Update: Lollapalooza has closed.

Newcomer to Singapore’s tapas dining scene Lollapalooza is a class act. Every course was tasty and nicely cooked while the staff were among the sharpest and most knowledgeable that I’ve encountered in Singapore recently. The menu is also fairly varied offering a good selection to choose from which also makes it a bit difficult to define the cuisine – so let’s just say it’s Mediterranean. The drawbacks are slight with one being a rather uninspiring dessert selection and for Gen X folks like me and baby boomers, the noise level in the restaurant can be annoying.

We had a relatively big group of eight for dinner, which coupled with a late reservation meant we sat at the long communal dining table. So this is not the place to be for cozy conversations especially given the background music and other chatter that you have to talk above to be heard (maybe that’s where the name comes from). I’m not sure if it’s better at the smaller tables but with a bunch of friends, it’s a minor annoyance and one that we’d all happily tolerate again given the quality of the food.

One thing nice about a big group is that you get to order a whole lot of food to share. The first item to come, however, was the Lamb Hearts which was met with limited interest from half of us. I have no photos of this alas but I was told it was good from my less offal weary friends. I was also reluctant to order the Burrata – which seems to be offered everywhere these days – but I’m glad we did as it came with peaches and a sun-dried tomato pesto, a refreshing combination. The cherry tomato salad was simple but sweet.

The flatbread with asiago and chorizo was delicious, with the bread being slightly charred much like you would find in a clay oven. But for me, the best starter we had was the bacon wrapped figs that were stuffed with merguez (middle eastern lamb sausage).

Another good and very sinful starter was the duck fat potato terrine. Essentially this was layers of potato seared in duck fat. An excellent accompaniment to the meat dishes that were coming.

The standout dish for the night for most of us was the chargrilled tuna collar. Because it’s the fatty collar area, the tuna remained juicy and not sinewy despite the darkened skin. Our waiter warned us that some customers didn’t quite like the charcoal smokiness and bitterness but we loved it – including the burnt scales. While it’s served with the skin intact, we were told to remove the skin first as it’s rather thick and thoroughly charred.

We also tried the whole roasted Alfonsino fish (also known as a Tasmanian snapper). Very nicely done but not as good as the tuna collar. The next time I go to Lollapalooza, I think I’d also want to try the roasted whole sea bass. The group next to us ordered this and it did look very promising.

The Bouchot mussels from Brittany, France were cooked in white wine, garlic and lavender. These are the smaller atlantic mussels which I really like but some of my friends prefer bigger mussels and also found the herbs a bit overwhelming.

Among the land animal meat courses we had were the duck confit, corned veal tongue, chargrilled wagyu ribeye cap and the Duroc pork cheek stew. Of these, the duck confit and ribeye were good although they paled a bit when compared to the tuna collar. However, I think you can’t go wrong with the ribeye, especially the cap cut. Unfortunately, most of the dishes were consumed before I had a chance to take a complete photo.

Lollapalooza offers three desserts in addition to ice cream and a baked cheese. Of the three, we tried the yellow peach tart and the chocolate mousse cheesecake (omitting the panna cotta). I felt the peach tart was not fragrant enough – perhaps the peach itself wasn’t sweet enough. The chocolate mousse cheesecake was better.

The oven baked Torta del Casar cheese is essentially one for those who like cheese. It’s a melted soft sheep cheese – like a lighter camembert but still strong enough in aroma to put some people off.

Lollapalooza’s wine list, while not wide, is adequate – it has decent wines from an good mix of better wine regions. We had a fair bit to drink with our meal – two bottles of Sancerre, a Cotes du Rhones, and a Neuisedlersee dessert wine. Inclusive of the wine and tea, it worked out to around SGD170 per person. I’d say that was fair in Singapore given the quality of food.

Lollapalooza’s menu changes every day so there are bound to be some new dishes to try on my next visit in addition to trying those we missed the first time around. Since the grilled dishes were among the best, I’d like to try their chargrilled Iberia pork. The restaurant is open for dinner Monday-Saturday; reservations a must.

Lollapalooza’s website: http://www.lollapalooza.sg/index.html