Esquina

This newish tapas bar has Jason Atherton's name on it.

It's impossible to get into it for dinner as it is a small area sitting only about 19. Lunch and dinner prices are the same. But at least for lunch it isn't so crowded.

I think food here is good but a bit too pricey for the complexity. Wines are quite disappointing in my view but honestly wines in most restaurants in Singapore are very over priced and not very good.

Iberico ham and foie gras burger

This was really quite good. The saltiness of the iberico and the sweetness of the burger complimented one another. Plus, there was pulled pork in the burger giving it an extra texture.

I chose a botrytis chenin blanc (Loire valley) to go with this as I thought that the sweetness of it may lift the sweetness of the foie gras. When the staff first served me the wine, it was too warm. When I informed them of that, they kindly chilled it for me and then poured me another glass.

This went quite well with the dish except it masked some of the wonderful saltiness of the iberico. I think if there was a wine that was sweet but less sweet, it may have gone better with it.

The service staff there suggested a spanish cabernet sauvignon to go with the dish. I disagreed with them. The problem with the cabernet sauvignon is the tannins which are rough in texture and would clash with the dish. Also, there isn't sweetness to bring out the foie gras.

Upon consultation with my brother, he suggested a sweet rose. To understand more about wines, go to his blog http://www.wineandonly.info/

Gambas with sweet corn

The stock was rich with salty flavor from bacon that complimented the prawns. According to the staff, prawn shells are ordered in to create the rich broth. I wish I could purchase prawn shells… The corn was crunchy and not overcooked giving the dish texture.

Pistachio cake with vanilla ice cream and sangria jam

I really liked the sangria jam with the cake. It was sour sweet which lifted the cake. I would have liked it to be a wee bit sweeter as the pistachio cake was not sweet but had a good texture. The ice cream for me did not have an intense enough vanilla flavor.

I really liked the service staff… But I don't quite agree with their selection of wines.
I'm not sure about one of the chefs though. I asked about the food and he didn't seem very friendly. In fact, he seemed a bit put off by my question.

I liked the place but will I go back? I'm not too sure as I find it a bit costly.

Pricing: About $80 for 2 tapas mains, one dessert and wine.
Website: http://esquina.com.sg/
Location: 16 Jiak Chuan Rd

Oriole Coffee Roasters

Oriole Coffee roasts, brews and educates about coffee. There are shops at Somerset and Raffles Place. This place in Jiak Chuan Road in the Tanjong Pagar shophouse area just opened about a month ago. My husband and I happened to chance upon in when walking around the area.

We went there for coffee and brunch this morning.

Cappuccino $5

The coffee had sound flavor but was a bit on the bitter side. Frothing was a lot better than a lot of places but felt watery instead of creamy. The Barista said that they use Green Fields full cream milk. I've had coffee in other places that use Green Fields and the froth in those places have the same watery texture. 

I'm not sure what the protein and fat content of this is but somehow it doesn't give a rich mouth feel to the froth. Green Fields use Australian cows but are reared in East Java for part of their life. I wonder if the rearing of the cows in East Java will have some impact on the milk. 

Strawberry cream cake $3.80

This was not a bad cake. The strawberry sponge was moist and quite light. I'm not a fan of butter cream    though which is the other component of the cake. I find butter cream too oily and rich. Also, I think that this is so when premium butter is not used which we cannot expect for at $3.80. 

Truffle infused Eggs with tomatoes and toast $6.90

The eggs were nice and fluffy. While I could smell the truffle, I could not taste it at all with the eggs. The chef uses truffle cream here. Perhaps a slight sprinkling of truffle salt or adding mushrooms to the eggs may help enhance the taste of the truffle in the eggs. The tomatoes were nice and plump. According to the barista, they use Roma tomatoes. I could definitely taste the difference as local tomatoes are not as sweet and tend to be a lot more watery. The bread is a let down here. The bread is the traditional soft white bread that goes well with kaya. However, a crusty bread would have gone much better with soft eggs.

This is a nice warm space to hang out that serves decent coffee. The shophouse is also used to roast coffee, have corporate training events and serves as Oriole's head quarters. 

Website: http://www.oriolecoffee.com/

Location: 10/10A Jiak Chuan Road

Opening Hours: Mon- Fri 10am -6pm

Contact Number: 6224 8131

Italian Wine and Food Pte Ltd

Italian Wine and Food Pte Ltd- 4/5 stars

Range

There was a good selection of wines all over Italy. Wines such as the usual Barolo, Barbaresco, Chianti, Sardinia, Amorone and a selection from Campania are available. They also had Moscato d'Asti and Franciacorta. I personally wish there were more wines from Fruili and other parts of Italy but taking into consideration the number of wine regions in Italy, this would a difficult thing to expect.

Price

Considering some of the wines are from boutique wineries with medium to high quality, prices are not cheap especially with a half-bottle of Amorone costing about $70 and a Moscato d'Asti at around $65. Unless you have deep pockets, the Barolos and Barbarescos are highly-priced but that is very common given that those are famous region. There is an range of affordable wines if one needed an everyday drink that is of better quality than your typical supermarket grog.

Staff Knowledge and service

The boss of the store is Italian. He is very passionate about his wines and familiar with the wines of Italy. He knows the grapes of the region as well as obscure regions in Italy. He also understands the Tuscany wine scene and that commerciality has overtaken the region, therefore he seems to have taken care in the selection wineries to represent from Tuscany. When asked about a wine to recommend with a squid salad dish, he recommended a Sparkling rose wine which fits the dish well. He also understood his recommended wines well and knew how to serve them to get the best out of the experience. He is mindful of the customer in that he put the purchased bottle in a double bag to protect the bottle.

Store layout

The layout was fine but they could have improved it by putting clear labels of the wine regions of Italy.

Website: http://www.italianfoodwine.com/

Location: 12 Jiak Chuan Road

Contact Number: 6323 3203