Review: Ethnic Char-grill Cuisine - Men's Folio
Wine & Dine

Review: Ethnic Char-grill Cuisine

  • By Men's Folio

If our previous post on the Best Grills in Town left you drooling for more, this post is sure to whet up an even bigger appetite! We continue the char-grill theme by exploring exciting ethnic cuisine featuring this time-honoured method of cooking. From Indian and Japanese to even Mexican and Greek, we bring you the best of ethnic char-grill cuisine.

 

PIND BALLUCHI

Dine like the maharajahs of yesteryear at Pind Balluchi with its true-to-style original recipes from the annals of Indian royalty. The already-established dining institution back in India spares no expense in sticking to its culinary DNA for its restaurant here, using a myriad of regionally-imported spices that are rare in Singapore, to maintain authenticity in flavour. Standout dishes include the Pathar Lamb Kebab (granite stone-cooked lamb, heated over a bed of hot coals) made with dagadh phool (a rare lichen) that gives this dish an exquisite piquant-earthy taste; and the galouti kebab, hand-minced lamb infused with over 130 exotic spices originally made for a king.

3B River Valley Road, #01-15 Clarke Quay, tel: 6337 7350, www.pindballuchi.com.sg

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BINCHO  

Being two-faced isn’t always a bad thing, as Bincho shows. The mee pok stall by day and neuvo yakitori joint by night is the latest project by Loh Lik Peng’s Unlisted Collection, adding his touch of modernity to the district’s distinct heritage. Like its namesake (Bincho- tan is the white charcoal used in Japan to grill yakitori), it’s grill galore at Bincho. Helmed by chef Asai Masashi (from the famed Abeno Tsuji Culinary  Institute), expect a nose-to-tail concept where every part of a chicken is used for grilling. For the culinary adventurous, dip your fork in the cartilage, liver and the heart.

Hua Bee Kopitiam, 78 Moh Guan Terrace #01-19, tel: 6438 4567

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MYKONOS BY THE BAY

Made by Greeks for an authentic taste of Greece, Mykonos by the Bay is our modern take on Greek taverns, complete with a marine setting and all the physicality of a tavern: exposed brick bar, hardwood flooring, and the Grecian white and blue colour décor. The menu centers on traditional dishes such as charcoal-grilled meats and fish, gemista (oven-baked baldo rice and greek herbs stuffed with roma tomatoes with yoghurt mint sauce), gioyvetsi garida (short pasta with Mediterranean red prawns, cherry tomatoes and saffron), and melitzanes imam (baby eggplant with caramelised onions stuffing, spiced with cinnamon, and soft baked feta). Save some space for its baklava, a sweet-tooth dream come true mixture of bitter chocolate, orange zest, walnut filling, clove and cinnamon, rolled in phyllo pastry.

Quayside Isle, #01-10, Sentosa Cove, 31 Ocean Way, tel: 6334 3818, www.mykonosonthebay.com

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LOWER EAST SIDE TAQUERIA

The Mexican craze shows no signs of dying just yet. Adding another notch to Singapore’s Mexicana spread is the brainchild of Spathe Public House’s Christopher Lim and chef Claudio Sandiri, Lower East Side Taqueria. Like the best of Mexican cuisine, prepare for a fiery feast as this restaurant takes pride in their specially imported selection of chillies from the motherland, like habaneros, poblanos and jalapenos that comes in three-levels of hotness. Take a bite off its cumin and grilled chicken burrito, a hearty and flavourful char- grilled chicken mixed with bacon, pinto beans and cilantro-and-lime rice. For the carnivores, the simple charcoal-grilled beef is a mouth-watering slab of Australian grain-fed (read: full flavour) rib-eye served with chopped jalapeno and homemade salsa verde.

19 East Coast Road, tel: 9824 4009, www.lowereastsidesg.com

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