La Cicala

club street is becoming really interesting, what with all the new bars and restaurants sprouting up in the area. La Cicala is a spanish restaurant that has been garnering quite a number of good reviews and we decided to check it out ;)

they have a good variety of tapas to choose from, and the best part is their tapas tasting option, where you get to choose ANY tapas for a fixed price! :O they have the option of 6 and 8 tapas, in portions for 1-2 or 2-4 people. i would say that the portion for 1-2pax is enough, especially if you wanna try their paellas as well! :) we went for the option of 8 items for 1-2pax ($84), and if you do the math, choosing the more expensive tapas is definitely worth the money for these options ;)

these are the tapas we ate (clockwise from top left):

culpo ahumado: the cured atlantic octopus with smoked potato and pimento was bathed in a delicious gravy and had a bouncy texture which we thoroughly enjoyed.

chopitos: DEFINITELY recommend the deep fried baby shrimp which had a beautiful doneness with its fine crispy exterior. a very light batter, it was not too oily and paired well with the saffron tartar sauce it came with.

esparragos: we loved the char grilled asparagus for the feel-good factor, and it was tasty on its own, further enhanced by the saffron alioli.

pollo: marinated chicken leg with cassava "charcoal" (which is actually potato!)

pomo: glazed iberic pork loin

mini hamburgesa: the bun of these adorable hamburgers was exceptionally crisp, crumbling in our mouths with each bite. we loved how the flavours of the iberico pork with jamon, tomato and caramelized onion in the burger all came together in harmony to form a delightful medley.

pastilla: feather light pasty encasing a slow-cooked suckling pig with apples, port wine sauce and almonds, this was another dish with an excellent combination of tastes that went perfectly with each other.

gambas al ajillo: the sauteed fresh shrimp with garlic, fino sherry and fresh herbs was deliciously scented with all the herbs. lovely!

the paella negra ($40) for 1-2pax was generously portioned, a nice addition on top of the 8 tapas we ordered. i have NO IDEA why it looks green in the picture. it's supposed to be all black! haha. it had a medley of seafood (mostly squid, from what i could see) and slathered in black squid ink. not food for a date, for sure :P i loved the soft, slightly sticky texture of the rice, and it was oh-so-fragrant! i relished every mouthful :D

one thing that La Cicala is popular for would be how it proclaims to serve the perfect gin tonic ;) WOOO. that's a big claim to make eh? i havent drank many gin tonics to tell what's good, but i definitely enjoyed mine! we ordered two types actually - hendrick's ($17) was made from premium tonic, cucumber and raspberries, and felt super healthy and refreshing! a very faint hint of alcohol, which made it very palatable to drink :) the other was martin miller's ($15) that comprised light indian tonic, juniper berries and lime peel. a lot of the drinks contain juniper berries, which seems to be one of their signature ingredients in making this 'perfect' drink. this was also very invigorating, thanks to the lime :)

sharing the mains meant for 1-2pax gave us space to explore the desserts :D and explore we did...a little too adventurously :p hahaha. didn't know that torta del casar ($12) was a kind of sheep's cheese >.< when it arrived, we nearly fainted from the pungent scent. omg. the little bit of good news was that it didnt taste as bad as it smelled, but then again, the smell was REALLY overwhelming, and it still tasted too cheesy for my liking. loved the apple for neutralizing the taste though! and the filo pastry was good too.

on the other hand, we polished off the 72% araguni chocolate ($16) within minutes! a dark chocolate praline with sea-salt caramel parfait, this was creamy, solid, sweet and delicious all in one! loveeeeeee (:

La Cicala

49 Club Street

Tel.: +65 6534 8812

Lunch: Mon - Fri 12pm-2pm

Dinner: Mon - Thu 5pm-10.30pm

Fri & Sat 5pm-11.30pm