Carlitos Restaurant Review: Best Spanish Tapas on Joo Chiat Road?

Carlitos Restaurant Review: the menu, or “what you’re about to order far too much of,” is a riot through Spain’s comfort food dictionary. Thirty-plus options, so some decisions had to be made. For research purposes I was flicking through Google: Gilda Pintxo. Smoky sardines, assertive pickles, and plump olives elbowing each other for space on a stick. This is Spain’s answer to “Why have one strong flavour when you can have three, all on one stick?” One mouthful, and you’ll likely be clutching your Estrella in pure joy.

Then, let’s discuss the croquetas de calamar: jet-black, filled with squid ink aioli and a hint of brine, light on the outside, glorious lava within. If you’re expecting your gran’s potato croquette, prepare to be pleasantly startled. The patatas bravas bonanova would make any Catalan bar nod in recognition: crisp agria potatoes, garlic aioli with the type of body you only get on Instagram Reels these days, with lashings of spicy tomato, and burnt red smoked paprika oil. 

Fresh from the fryers would be the buñuelos de Pamplona—cod fritters—arrive like the piscatorial cousins of churros, served on a golden pillow of ajoarriero sofrito. Each of the fritter’s is the answer to “what tapas want to be when it grows up?” The tortilla Donostia is expected to be a slice of soft, almost souffle-like joy—the lovechild of a Basque mum and a Spanish potato farmer—made from organic eggs and confit shallots, and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil so fragrant you’ll want to dab it behind your ears.

Vegetarian? You’re sorted with the Alcachofa Brasa—this is charred artichoke sitting atop saffron-yellow polenta, dramatic enough to likely make the meat-eaters envy your plate. The arroz caldoso de gambas is pao fan by way of Valencia: soupy, seafood-rich rice, enough for sharing but very likely you won’t want to, with enormous Mediterranean red prawns, clams, and garlic wafting through the room.

Apparently, no meal at Carlito’s counts as complete until you’ve had the famed tarta de queso—Esquina’s viral Basque burnt cheesecake tart reborn with a base so buttery and filling so creamy it should come with a warning lable, which is served with a decadent scoop of sangria sorbet that will have you drooling in public. The flan y café—a wobbly pudding with cortado coffee cream—will give you the option to finish sweet or caffeinated, or both. Woo Hoo.

For the Carlitos Restaurant Review of drinks, the list is unapologetically Iberian: over thirty Spanish wines, plenty of sangria, and more than enough sherry to convince you you’ve travelled further than Siglap. There’s also Estrella, and enough cava, to make you start texting old mates in Catalonia just to make them jealous.

The little plates here are so damned easy to justify. The prices are, too: most sit well below SGD $15, save for larger dishes intended for gluttony or “sharing,” which is only a suggestion and not a rule, by the way.