{"id":2547,"date":"2015-09-08T20:12:54","date_gmt":"2015-09-08T12:12:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/?p=2547"},"modified":"2019-02-03T15:37:14","modified_gmt":"2019-02-03T07:37:14","slug":"bam-this-tapas-sake-bar-is-still-a-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/2015\/09\/08\/bam-this-tapas-sake-bar-is-still-a-hit\/","title":{"rendered":"BAM! – This Tapas-Sake Bar is Still a Hit"},"content":{"rendered":"

At first, a Spanish tapas sake bar seems a bit odd but more than a year on, BAM! remains a hit with chef Pepe Moncayo still serving really good food to go with Sake pairings. Pepe continues to add new dishes, probably best experienced through the omakase menu but favourites are still available. I continue to enjoy visiting once in a while to see what’s new and\u00a0knowing that\u00a0Pepe’s friendly and\u00a0humble demeanour\u00a0and good food will not disappoint.<\/p>\n

\"BAM!'s<\/a>
Chef Pepe Moncayo keeps an eye out on the preparation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My first visits to BAM! consisted of ordering off their menu – namely their signature dishes such as their kampong egg with baby sotong and chorizo, cold capellini pasta with ebi sakura and uni, the pasta “a la plancha” and the roast suckling pig. \u00a0While these dishes are still available (and highly recommended), the bulk of the menu changes regularly and this also partly reflects the fresh produce that BAM! can obtain. This is in keeping with the tradition\u00a0of Japanese izakaya bars serving what’s freshly available.<\/p>\n

On a recent visit our\u00a0amuse bouche\u00a0was one of BAM!’s signatures –\u00a0caviar on a crispy fried Ankimo tofu which was accompanied by a complimentary glass of\u00a0nicely chilled cava (essentially a Spanish sparkling wine).<\/p>\n

\"Ankimo<\/a>
Ankimo tofu with caviar – our amuse bouche for the evening<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our first dish was foie gras terrine on grilled brioche with a hint of ginger dressing. This was followed by a\u00a0signature – the cold capellini pasta with sakura ebi (small shrimp) and uni \u00a0(sea urchin) and\u00a0lots of nori.<\/p>\n

\"Foie<\/a>
Our omakase started with a bite sized foie gras terrine on brioche<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"BAM!'s<\/a>
Cold capellini with ebi sakura, uni and nori<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A very nice egg royal or chawan mushi (steamed egg with broth) with lots of fresh Sri Lankan crab, konbu and small cubes of chopped apple followed. \u00a0I really enjoyed this combination.<\/p>\n

\"Steamed<\/a>
Chawan mushi with fresh crab<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next dish was I thought a bit underwhelming because it was a bit difficult to chew through the iberico pork. So basically, I ended with the whole chunk of pork separated from\u00a0the english muffin. The pork was dressed with fermented lettuce and shisho peppers.<\/p>\n

\"Iberico<\/a>
Iberico pork in an english muffin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next dish was quite unusual – fish belly in a tempura style was just a touch chewy but still enjoyable. I liked the\u00a0local lime and salmon roe that went with it.<\/p>\n

\"Fish<\/a>
Fish belly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Next we had a\u00a0grilled spanish octopus with hummus and lentils. BAM! tends to do its \u00a0octopus well and this variation was no exception. The octopus was wonderfully tender – so cooked just right.<\/p>\n

\"Cooked<\/a>
Nicely grilled octopus with hummus and lentils<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The last two dishes reflected the progression into heavier, meatier dishes. First we had meat from the head of a tuna grilled and served with bonito flakes and an aioli sauce and then we ended with wagyu beef served with fried pasta, burrata and truffle. I really liked the taste of the latter although the burrata being cold was slightly odd. It’s a mental thing because you’re expecting all items to be hot.<\/p>\n

\"Grilled<\/a>
Grilled tuna with bonito flakes and\u00a0aioli<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Wagyu<\/a>
Burrata cheese sits underneath the truffle, wagyu beef and fried pasta<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The dessert for the evening was a meringue cup holding a refreshing yoghurt chantilly\u00a0on a pineapple compote. My friend also ordered the churros.<\/p>\n

\"BAM!'s<\/a>
Meringue, chantilly and pineapple<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Churros<\/a>
Mini churros drizzled with chocolate sauce and ice cream<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I’ve had some dishes in the past at BAM! that I’ve enjoyed equally or more in some cases but I think that there is very little that disappoints. I also think that that the dishes tend to flow well together so that there is not much that is incongruous in the meal. I took the lesser omakase at SGD150 for seven courses. The SGD180 version has\u00a0the same number of dishes but with a greater quantum of specialty\u00a0ingredients. The meal has an option\u00a0of a sake pairing for SGD90 extra. I’ll have to try that one day.<\/p>\n

Reservations recommended especially on weekends. BAM! is closed on Sundays.<\/p>\n

BAM!’s website:<\/strong> http:\/\/bamtapassake.com\/singapore.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At first, a Spanish tapas sake bar seems a bit odd but more than a year on, BAM! remains a hit with chef Pepe Moncayo still serving really good food to go with Sake pairings. Pepe continues to add new dishes, probably best experienced through the omakase menu but favourites are still available. I continue […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[151,115,22],"tags":[43,49,83,76],"class_list":["post-2547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asiapac","category-singapore","category-singapore-food","tag-featured","tag-izakaya","tag-mediterranean_food","tag-singapore","latest_post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2547"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2607,"href":"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2547\/revisions\/2607"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gazeandgraze.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}