Thursday, February 18, 2016

EL TARDEO

PCasa GT Singapore, El Tardeo
El Tardeo, is the newish tapas bar owned and managed by next-door  Binomio, our favorite Spanish restaurant in Singapore.  Open from the late afternoon  for the Spanish tapas-bar-hopping habit called "tapeo" (the name is a mix  of "tarde" meaning afternoon and "tapeo"), El Tardeo's interiors are simple with a large bar on one end and several bar tables scattered throughout the concrete-floored space.  
El Tardeo's menu is a mix of cold and hot pintxos and tapas, cold cuts and a few salads and main courses with an extensive cocktail and drinks list highlighting the trendy Spanish pre-dinner drink, the gin tonic while sangria, beers,  Cava and Spanish wines.
On a recent mid-week visit, we stuck to sharing several small plates with a few glasses of a crisp Radio Boca verdejo from Valencia. We started out with the cold pintxo tortilla patata - layers of thinly sliced potatoes, covered in fluffy egg and topped with a tiny dollop of aioli (strangely served hot instead of cold),  a couple of hot pintxos - the zapatillathin slices of melt-in-the-mouth jamon on toasted bread rubbed with tomato and the cojonudo - grilled chorizo fried egg and a piquillo pepper.  This was followed by a few modern tapas: croquetas de calamares filled with squid ink flavored béchamel, the grilled secreto Iberico (surprisingly bland for a usually flavorful cut) and the outstanding bikini de rabo toro - tender oxtail sandwiched between a  crispy pancake-like covering.  We were still a bit hungry after that so we shared some pan con tomate and finished off our meal with an espresso.  El Tardeo is perfect for big groups at happy hour who want to sample tasty tapas with drinks, but if it's dinner you're after, book a table at next-door Binomio instead.
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20 Craig Road, Craig Place #01-01
Singapore 089692
Telephone: +65 6221 6288
SMS: +65 8181 1829
Email: reservation@eltardeo.sg
*Tuesday to Saturday 6 pm to midnight, Sunday from 11 to 6 pm, Closed Mondays

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