Brian Kennett
Amateur Chef and Foodie Extraordinaire
Best Spanish Food in Singapore
Next Door Spanish Cafe – back to the boys for Father’s Day
You’ll notice I did no restaurant reviews during circuit-breaker of course and reverted to actually cooking massively and creating new recipes. I’m not really one for reviewing food delivery, perhaps I should have as that is the new normal we have learnt now.
I never got to 50 ChillaxBBQ Stay@Home recipes, one short at 49. Perhaps this weekend? We shall see. But this was actually last weekend and a lovely family day for Father’s Day. We go to a family favourite. Back to our neighbourhood mates Joseba and Chef Houssein. Next Door Spanish Cafe #3 – yes, our 3rd visit now. We love it here so much.
CLICK HERE FOR OUR REVIEWS OF NEXT DOOR SPANISH CAFE;
Next Door Spanish Cafe #1
Next Door Spanish Cafe #2
Next Door Spanish Cafe #3
Next Door Spanish Cafe #4
Let’s hear from them;
“Next Door Spanish Cafe aims to bring you the authentic traditional Spanish taste and culture, to our quaint neighbourhood of Siglap.”
A lovely boozy afternoon, which was also a bit of a first for me after my 86 days dry during circuit-breaker. A few new dishes were on the table too. So it was a very special day all round. Let’s have a look. My first restaurant review for 3-months. Not much chit chat here, just some chit chat on the photos.
But first. Support your local restaurants & hawkers folks. Get back out there. They are the life-blood of Singapore. But I would call ahead and book to avoid disappointment as with the distancing everyone is on limited seats and therefore covers.
Call them!!!
I am going to add my favourite poem about food.
For me, this sums up how important food is and not just because of sustenance.
It is over the dinner table that memories are made,
Deals are conducted,
Pain is shared ….
We romance, bond, fight, celebrate ….
Now it’s time folks to have a look at Next Door Spanish Cafe #3 – our little blog review for the boys of our family lunch for Father’s Day.
Best seats in the house, right next to Chef and the Pass. You get to see the action for a start, but you also get to see what everyone else is ordering as it gets walked past you and you can have a good gander and sniff. Well, maybe not with these bloody masks on… Hold on a minute, we don’t need to wear them anymore…
That’s better. My beautiful family can now be seen. I can get a big kiss from Jude Jude, and sip my delicious beverage. HEAVEN!!!
“Stroke lucky beard, stroke lucky beard…” said Jude Jude.
Our Chefs for today’s little food adventure. So, so great to be back to see the guys and Joseba and the serving crew again. They are such a lovely bunch and so inclusive. This is a family restaurant my friends and they excel at that.
I might even get to some food in a minute… But the call-out is important. It’s just so great to be sat in a restaurant, seeing the guys cooking, smelling the smells, hearing the noise of kitchen chaos, chatting to the team, people watching, food watching and having just bloody brilliant family fun.
1st up was special from Chef, as in VERY special. Home-made blood sausage with bread and cheese. Holy shit this was good. Really subtle blood sausage, but you can get the complexity of the seasoning and spices in there, almost warming and then BITE of the cheese.
Absolutely a cracking dish!!! And it’s black-pudding, so MORE PLEASE!!! I’ll buy a whole one!!! SO GOOD!!! Shit, I am just realising that you may all rush to eat the black-pudding now and leave none for us. Er, it was crap. Don’t buy it. Never go to the restaurant again… (I wonder if that worked…?)
You can never have enough Spanish cheese in my reckoning. A platter for Kings & Queens right there, yummo!!!
Equally adorned in Hawaiin garb, Strawberry Blonde leads the way with perfect eating etiquette of the stunning Jamon platter. So bloody good. It’s nutty because of what the pigs used to eat when their legs were still attached to them. Acorns basically.
Mary and I are so hoping this gets to be a regular because this is one special dish. Absolutely WONDERFUL!!! Super-tender beef and tripe, as in melt-in-your-mouth tender, so wonderfully intensely flavourful, seasoned to perfection and then pow – a little chilli paid hit too. Holy shit, this one is a WINNER!!!
Strawberry Blonde goes back into food battle securing her beach-head for the croquettes. Boy, these were super-special today. So creamy and crunchy and hammy and and… SUBLIME!!! Croquetas
Another family favourite and an ‘always-order’ option for us. We had these a few times when it was deliver-time only. These are the best meatballs on the planet; melt-in-mouth, with this incredible gravy, creamy mash and soybeans. So absolutely bloody good. More, please!!! Albóndigas con Puré de Patatas
Get creative in your own kitchen and have a crack at our recipe for WAGYU MEATBALL PIZZA.
Holy shit – stop the bus. The boys are knocking it out of the park today. WTF is this beauty on a plate? It is seared scallops and deep-fried bone-marrow parcels on top of caramelised onions with cuttlefish.
Holy cow. Wow. Stunning plating and what a flavour punch you get from these all mixed together. An exquisite dish that we all loved (I only liked the bone-marrow of course – you know me). But this is a stunner!!! Long may she be on the menu!!! Tuétano con Vieiras
Another new one for us now. And a first for everyone. A ‘wet’ paella. Yes, that is correct. If I remember rightly, the paella is made still the traditional way to get the rice crunch, and then the ‘wet’ octopus is added.
This stops the octopus from getting too dried out by the long slow process of paella cooking. What a plate of beauty that is. Stunning to look at, and #1 and Wifey demolished it too, This is a keeper in the repeat order memory banks for sure. Paella de Pulpo
Jude Jude goes hard on dessert with Churros and some rather decadent chocolate dipping sauce. Oh yes.
And another newbie gets ordered for a wee ‘share’ dessert. It’s a stunner to look at. If only you could smell this photo. The citrus waft is intense from the lime zest (I wonder if from the trees at the front of the restaurant?).
This really is a cracking dessert. If you want a palate cleanse and zingy wake-up dish, look no further. This is a custard, with yoghurt and sorbet. Flavour explosions everywhere, with textures smacking you about too. Just wonderful. Tocinillo del Cielo
And there you have it, Next Door Spanish Cafe #3. As the song goes, boys are back in town. They sure are, and we are so bloody happy to have them open again. Next Door Spanish Cafe – back to the boys for Father’s Day was just a fantastic lazy lunch.
Great food, drinks, staff and atmosphere as always. It’s a joy to be dining out again in Siglap and Chef Houssein, Joseba & crew made it a very special day today. Thank boys. Guys if you like tapas, it’s a no-brainer. Get here – ENJOY!!!
Or give Next Door Spanish Cafe Reservation a call @ 8168 4009
Next Door Spanish Cafe Menu is constantly changing – I can’t wait to see what’s in store for 2022.
Other recent East Coast restaurant reviews from ISLIFEARECIPE
- Boojio Mookata – Thai BBQ in a hawker
- Blu Kouzina – our 1st Greek restaurant in Siglap
- La Fez Cafe – Moroccan quality in the middle of East Coast
- 5 Oars Coffee Roasters – bistro cuisine @ its finest in Siglap
You’ll see much more family fun, many many other recipes on the channel and heaps of restaurant and hawker reviews too.
