Kaixo

Kaixo is a pretty new restaurant serving tapas. 

Pintxos (3 for $12, 5 for $20)

After doing some research online, I went with the general consensus of eating some pintxos each, and topping up with a few more tapas. Pintxos (pronounced as peen-chos) are typically found in the Basque region of Spain, and are served on a slice of bread with various toppings. Since they had 5 different pintxos, and one was beef, I decided to go with the 3 pintxos, while my friend had 5.

I really liked the pinxtos on the left, but the cold slightly soggy vegetable tempura one on the far right wasn't very nice. The goats cheese with gripped pepper, walnut and dried apricot was delicious, and so was the chorizo sausage with jamon ham.

Marinated Fresh Anchovies ($10++)

We tried one of their specials of the day - the fresh anchovies cos I have never tried fresh anchovies before. Other than being an essential part of the Caeser salad dressing, I've only ever had anchovies in the preserved form, so I was quite intrigued by the fresh ones. It had a slightly oily fishy smell and a mild bitter aftertaste, but when paired with the crisp sliced onions and bread, it was like an additional pintxo.

Braised Yellowfin Tuna ($14++)

The online reviews for this dish was very promising, but I felt that it tasted a bit too Chinese - braised potatoes with slightly pink yellowfin tuna, served in a tin can.

Sautted Pardon Peppers with sea salt ($14++)

The peppers were nicely charred with slightly blistered skin, and there were huge flakes of sea salt. I think this would go really well with beer. Don't order this if you don't like the taste of peppers/capsicum. It smells like how chillies smell but with none of the spiciness.

Churros with luscious chocolate sauce. I always compare churros to the Disneyland ones - my friend says that no churro can ever beat Disneylands, but I thought this was really good. Hot and crispy, it's delicious with the chocolate sauce (and it was a generous dipping portion, the churros were gone before we could finish the chocolate dip).

Bookings are recommended cos the restaurant is very tiny. Service was quick and attentitive. Perhaps I will try the risotto when I next come back - it looks really good but I was still full from my 3pm lunch so I didn't eat it.

Kaixo
96 Tanjong Pagar Road
Tel: 62250545

Went to Black Swan after dinner - it's a really nice place, just that it's in ceebeedee so it's hard to get to! Their decor and music is really nice and it looks like it just popped out from the Great Gatsby set. Their cocktails are $19++ - and my Silver Lining (amaratto and peach) was pretty good.

Black Swan
19 Cecil Street