This new fusion tapas restaurant opened at 📍Telok Ayer serves up western dishes with an Asian twist. I love the warm and modern interior here, which really sets the mood for romantic dates!

It's also on 🌠 burpple beyond 🌠 which means 1 for 1 for plates not from the bincho.

Note that the plates here are tapas-style so they're quite small; my partner and I ordered 5 plates + 1 dessert in total (~$50 each) and we were just satisfied. However, you can be assured that each dish will be an exciting culinary treat -- each dish combined hints of Asian flavours innovatively without detracting from each one's western roots.

My only gripe was perhaps the music choice. I appreciate a good indie R&B now and then but it didn't quite fit the mood in the restaurant.

Baste shoestring fries ($14) 🍟 4/5

I'm a sucker for fries and couldn't resist ordering this despite the price point. I'd have to say these were one of the most well-seasoned fries I've ever had. I'm not sure what the spices were but I suspect a hint of hae bee hiam. 😶

This was another shot in the dark. But it turned out so good! Ricotta is usually tasteless to me but there was a certain sweet umami to this one that balanced out the sharpness of the juicy cherry tomatoes.

I was skeptical about the sambal, but this one blew our socks away as well. The hint of the fiery paste wasn't too overpowering, and combined with the cincalok left me with a memory of rich chili crab sauce. The dish is served cold but the octopus itself was firm and tender.

I thought this was pretty tender but the method of plating had it cooling down too fast... Comparatively, this was a decent steak but wasn't as exciting as the other mod-sin influenced dishes.

Also, the butter had a strange preserved taste added on by the dried shrimp. I didn't like it.

This was seared to perfection! Just look at that colour. The more lean parts of the pork turned out a little dry though but was balanced out by the more fatty parts if you eat it vertically.

I was expecting the same caramelised apples found in the pork in this one, but all I got were saccharine... dates? The ice cream didn't taste creamy enough either, and didn't have any visible vanilla bits in them. Felt a bit like a letdown after the amazing meal 😪

Get good pizza and beer deals at @santis.sg in 📍Telok Ayer. There's 🌠1 for 1 with #BurppleBeyond🌠 but I didn't think the pizzas were that great. The vibes and drinks here are not bad, though!

Pictured is the green pig, which had avocado creme with crispy pork on top. I liked how they played with the textures on this one and added crumbled almonds on top! The basil was also a refreshing addition.

This involved crumbled bits of a smoked lamb leg. We usually like lamb but this was too gamey for us. The crust of the pizza was on point though -- open crumb and slightly burnt.

Although tenderbest is known more for their fried chicken, I discovered recently how good the laksa pasta is -- the laksa is fragrant and just the right amount of spicy. It's also very lemak, and the creaminess works really well with the pasta.

This came as another surprise -- the pizza here actually tasted really good with the crust at a good thickness and crispiness. The toppings were rather generous as well. Only thing is the truffle taste wasn't very strong.

Both sides were very underwhelming and dry. Only ordered this because their blooming onion was sold out...

This date night favourite may not have a distinctive name but Pasta Bar sure delivers. Their $30+ pastas pack so much flavour in their delicate portions that the 2 of us didn't regret splurging on 3 pastas during our exclusive night out here.

This dish was the star of the night, and could be found on everyone's bar counter. The pasta looks strikingly jaundiced but don't be put off! Its colour probably has something to do with its deeply umami flavour. This was so unique we should have ordered 3 of these.