Serenity Spanish Bar & Restaurant

I have eaten the Paella in few restaurants and Paella here is better. We ordered the Valencia - inside had prawn, squid, musseles, fish, chicken and lup cheong. Seafood was freah and the taste of lup cheong was unique. It was a mixture of sweet sour and spicy taste. Am I going back? Yes for the Paella

Serenity used to be my favorite Spanish restaurant. I used to go there quite frequently and introduced a few friends to the place. All of them liked the food and specifically the paella. Our favorite version was the Valenciana with mostly seafood. For Muslim guests, the staff was happy to simply omit the pork sausages so that they could also enjoy the lovely taste. We also appreciated the live band, which gave it an even more authentic touch with their performance. Subtly, entertaining, Mediterranean feeling, but still being able to hold a decent conversation. I liked the place so much that I decided to use it as a dinner venue for one of our company events. This is why now it 'used to be' my favorite place. We arrived shortly after 7pm and placed our first round of order for the drinks at 7.15pm. For the beers, this should have well been before the end of the Happy Hour at 8pm. Our 2nd round of drinks was shortly before that deadline around 7.55pm. We had a few more beers after the end of the happy hour. However, when the bill arrived ALL drinks were charged at full price! After 3 rounds of revision they finally got it right. Needless to say that this was the last time I had been there..

Paella and Spanish Suckling Pig was great. Squid Ink Paella Rice with seafood was delecious. Small Suckling Pig was roasted untill the skin is crispy BUT the meat was tender and juicy. The staff cut the piglet with a plate and asked me to throw it into a wooden box to break it. According to him Spanish belief is "Throw the Bad Luck and Bring Good Luck". Not bad the explanation. Price was on the high side BUT the Food was Fantastic.

We ordered the Spanish Suckling Pig ($280+) for wholes suckling pig. Seafood Paella (58+) and Spanish Octopus (22+). Instead of wine, we went for Red Wine Sangria (50+ for Jug) and the kick was good.

Service, hmmm... pretty Spanish, Warm and Friendly.

For pics, pls go to http://thehungrybunnie.blogspot.com/2012/02/serenity-spanish-bar-restaurant.html

Although we only had dessert here, I don't think we'll be back to try the rest of the menu. Firstly, water apparently costs $2 here. I'm usually alright with paying for water, at a reasonable fee of course, but $2 is quite ridiculous. Also, with the dismal dessert sampling, what's to say that the rest of the menu would have been good? I think I'll stick to my favourites, like Don Quijote and Octapas, they have proven to serve up much better Spanish food, and way better churros.

The Churros ($10.80), fried cruellers served warm and toasty, with dense but soft insides, were alright. These were plain, not bad but not great either. But the dipping hot chocolate was another thing entirely. There was something in the chocolate that made it so awful. I always thought that the chocolate syrup accompanying churros need to be good enough to eat on its own, but this was awful. I wouldn't have eaten or bought this grade of chocolate. It tasted off, like a really lousy additive was put into the chocolate, though we couldn't quite identify what it was exactly. Suffice to say, we left the chocolate alone and ate the churros on their own

$42 for a bowl of paella (fried rice) is just too expensive for an average sized serving. 

Surprisingly sound, tasty and relatively authentic Spanish food in one of the better waterfront settings Singapore has to offer - being seated outdoors is of course a "must".

Tapas portion sizes are pretty good, especially the grilled baby octopus, and prices reasonable all things considered - although two people certainly won't get much change from $100 and that's even before drinks.

But it's worth it. Relax, enjoy the food and cross your fingers the waiting staff don't remove your plates before you're finished.

Recommended.

I tried Paella, Spanish Rice and fall in love with this traditional spanish dish. It is quite similar to our clay pot rice.

when the food came. The fragrance wafted into my nose before the claypot was on the table. As I mix up the Seafood, Chicken Spanish Sausages, Scallops and Rice the fragrance jus makes me salivate. Chicken & Fish are in chunks and are juicy and tasty to taste and the serving is generous.

After I took a spoonful of rice, I finally understood why its so fragrant. They have used fresh seafood, saffron & fine olive oil. There are bits of salted Spanish Chorfizo in the rice too. It just equates to a wonderful fragrance that attracts ppl from all over just to satisfy their craving. The rice is also neither overcooked (wetery) nor under cooked (dry).

The place was packed but the service was prompt.

Food was edible, nothing to shout about.

What really pissed me off was that the restaurant tries to take advantage of the $2 for water policy.

When we were ordering food, the server informed us the $2 for water would be waived if we ordered drinks, and it was explicitly stated in the menu that the water was refillable. He also did not mention that the free water would apply only to the same person who ordered the drink.

 There were 9 of us and we ordered 7 drinks, alcoholic and non-alcoholic. But only 5 of those who ordered drinks asked for water. The 2 who did not order drinks did indeed ask for water. But that would still mean a total of 7 glasses of water only. Throughout the 2 hour dinner, not once did anyone attempt to re-fill our glasses of water. Strangely enough, they were very diligent in removing our finished drink glasses, blithely ignoring all the emptied plates and dishes on the table, next to those drink glasses.

