Dining out: La Viva

This place, owned by the Wong San group, took over Ocho at Chijmes, although you'd hardly know it.

It essentially looks the same, the menu is probably about the same. It's just Ocho with a new name.

Unfortunately, I must say that the only thing that would draw me back to this spot are the sangrias, as they have a nice variety: the triditional, the tropical, the cranberry, the peach, the one with Pimm's and something else I didn't quite catch. They only list the traditional on the menu, which really needs to be updated with a better look.

The food was decent but nothing to rave about.

The gazpacho was a little too thick and I always wish that restaurants would offer the vegetables on the side, rather than throwing the whole lot in. I did like the chorizo with pine nuts and raisins - a nice combination of flavours. A Catalan-style pork with vegetables was also quite tasty.

I must say that the rest was quite forgettable.
The tostadas were appallingly simple and made me wonder why we were paying $8.50 for something I could easily make at home. After all, it was just slices of french loaf, topped with some 'spanish' ham and melted cheese.
A hot tapas of mushrooms in a cream sauce used unimaginatively button mushrooms.

I later checked newslink for the ST article on tapas places written last month, which mentioned that La Viva has 50 different types of tapas. Although my maths sucks, I know for sure that there weren't 50 different types when we were there on Wednesday! So did they change the menu? Or did they decide to put up a show?

Spanish restaurants here tend to miss the mark, in my opinion. I've yet to eat at one I like. Via Mar at Esplanade is so-so, likewise for Esmirada, although I suppose they're not exactly a Spanish restaurant. I've only had dessert at Tapas Tree so I might go try theirs (any idea if it's good?) and there's still Streeters, which has surprised me by how long they've survived - I suppose it's time to give that a try?

Honestly, the fun in tapas is checking out the lineup at the counter, picking out stuff you can't exactly identify but looks appealing. And having a good plate of jamon with slices of quesa, oh and since it's tapas, there should be free flow of bread. Then again, this is Singapore, a country which has restaurants charging for bread, not serving water and even daring to charge 50cents for a glass of water, of the kind that flows from taps.

So that's what I'd do if I owned a Spanish restaurant. I wouldn't put people in gimmicky costumes, or have the roving singers/guitarists - they tend to sing and play fine but its really too cliched, too loud and the choice of songs is just too predictable. I wouldn't play Gipsy Kings or Eros Ramazotti either.


La Viva Chijmes
#01-12/13/14
30 Victoria Street.
Tel: 6339 4290
(wouldn't recommend it, unless you are wanting to have Sangrias)