Sabio

Went there for after work drinks. it's a good place to rewind with friends! Also good for date night! The Sangria is actually not bad...its better than a lot of places in Singapore! 

Sabio feels like a small piece of Spain, cozy and funky restaurant space. The tapas items are well priced, nothing fancy, just straight forward items. Great place to relax after work, have a drink and some great tapas. Jamon is to die for, service is always friendly and warm. Salted cod croquettes are the best in singapore by far. Only down side is sometimes having to wait for a table.

I like the variety of food presented. The portion are just right. You get to taste every little bit of everything. Although they don't take reservations but I don't see it as an issue :)

Definitely will go back!

I must say that there are not many places that my friends and I like to dine and hang, and this is definitely one such place.  Good food, good drinks, excellent service staff that actually talk to you (not at you).  We'll be back again, and again.

I am a big fan of Tapas.  I've had them in Spain and it was sensational so wanted to try some here.  I've had Tapas at Vivo City, and it was fantastic, so tried Sabio's to see how they fared.   In short, they were good but not fantastic. 

There were 3 of us, one being Halal.  That was not an issue.  The ambience is really nice..  we sat on the inside but they have seating on the curb as well for people-watching (and exhaust fume sniffing).   The service was really good.  We had a very nice server and several of the other staff asked about how our meal was as well.  Very nice considering they were totally full.   The female servers were nice, but we had one that was a bit blur and would come by and literally gesture what she wanted to ask me instead of speaking.  It was a bit weird and annoyingn. 

We started with the Calamari, Potatoes with Manchego cheese,  Chorizo/Sausage platter, the cheese plate and an Olive bowl.  They claim to have over 70 different types of Tapas, so there is a lot to choose from.  The menu is a bit of a daunting challenge to read, but they have the same items on blackboards which was much easier to navigate.   Just read down the list and tell them what you want to eat. Plus, Tapas is like Dim Sum - you don't need to order everything at once - just eat what you like and when you're hungry, order some more. 

The Sangria was not very good but the white wine was ok.  

The food overall was pretty OK.   Not nearly as good as the Tapas restaurant in Vivi City, though.  Let me start with the calamari.  It was nice..  not fried or battered and a bit chewy.  The olives were really good but not quite as tasty as I was expecting.  They did serve up a large bowl.  

The Cheese plate for $19 was pretty sparse.  Only one small slice of 2 different cheeses,  a dollop of an herbed cream cheese and 2 small rounds of toasted bread. I asked the waiter if we could have more bread, which he informed me would cost additional money.  Really??  Only 2 slices??    Anyway, the cheese was nice, but hardly enough for the price. 

The main event - the sausage/Iberico Ham platter - was good and was a good portion size for the $25 they charged.  However,  I found the taste to be quite bland. Iberico is not as salty as Parma, so it might just be my comparison to the Italian version, but there was very little taste so I had to wrap it in the cheese to boost the flavor.  

The potatoes were very good.  Just like they serve in Spain...  Very crisp and chewy on the outside, warm tender potatoes on the inside.  All with a  lovely dipping sauce.  I highly suggest it. 

After all this, we were still a bit hungry and so we ordered the meatballs in tomato sauce.  They were really good.  By far the best item we tried and I also highly suggest trying it.  

Overall, it was a really nice night out and we would return again for the ambience and the fun of just nibbling on Tapas, but if you are true Tapas lover you are probably better off in Vivo City.    Haivng said that, with 70 items on the menu, I'm sure there may be other gems on there we haven't tried yet!

Ah Sabio...Have read a lot about this much-hyped place and decided to go check it out with my kakis on a weekend night - the place was packed even though it was only about 7.30pm which attests to its popularity I guess (and also its tiny-ness).

We were all really hungry, so just wanted to tackle the food and do drinks later (which probably goes against the whole idea of tapas haha having food WITH your drinks), but I guess food-wise is where the disappointment sank in - all the food that we ordered was delicious but the issue was with the portion size - simply too tiny for the amount we were paying :( The meat platter had a good assortment of jamon and chorizo, and I think is a good choice if you have a big group of more than 4. The meatballs came with a very tasty sauce, so that I would also recommend. Calamari and Spanish tortilla was so-so, the bread was also just average. 

