The Winery Gourmet Bar is a cosy wine haven in Siglap that’s home to over 150 wines that you can pair with its signature contemporary European dishes.
If you love good wine and even better food you’d definitely want to drop in to check out The Winery Gourmet Bar, especially if you’re living in the East. Previously The Wine Cove, this intimate wine-centric restaurant – located along a rather gentrified stretch of East Coast Road in Siglap – is the rare neighbourhood eatery boasting a walk-in wine cellar stocked with over 150 wine labels, along with a similarly impressive collection of whiskies.
It’s well named – despite not a being working winery – because if you’ve ever visited winery restaurants across much of Europe, The Winery Gourmet Bar gives you exactly the same feels as soon as you step through its doors. It is intimate, almost cave-like, with medieval trappings that feels like the restaurant was plucked out of some winemaking European countryside and dropped here. There’s even a private dining room tucked within where King Arthur can host his knights, if he doesn’t mind that the table isn’t round.
The burgeoning cellar at The Winery Gourmet Bar means that its wine list rivals most of its town-based peers, with options running through much of both the Old World and New World. Serious wine enthusiasts find plenty to explore here, with bottles from Burgundy and Bordeaux to Rioja and Tuscany.
And because it’s a neighbourhood joint, it carries many labels that will not break the bank if you so choose to order a bottle or two for your meal.
Then there’s its more contemporary take on classic European cuisine. Siglap is an unlikely place to find such fare, but the wine does call for it. It’s obvious that Chef Zoel Chung has put some thought into making sure that dishes need to work with wine – or whisky – but also must be tasty on their own.
Such as the Seasonal Burrata Salad, the air-flown Italian burrata paired with kale pesto, fresh figs and pumpkin seeds making for the perfect starter. Slight bitter notes from the kale, sweetness from the figs and crunch from the seeds combine with the mild creamy cheese for a flavour and textural explosion.
Or the Signature Gambas al Ajilo. This classic Spanish tapas is a simple dish that leans heavily on the freshness of the prawns, quality of the olive oil and just the right amount of seasoning to shine. And here, The Winery Gourmet Bar delivers on all accounts. The slightly spicy and fragrant prawn-infused oil had us going in with spoon after spoon, long after the seafood and sourdough had been eaten.
Just slightly less impressive is the Iberico Pork Secreto, which comes served with a sweet pepper relish, tangy piquillo ketchup and the unexpected use of curry leaves for a twist. While the pork was tender, we felt the meat’s natural sweetness and juices were overwhelmed by too many counteracting flavours coming from the accompaniments and its heavy saucing.
Thankfully the 24-Hour Slow Cooked Beef Cheek more than made up for the pork; this more traditional version has been cooked in a red wine base until the meat is fork-tender and was totally melt-in-the-mouth. It even comes topped with pieces of bone marrow for some added indulgence.
We like that The Winery Gourmet Bar has designed itself to be as neighbourhood-friendly as possible, with daily specials running through every day of the week. You’re looking at a two-hour free-flow wine buffet on Mondays, Crackling Pig Tuesdays, Wine Wednesdays, Tomahawk Thursdays, Weekend Brunch Saturdays, Sunday Roast, and not to mention daily whisky tastings.
Which makes any day you visit The Winery Gourmet Bar a good day.
The Winery Gourmet Bar
Address 907 East Coast Rd., #01-03 Springvale, Singapore 459107 (Google Maps link)
Opening Hours 3pm to 12am, Mondays to Fridays, 12pm to 12am on Saturdays; 12pm to 10pm on Sundays
Web thewinery.com.sg/locations/siglap
Instagram @thewinerygourmetbar
Reservations book here
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