Bino

 A new addition to the growing ensemble of restaurant options in Joo Chiat is the Ebb and Flow group’s Spanish restaurant, Carlitos. 

Conceptualized as a casual tapas joint, Carlitos is a diminutive form of Carlos, a nod to Chef Carlos Montobbio who started the restaurant as a collaboration with Antonio Miscellaneo, from La Bottega which is just 2 doors away. 

Carlitos occupies the space that used to be Tigerlily Patisserie, an Ebb and Flow concept that closed down earlier this year. The style of Carlitos is relatively informal – a bit family-style if you will and in fact, the space reminds me more of an Italian restaurant than a Spanish one. Perhaps the most obvious suggestion that is a Spanish restaurant is the presence of booth seats surrounding a bar (the way Spaniards usually take their tapas). There is also a table dining option.

Although relatively authentic, the food in Carlitos is meant to cater to what Singaporeans perceive Spanish food to be. This means you will find dishes from all over Spain in the venue’s menu of 30+ items – from Catalan to Andalusian and even Basque specialties all under one roof. 

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Desserts are an essential part of any festive dinner table and no other sweet treat is more evocative of the Christmas season than log cakes. Dessert chefs are known to be very competitive by rolling out highly creative pastries each year. It might still be quite early for Christmas but a few bakers in Singapore have already started rolling out their log cake selections for 2024.

This year, many establishments are consolidating their log cake offerings. For instance, I see fewer of the fancier/exotic flavors and many hotels have reverted to offering only their bestselling flavors. Many are also reducing the number of flavors in their repertoire to just 1 or 2 whereas they had offered 5 or more in past years.

Without further ado, here is the list for the year – I will update it as and when more brands come online with their offerings.

You can also join our telegram channel here and receive updates on price drops, exclusive promotions not found anywhere else as well as flash deals for log cakes and other Christmas goodies.

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Golden Peony at Conrad Centennial Singapore has just launched a new menu, focusing on nostalgic and time-honored Cantonese recipes. Launched on the 11th of October, the Chinese restaurant which is helmed by Chef Ku Keung makes a deliberate nod to the 28-year old restaurant’s storied heritage. 

I returned to Golden Peony recently for lunch to try out the new menu. It has been a while since I have been to the restaurant.

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Along with the log cake and turkey, the festive ham is another must-have dish during Christmas. The huge chunk – usually pork but may also be chicken or turkey – is either wet or dry cured and may or may not be smoked. There are many variations of ham available and all are generally considered acceptable for Christmas. There have also been deviations from the original honey-glazed hams. Some restaurants and hotels have rolled out hams with a local flair for instance, and I’ve aimed to list some of the noteworthy ones down below.

You can also join our telegram channel here and receive updates on price drops, exclusive promotions not found anywhere else as well as flash deals for  other F&B and travel-related promotions.

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