In terms of service, I think they should probably hire a few more staff (though I suppose they might have issues fitting them in the limited space!) - the wait staff were rather harried and it was difficult at times to get their attention. Overall, though the food was good, we had a rather mixed experience - perhaps if we tried the drinks we might say something different, but I felt this was one of those overhyped places...Worth a visit, but nothing much to rave about.

I was looking forward to go there for a long time. Now that we have been there this was my worst meal in Singapore. Except for the Ham Iberico all of the tapas we ordered were just no good, the house wine was pure plonk and the waiters were stressed out.

The design of the place is still nice. It looks like a modern version of a original tapas bar. It is small and busy (as it should be), however this seems to have an effect on the waiters and it takes quite some time for food or drink to arrive.

Portions are very small and (as noted before) food not good. The tortilla was like an omlette in a airport hotel. The Gambas with garlic were cooked in some sort of broth which reminded me more of a chinese dish.

I had to have a tequila shot after to 1. get over my disapointment and 2. for my upset stomach....

The tapas bar is well decorated but very small. Being a shop house, the space is narrow and I felt the tables were fairly packed in. My husband and I sat at the bar and noticed the two bartenders could barely squeeze past each other as the space was so narrow. The seats weren't very comfortable as there was no space below the bar counter for our legs! So we had to sit either to the left or right for some leg room.

We ordered chorizo, jamon serrano, scallops, bread with tomato spread and a glass each of red and white sangria. The drinks seemed 'watered down' with too much juice and ice. The chorizo was served thinly sliced and cold. Whilst the flavour was good, we felt the portion was not at all generous. Same with the jamon serrano - good quality but tiny portion. On the other hand, we enjoyed the tomato bread - nicely toasted thick slices smeared with a tart tomato paste. It was handy for mopping up the delicious creamy white wine sauce that accompanied the scallops, which were perfectly cooked. If I ever returned, I'd definitely order the scallops again but skip the meats.

I felt the drinks were quite overpriced and food could have been more generous. The waitress, who seemed to be from China, could barely speak English, which made our request for food recommendations a futile attempt. She stood around looking quite out of place and didn't really smile very much.

For full writeup and pics please go to www.thenewadventuresofoldelis.blogspot.com. 

We had an hour plus to spare before a vodka tasting event at Buyan Russian restaurant., so I figured it would be a good chance to check out Sabio, a relatively new Spanish joint just a few doors down from Buyan on Duxton Hill. I think it’s fantastic how they cleaned up this formerly dodgy area and the many interesting dining/wining destinations which have sprung up.

 

The décor of Sabio was as authentic as Spanish bars come, I felt like I was back in Madrid! Long bar counter with plenty of side ledges to put drinks/tapas plates, nice mix of local and expat crowd, a buzz in the air that was befitting of a lazy Saturday evening.

 

The waiter promptly came to take our drink orders once we were seated. The drink list was fairly interesting with a respectable selection of Spanish sherries and wines. I decided on a dry amontillado sherry at $18 to start the night. Hmm, they were a bit stingy with the serving, not worth the price.

 

The huge leg of iberico belotta jamon (made from Iberian black pigs fed on acorns) they had at the counter looked very tempting but I recently had a jamon overdose so decided not to order that. It was a bit early for a full meal so we just ordered a sausage and cheese platter to nibble on. The platter wasn’t too bad but I was a tad disappointed it was so heavy on the chorizo and there were only 3 tiny silvers of queso.

 

After finishing my very tiny glass of sherry, I ordered a glass of albillo from Ribera del Duero at $16. It was not as good as I would have liked it to be but at least it was a decent serving. Ndee had a glass of red sangria which he said tasted like fruit punch.

 

Hmm, I would re-visit this place again to give the hot tapas menu a try, simple because I really enjoy the ambience. But I have this nagging feeling they need to improve the food. It was expensive, our bill for the above came up to $100.

 

Ndee said the face of the matador on the wall looked like that of the owner of the bar. If you do visit the place, let me know if you agree, haha.

Happened on this place during a wander around the Duxton Hill area and went back to eat twice in the same week. Hard to get a table if you've got even a slightly large party because they don't take reservations and the word seems to have gotten out that this is an actual "authentic" tapas place that delivers. But it's worth the wait. Great lively neighborhood vibe and delicious, well prepared food that is as pretty to look at as to eat.