When the bill of about $520 came, there was a charge of $4 for 2 glasses of water! When the person bearing the bill was asked to clarify this, he came back claiming that the server who served us earlier was unavailable, but had informed the bill bearer that there were 9 of us, and therefore we had asked for 9 glasses of water (that was untrue), and yet ordered 7 drinks only!

I fully understand the rationale of charging for water if a big group takes advantage of free water policy by not ordering any drinks or much food, but keeps asking for water. If that’s the case, charge that $2 by all means.

However, in our case, we ordered lots of food and a variety of juices and alcoholic drinks. It would have more than compensated for 9 glasses of water had we even asked for that many.

I strongly believe that the restaurant is trying to sneak in those charges, hoping that after glasses of our paid for drinks were cleared, and being such a big group, we would be confused and pay for that extra charge.

Since the bill bearer informed us that the charge was waived, we let it go, without making a scene.

Can I afford that $4? Sure. But do I want to be a gullible, come-fleece-me sucker? NO.

We've been patronizing this restaurant for the past 1.5 years and it's become one of our favorites in VivoCity.

There're a few seating arrangements, the most comfortable being indoors especially when the weather is hot. The bar area is alfresco overlooking the waterfront, which is good on a balmy evening. So is the smoking section but it's on the other end of the comfort spectrum, since the small tables are either extremely high or low.

Both food and drinks menus are quite elaborate but are divided into categories to make ordering a breeze.

Cocktails:

long island ($13) and sangria ($15)

We tried a few cocktails and beers during our initial visits when K hadn't started observing the five precepts and could share alcoholic drinks with me. At that time, we didn't enjoy them as they were exceptionally strong, and I broke out in hives. Recently, I ordered sangria again and the alcohol content must've dropped drastically since the fruitiness was more pronounced. I left half untouched to play safe though K remarked that my face didn't even turn pink.

Tapas:

pan con alioli ($6.80) - homemade herb bread with sun-dried tomato, served with alioli sauce

Warm pillowy bread with a thin crispy crust that's fragrant with herbs. Great with the garlic infused dip.

tortilla española ($7.80) - Spanish omelette with potato and onion, served with alioli sauce

The simplest of ingredients around but the combo yielded a tasty dish.

pimientos del piquillo rellenos de atún y gambas ($10.80) - Spanish pepper filled with tuna and tiger prawn salad

Extremely moreish. The filling was ample though tuna was more evident than prawns.

Ensaladas:

ensalada de colores ($13) - lettuce salad, tomato, onion, sliced olive and sour cream with salsa on top of crispy tortilla

We likened this salad to an ultra-thin crispy pizza, and the topping was fresh and tasty.

Sopa:

gazpacho andaluz ($7.80) - classic Spanish chilled soup with a blend of tomato, sweet pepper, garlic, sherry vinegar and enriched with extra virgin olive oil

It never failed to get the juices flowing particularly due to it's slight tanginess, making it very refreshing and appetizing. The croutons were fresh and added a nice crunch.

crema de mariscos ($10.80) - seafood cream soup with mussel, prawn, dory and squid rings

Fresh ingredients and the soup was creamy enough without being too heavy.

Paella:

paella valenciana ($43) - saffron, chicken, Spanish chorizo, tiger prawns, squid and mussels with rice

Meant for two pax but the serving was too small. The bomba rice was deeply flavored and moist, while the ingredients were well portioned and fresh.

Fideuà (Spanish Noodle):

fideua de verduras ($38) - saffron, mushroom, zucchini, capsicum, asparagus, pine nuts, olive, onion, tomatoes with fideua

It's like eating bee hoon and we agreed we could finish the whole vegetarian dish on our own, even though the portion was for sharing.

Platos Especiales:

especial pato con peras ($26.80) - spiced duck with pear, spinach and garlic mash

Fork-tender meat which was well marinated too. The accompaniments were equally tasty.

Postres:

churros ($8.80) - homemade Spanish churros with hot chocolate

The obligatory Spanish "donut" dusted with icing sugar. We liked the light airy texture and it's great with the chocolate sauce. Best of all, it's served warm.

We tend to stick to some of our favorite dishes and so far the standard has been consistent, though prices have increased. Service has been satisfactory except for our last visit when our food took quite long to arrive.

Besides good food, the upbeat ambience is another reason we keep coming back. The acoustic live band performs on selected evenings, belting out classics the likes of "Bésame Mucho", among Latin hits and music from the 60's and 70's.

Not a cheap dining option compared to some restaurants in VivoCity, as our dinners ranged from $70~$100, but considered good value when we enjoyed the experience immensely.

Note: We've also tried a few other dishes not mentioned here since I don't have photos but they're delicious as well.