Shinji and on the outer, revolving part you will find the private dining rooms and semi-private dining areas of Tong Le. Guest have the option to choose from the menus of both Shinji and Tong Le. Reservations are obligatory for both venues.

As OUE Tower’s Tong Le is located right at the bay, the revolving view includes the Fullerton Bay Hotel, Marina Bay Sands, the Art Museum and the Singapore Flyer (but also a very unimpressive view of the office building right next to it). One revolution takes a bit more than two hours, so during the course of a set meal you should have more than sufficient time to enjoy the view.

If you go to Tong Le's website, the interior decor appears quite bright, however, we found the restaurant itself was lit rather dimly and the wooden furnishing is much darker than depicted on the website (this holds true only for Tong Le, as Shinji's decor is much lighter). For my taste, they could indeed have allowed for a little more light, especially as the light intensity sometimes changes when the restaurant revolves.

As we went during Chinese New Year, we had to order one of Tong Le's set menus and decided on the following: Prosperous Yu Sheng/ Yee Sang with Yellow Fin, Tuna and Lobster; Braised Superlative Shark's Fin with Australia Winter Black Truffle in “Noble” Tanfu Broth; Steamed Wild Ocean Fish with Japanese Black Garlic in Premium Black Bean Sauce; Chilled Homemade Sorbet to cleanse the palate; Braised South African Abalone with Fish Maw; Poached Alaska King Crab with Fish Mousse Noodle in Superior Broth; and for desert Pumpkin Puree Diced Mango topped with Coconut Ice Cream and served in Young Coconut. Price per person was about S$ 200 (excluding the bottle of 2005 Chianti we shared).

The Prosperous Yu Sheng/ Yee Sang with Yellow Fin, Tuna and Lobster was definitely a few notches above the ready made CNY Yee Sang you usually get at the store. I'm not too keen on Yee Sang, as I generally find it too sweet, but the one at Tong Le was well-liked by everyone at our table.

My fellow diners all ordered Braised Superlative Shark's Fin with Australia Winter Black Truffle in “Noble” Tanfu Broth, whereas I opted for the Bird's Nest in chicken consomme. Both dishes were served on flaming platters and were equally delicious. In contrast to say Yan Ting, Tong Le's shark's fin was tender, with very flavorful broth and the bird's nest was perfectly accentuating the chicken consomme.

The Steamed Wild Ocean Fish with Japanese Black Garlic in Premium Black Bean Sauce turned out to be Garoupa. Tong Le 's presentation of the fish was also visually appealing, and it was juicy and tender in consistency, but could have used a bit more seasoning for my taste.

Thereafter, Tong Le served a Chilled Homemade Sorbet served to cleanse the palate. The addition of poprocks to the sorbet made for an interesting culinary experience to say the least. The sorbet itself was fruity and flavorful, as you'd expect. The following course was Braised South African Abalone with Fish Maw. Most people will know Abalone, but not everyone knows that fish maw is actually a fish's swim bladder. Due to the difficulty of cleansing and preparing fish maw, and since the fish itself has to be of a decent size, it takes special skills to prepare this dish, which you will most likely only find in Chines cuisine, and which the chef at Tong Le seems to have mastered to perfection. The consistency is somewhat gelatinous, but not at all unpleasant and, as you may have guessed, it tastes intensely of fish. The Abalone was decent, but nothing out of the ordinary.

When the Poached Alaska King Crab with Fish Mousse Noodle in Superior Broth arrived, most of us were already well stuffed and possibly we were unable to fully appreciate this second-last dish. Unfortunately, I found bits of crab shell crunching between my teeth as I tasted the King Crab, which made me sample the next few bites more cautiously. The croutons in the broth were very rich in flavor and the crab meat itself was decent. The Fish Mousse Noodle I found rather disappointing, but the superior broth well deserved its name. You can't see it properly below, but some poor soul at Tong Le was obviously tasked with cutting out all the CNY coasters, as we could clearly see the scissor marks on the not-quite-round circle.

Last but not least, desert was served on dried ice, which again made for a visually stimulating culinary experience. Tong Le's Pumpkin Puree Diced Mango was topped with Coconut Ice Cream and served in Young Coconut. Unfortunately, my coconut was not so young anymore, so the coconut meat was rather hard. Otherwise the desert was creamy, yummy and not too sweet, setting a nice finishing point to our meal.

The staff at Tong Le was generally nice and there were some positive aspects (they didn’t mind our extensive photo-taking requests, overall polite and friendly) and some other things that definitely need improving: one of the waitresses spoke very minimal English, which is not what I’d expect in a fine dining setting, our main waitress kept addressing us very informally as “guys” (personally I wouldn’t have minded but there were quite senior people present and I’d have expected more formality). Lastly, at the end one course, three of us were still eating while one person had already finished, whereupon they cleared his plate and immediately served him the next course, which was rather inappropriate. Even though proper attire was requested, a diner at another table was wearing t-shirt and shorts, which surprised me somewhat as I’d been told Tong Le denies you entry if you are not dressed appropriately.

Overall, a decent but not quite perfect dining experience in a nice setting. I'd recommend dining at night, as the bay view is less captivating during the day. If you fancy a drink afterwards, there are plenty of bars nearby, and Latern at Fullerton Bayside is always a safe option to finish the evening.

4/5 Stars

Read More

Restaurant Review: The Green Bar

Restaurant Review: The Green Bar
9 Raffles Boulevard #01-9B
Millenia Walk, S039596
Tel.: 6336-0780
Opening hours: 11.30am - 8.30pm

Yesterday, I had lunch at The Green Bar in Millenia Walk, Suntec City. As the name indicates, this place is mostly about healthy food and salads, but on weekends they also offer all-day brunches with "less healthy food". My colleagues and I all went for the healthy salad option, with slight variations. Personally, I had a Moroccan Couscous Salad with Tandoori Chicken for SGD 12,40.

The ambience inside the restaurant is quite nice, with soft classical music and a very relaxed interior design, including a wooden tree. The staff is very friendly and helpful (it's a new place so when someone in the kitchen forgot to put cashew nuts in my salad, one of the senior staff came and took the salad back to add the nuts. I wouldn't have known there were supposed to be cashews in there in the first place, so I was pleasantly surprised by that extra bit of service that is sometimes hard to come by here in Singapore).

The Green Bar Millenia Walk Interior Design

The salad I had was served in a wooden bowl and consisted mostly of green mixed mesclun, couscous, raisins chickpeas, olives and the extra Tandoori I had added. The dressing was a very light and fresh yoghurt sauce with a lemon slice for additional freshness. The meal was just the right size and they offered all of us some toasted bread on the side to go with our salads.

Morrocan Couscous Salad

All in all, a very nice experience I would even consider for a casual early dinner. The only 2 minor points of critique I have are that the salads arrived one after the other, not all together, in a span of say 7-10 min and that they close very early (8.30pm).

4/5 Alien Stars

Read More