ryan’s grocery, binjai park

cute little grocery in binjai park, with a focus on gluten-free, complete with an in-house butchery and shelves of amazing imported goods. I have a weakness for supermarkets, and spend an inordinate amount of time in them on holidays (hello and sorry, fiancé!) – and I especially love seeing new things you can’t get in our ntucs and cold storages.

so it’s fair and likely embarrassing to admit that I have a love for imported goods – just for the variety – and while I don’t have gluten-free requirements (hallelujah bread!), this place is a veritable haven for them.

(and OH MY GOD, but did you know that mary berry has her own mayonnaise?!)

don quijote, dempsey

very surprisingly good, even great, tapas at this restaurant hidden away in dempsey road. I’m really surprised by this place, and it might just be my new favorite spanish. rustic plates here differentiate it from the more refined dining at una (the other spanish restaurant high up on my list), and the ambiance is more friend-friendly than the latter’s date-friendly vibe.

my first visit here was on a tasting, and we returned two weeks later to verify if the food really was that good on a more regular basis – and it most definitely is.

una at one rochester, rochester park

fantastic spanish at this new-ish restaurant in buona vista. part of the rochester group, it’s taken over the space of the less-than-stellar one-caramel to serve up enjoyable, fine-dining-but-not-stuffy spanish food.

the flavors were delicious, intense in the best way, and it really does rise above many other español-dishing places, which tend toward the expensive-but-unsatisfying small plates category.

binomio spanish restaurant, craig road

very good spanish food at this well-known restaurant along craig road – it’s a cosy, intimate space that’s packed at night, with waiters that are just the right mix of personal and professional, and dishes that both taste good and feel authentic.

it’s more napkin-ed fine dining than small-plate tapas, with prices that tread the high side for dishes well-worth the expense.

bomba paella bar, robertson quay

great spanish food along martin road, pretty much near to the robertson quay area. I haven’t been to this area much – its location is most amenable for when you have a car, and I don’t drive. but nothing brings me out like the prospect of good food, and I’ve been on the lookout for bomba’s opening since I saw it on the graze website a while ago. this was also a celebratory meal, and thankfully didn’t disappoint.

I’m pretty smitten with the graze franchise – I mean, it’s really difficult to go wrong in my book when you have thick toast and pancakes and forgoodness a dessert platter on your brunch menu. they’ve always been pretty consistent and outstanding with the quality of the food, and so I went with pretty high expectations. add the fact that my partner and I truly love paella – and you’ll realize how much was riding on this meal.